CHAPTER XVI.

Proof of Positive Identification--the Finger Print.

Crime is developing at a great rate, yet but comparatively few police

departments have provided themselves with the necessary instruction

and equipment to successfully combat it. A vast majority of the police

departments in this enlightened age continue to pin their faith to the

flint-lock musket of a by-gone day, while the lawbreaker eludes and

evades and convictions grow fewer and farther between.

The greatest factor in the detection of crime--the one indisputable

incriminating evidence of guilt--the present tell-tale imprint of the

finger, is more often overlooked than it is pressed into service in

bringing the guilty to the bar of justice.

Perhaps one of the greatest chief reasons for the lack of a world-wide

use of the simplest known method of directly connecting the criminal

with his crime is the misconception of the utter simplicity of securing

such evidence and the certainty of it.

The following are a few of the great number of crimes committed in

which the finger print alone played the important part and furnished

proof of identification.

JENNINGS CASE.

On September 19, 1910, Clarence B. Hiller, who lived at 1837 104th

Street, Chicago, Illinois, was murdered in his home, evidently by a

burglar.

The following morning Capt. Michael Evans and his son, Wm. M. Evans,

of the Chicago Bureau of Identification, went to the Hiller residence

to look for finger prints. They found three on the newly painted porch

railing. The rail was sawed off and taken to headquarters, where the

prints were photographed.

Certain circumstances pointed to a negro, named Thomas Jennings, as

the murderer, and he was arrested and his finger prints taken. They

corresponded exactly with those found on the porch rail.

Jennings was brought to trial before Judge Marcus A. Kavanaugh, at

Chicago, and was convicted November 11th.

Jennings’ attorney fought against the admission of finger prints as

evidence and argued that, as a means of identification, finger prints

were unsubstantial. He was overruled by Judge Kavanaugh and four

experts testified to the many points of similarity that existed between

the prints found on the porch rail and those taken from Jennings’

fingers.

One of the jurymen said, after Jennings had been convicted: “The finger

prints, and the finger prints alone, convinced us that Jennings was

guilty.”

The case was taken to the Supreme Court of Illinois on appeal, but the

verdict was upheld. In handing down their decision the justices of the

Supreme Court said:

“When photography was first introduced, it was seriously

questioned whether pictures thus created could properly be

introduced as evidence. But this method of proof, as well as

by means of X-ray and the microscope, is now admitted without

question.

“We are disposed to hold, from the evidence of the four

witnesses who testified and from the writings we have referred

to on this subject, that there is a scientific basis for the

system of finger print identification and that the courts are

justified in admitting this class of evidence.

“Such evidence may or may not be of independent strength, but

it is admissible, with other proof, tending to make out a case.

If references as to the identity of persons based on the voice,

the appearance or age, are admissible, why does not this record

justify the admission of finger print testimony under common law

rules of evidence.”

Jennings was hanged on February 16 1912, at Chicago.

THE CHARLES CRISPI CASE.

In the winter of 1911, the loft of H. M. Bernstein and Brothers, 1701

Wooster street, manufacturers of ladies’ garments, was burglarized in

the early morning. Finger prints found in the burglary were discovered

to be those of Cesare J. Selle, alias Charles Crispi, who, upon this

identification, was arrested and indicted for the crime of burglary,

in the second degree, second offense. At first, Selle’s attorneys

proceeded with the trial on a plea of not guilty, but after Joseph

Faurot, the finger print expert, had testified the attorneys for the

defense withdrew the plea of not guilty and pleaded guilty to the crime

of burglary. Judge Rosalsky after the plea had been taken said to

Selle:

“I want you to make a full confession. I can assure you that

no indictment will be found against you or any witness who

testified in your behalf in the course of your trial for

perjury, but it is more for the interest of justice and science

that you tell the truth. It is invaluable for us to know whether

or not the expert testimony given during your trial was correct

or otherwise. The finger print experts are of the opinion that

the science of identification, by means of finger prints, is

more exact than the Bertillon System of photography. Did you

remove the pane of glass, in evidence here, from the door of the

loft of H. M. Bernstein and Brothers?”

The defendant answered that he did. In view of the fact that he had

assisted the officers in helping to establish the authenticity of the

finger print identification he was given a sentence of only six months.

* * * * *

In the year of 1910, two men broke into a home in Flatbush; they were

discovered and one of them shot a member of the household. One of the

burglars was also shot, and his injury led to the arrest of the other.

Finger prints of both were taken, but the New York Finger Print Files

contained no record of the injured burgler. He insisted that he had

never been arrested before and that he had, by chance, been induced

to take part in the Flatbush burglary. Captain Faurot researched

his files, but could find no duplicate of his finger print card;

still there was something strangely familiar with one of his prints.

Suddenly it came to him. Some months before, there had been a burglary

in Brooklyn, and upon a cut glass rose jar one of the thieves had

left a thumb print, and a large photograph of this print was on file

at the identification bureau. This photograph was compared with the

impression of the wounded man, and found to agree with the print of his

left thumb. Going directly to the hospital where the man was confined,

Captain Faurot said to him: “When you broke into that house on Park

Slope, three months ago, why did you not take that cut glass rose

bowl?” “It was too heavy to carry away,” replied the man.

* * * * *

In the Coppersmith case in Chicago, Russell Pethick, a grocery delivery

boy, who murdered Mrs. Coppersmith and her baby boy, endeavored to put

the officers on the wrong trail by giving the description of a man he

saw going into the Coppersmith home about the time of the murder, and

when taken to the Bureau of Identification in that city, through a

ruse, his finger prints were obtained and afterwards fourteen points of

comparison were found in two fingers and on the bloody handle of the

hammer with which he killed Mrs. Coppersmith. When confronted with his

finger prints he pleaded guilty and is now serving a life sentence in

the Illinois penitentiary at Joliet.

Another case of more recent date comes to my mind, where a clever

identification was made. In San Francisco an expert burglar robbed

several rooms in the St. Francis, the leading hotel of San Francisco.

Among the people robbed was Miss “Billie” Burke, the celebrated

actress, from whose room was taken about ten thousand dollars worth of

valuable jewelry. There was no possibility of getting identification

as to the thief; but a few days later an officer of the San Francisco

police department arrested a man while attempting to dispose of some

of the stolen jewelry. This man was a Swede or Norwegian named Peter

Johansen, and he positively refused to give any information regarding

himself. Through the kindness of Chief White of the San Francisco

Police Department several copies of the man’s photograph were obtained

and sent to Europe for identification, together with his finger prints,

as it was the opinion that this man, who had only been in this country

but a short time, had come from Europe for the purpose of operating

in San Francisco during the progress of the World’s Fair. Chief White

also wrote to Europe, enclosing pictures and finger prints of him,

and we both got copies from Superintendent McCarthy at Scotland Yard

identifying the man, not alone by his photograph, but positively by

his finger prints. He gave a long criminal history of Johansen, where

he had served time in England, Sweden, South Africa and Australia. I

consider this a marvelous case of identification, as the finger prints

in all of these different countries compared with those taken in San

Francisco.

Story Section

Author’s Announcement

The stories following relate my experiences and those of other

officers and detectives. They are stories of cases in real life,

handled successfully by different officers of the law. The stories are

educational, covering several branches of the detective profession,

both in police circles and private detective agencies.

The detectives, the police officer and all peace officers may derive

both pleasure and profit by a reading of these stories.

RUFUS H. CLENDENEN.

Professional Bootlegging, 1915–1921.

(Written before National Prohibition became effective)

Mountains subserve important uses of the economy of nature, especially

with the water system of the world. They are at once great collectors

and distributors of water. But from time immemorial the mountains of

the Virginias, Kentucky and Tennessee have been famed for things other

than the uses of water.

Who is there who has not read of the mountain character who relied

upon his “still” in some brush covered cove to produce the mountain

nectar from yellow corn that has waved its golden bannerets on those

sun-kissed hills, and which has brought imagined happiness to the

wearied soul of the mountaineer--and not infrequently filled his

heart with murder--for the juice of the yellow corn breeds dangerous

lightning in the blood.

We have also read of the hatred these men have borne towards the law’s

representatives,--the “revenu” officers and detectives. Of the many and

bloody battles, of the strategic moves adopted by the one and of the

deadly aim of the other’s rifle.

But this story deals not with the mountain “still” but rather with the

new mountain, the “bootlegger”--the man who smuggles whiskey into dry

territory in violation of the law and sells it to those who are ready

and willing to pay the price.

The different dry states have raised a great crop of those

“bootleggers” but West Virginia, in proportion to its size, has perhaps

outstripped them all. In cities of 5,000 or more there are several

“professionals” who vie with one another in their anxiety to break the

law. By the “professional” is meant the man of means who is financially

able to hire from one to a dozen men, or women, to work for him. These

workers are called “runners” and when caught bringing more than one

quart of whiskey a month into the state, or selling or attempting to

sell the liquor, they are frequently sentenced to serve sixty days in

jail and fined $100, or more, while the “professional” goes unmolested.

But the professional “bootlegger” invariably places the indelible

mark of his nefarious profession upon himself, for he stands by his

“runners” and secures for them the best of counsel, who continues their

cases from term to term on one pretext or another, and if eventually

convicted, he sees that they receive good meals while in jail, and when

the sentence is finished he sees that the fine is paid. The old legend,

that there is “Honor among thieves” seems to hold in these cases, for

the “runner” never connects the man higher up, the “professional”, with

his misfortune, and receives his confinement and punishment without a

word of complaint. No doubt the man receives a financial consideration

for his silence.

It is estimated that in the City of Charleston, West Virginia, the

State capital, which has a population of something like 40,000, there

are at least two thousand persons engaged in violating the prohibition

law. Hundreds are convicted each year. It is charged that there is lack

of co-operation between the Prohibition Department of the state and

the municipal and county officers. The laxity in this respect on the

part of municipal officers may be due to the fact that there is no fee

attached to the conviction of violators of the prohibition law.

The schemes invented to evade the law are about as remarkable and

numerous as the violators themselves. It is known that automobiles have

slipped into the state carrying as many as thirty-two cases of whiskey,

which is seven hundred and sixty pints. The “bootlegger” can buy the

whiskey at $27.00 a case and can sell it in wholesale lots at $80.00

a case. Should he conclude to retail it he can get $5.00 a pint, out

of which he must pay his runner $1.00. Thus it can be seen that the

“professional” bootlegging business is a rather profitable enterprise.

It is remarkable the extent and the ingeniousness of the schemes

adopted and devised in order to bring whiskey into the state. A short

time ago a funeral procession wound its way slowly and majestically

down the turnpike that connects Ohio and West Virginia. An alert

officer was impressed with the extreme seriousness of the driver of the

hearse and the undertaker who sat by his side. The hearse was stopped

and an inspection made, and to the surprise of the officer he found the

hearse packed with cases of the rarest brands of whiskey.

Farm houses and buildings are frequently used by the “professional” to

secrete quantities of whiskey until such time as it is safe to attempt

distribution. It is marvelous the amount of ingenuity that is being

wasted in the construction of false partitions, sliding floors, window

facings, door facings and traps and other devices that almost defy

detection. The freight train is also used by the common “bootlegger”,

and daily deliveries are made of supposed coffee in huge sacks, while

in reality the coffee is just around the outside, as the center of the

sack is filled with whiskey bottles.

It is surprising how many men of shady character and dishonest methods

have grown in corpulence since the passing of the prohibition law. An

investigation of the person of some of those “big” boys have revealed

specially made vests with various and sundry pockets which invariably

contain a pint of whiskey. As many as twenty-four pints have been found

in the pockets of one man. While engaged in the search of a Virginian

train at the Chesapeake and Ohio depot in the City of Charleston one

morning, the writer and Sam Fields, a local prohibition officer,

noticed an unusually large colored preacher across the aisle from

where we were standing. Fields approached the preacher and said “Good

morning, Parson.” Fields and I engaged the colored man in conversation

and soon confirmed our suspicion that the man was a “bootlegger”

owing to the fullness of his clothing. A search of the clothing of

the supposed “Parson” disclosed an under-jacket made of bed-ticking,

underclothing made of canvass containing pockets, thirty-six pockets

in all, and each one containing a pint of whiskey. When taken from the

coach to the platform it required aid to get him from the seat, he was

so burdened with contraband.

Often I have taken from a person a caulking hammer with a bunch of

oakum tied around it so as to hide from two to six pints of whiskey.

I have relieved the male and female foreigner of corsets made of tin

and shaped and soldered so as to fit the breast and abdomen, containing

approximately one gallon of liquor. The extra tires on automobiles,

copper lined, have been found to contain a large quantity of liquor.

False bottoms, radiators, extra gasoline tanks, etc., have been

confiscated containing gallons of liquors. I have frequently caught

both men and women with from three to five hot water bottles on their

person--and each bottle filled with whiskey. Violin, mandolin, guitar

and banjo cases are frequently placed very carefully in the racks of

passenger coaches and when inspected more often hold whiskey than

musical instruments. Trunks and express packages are used as a means

of conveyance, but the trained detective soon discerns the odor coming

from such articles, and when the goods are called for arrests follow.

Even a casket supposed to contain a corpse and bearing a doctor’s

certificate has been found to contain “Old Crow” instead of the remains

of some recently departed soul. A one-legged negro in Charleston

capitalized his misfortune by adopting and using a hollow cork leg

which would hold five gallons of whiskey. He was caught and a solid leg

was substituted for the shell-like affair.

Even the well-to-do people of this State who are possessed with an

unquenchable thirst resort to all sorts of tricks to get whiskey

either for themselves or friends. One prominent woman pretended to

have broken her arm and it was discovered that the supposed injured

member was bound with splints of half pints instead of pieces of wood.

Even old saw mill boilers have been used to convey liquors into the

state, to say nothing of milk cans, egg shells and dozens of other

methods. The bootleggers were so numerous in this state a few months

back that it was considered among themselves that some plan or means of

identification would soon be necessary to prevent wasting time trying

to sell to one another. The officers might suggest a red badge.

The up-to-date and modern bootlegger has gone all the rest one better.

He has himself fitted with a corset which is hollow and has hinges

at various points. The same enterprising variety of mankind also has

similar outfits made of rubber or oil cloth.

Several persons in this state have died from drinking wood alcohol,

not knowing that it was deadly poison. A negro porter in a hospital

was recently arrested and convicted of selling, to men of the back

counties, alcohol which had been used in preserving freak babies.

Another brand of drink which is made in sections of the state is called

“cow cider” and is in reality the juice from the grain and fodder of

the silo. It not only causes intoxication but carries with it a severe

headache for several days thereafter. A hop brew called “old hen” is

another of the strange drinks made for the purpose of making drunk come.

[Illustration: _These stills are products of the West

Virginia Mountains._]

Whether prohibition develops booze maniacs has not as yet been

determined by the medical fraternity, but it seems to be a proven fact

that human nature wants that which it is told it cannot have. Man is

something like a marauding old muley cow. A muley cow will eat anything

on top of this majestic earth that she can steal, from a hickory shirt

to a temperance newspaper, and anything she can’t get through her

throat she will chew and suck the juice. That is human nature to a T.

Man values that which is hardest to get. I fear that until the law of

nature is reversed the legitimate effect of prohibition will be blind

tigers, mountain and cellar stills, the breeding of bootleggers and the

sale and consumption of a death dealing brand of booze.

We shall not commence at 1921 to 1922. The white corn nectar is now

made in each little village, coal camp, oil fields and principal cities

in the Virginias, Kentucky and Tennessee, and this mountain dew is

flavored with ground ivy, drugs of different kinds and sometimes even

lye is put into it to make it taste hot like whiskey of high proof.

People are now complaining of the theft of their wash tubs, rain

barrels, wash boilers, etc. Stills are made of zinc tubs, oil cans,

milk cans, tin boilers, gasoline tubes, kettles, etc.

They have a coloring (caramel) making the color of corn whiskey red.

Dried peaches used as a “mash” makes the liquor yellow in color like

peach brandy. About 75% of the stills captured are made of zinc

vessels, tin and iron pipes, making a poison called “moonshine” which

is killing people every day.

In West Virginia you will find the moonshiners organized and assistance

and aid given them from people in good standing. It is also the case

in Kentucky and Tennessee. In the Blue Ridge and Cumberland mountains

of Virginia moonshining has been going on since the civil war. They

are an organized band, and when the approach of officers of the law is

noticed, where no telephone system is used, they use a ramshorn, gun

barrel, conch shells, high power rifles, etc., to warn the offenders

of the approach of the officers. Very often a woman will go to the

back door of her home and call her cows at the hour of midnight,

using this method to warn her husband or other members of the family

that officials are at the house or are near. The sounds made by these

different signals can be heard for a long distance at night among the

mountains and 80% of the contemplated raids of officers of the law on

moonshiners and moonshine stills are “tipped-off” in this manner. The

old method of building fires of wood has given way to the more modern

and less easy to detect method of using gasoline or kerosene stoves,

which method is a very good one, owing to the fact that no smoke arises

from the fires and the light is very easily shielded from view.

It has been worked many times that a man would come in from the

mountains, disclose to officers of the law the location of a “still”

and receive from said officers a small reward for the information. As

soon as he leaves the officers he will return to the moonshine region

and tell the moonshiners that a raid is to be made on a certain day. In

this way the informer will receive a reward from both officers of the

law and the moonshiners.

When moonshine liquor cannot be obtained in the cities the “topers”

resort to all kind of drugs to satisfy their thirst, such as hair

tonic, pre-digested beef, Jamaica ginger, lemon extracts, all of which

contain a certain per cent of alcohol.

Prohibition Amendment.

Amendment of Section 46, Article 6 of the State Constitution, ratified

by vote of the people at a general election held in the month of

November, 1912, known as the Prohibition Amendment.

“Sec. 46. On and after the first day of July, one thousand nine

hundred and fourteen, the manufacture, sale and keeping for sale of

malt, vinous or spirituous liquors, wine, ale, porter, beer or any

intoxicating drink, mixture or preparation of like nature, except as

hereinafter provided, are hereby prohibited in this State. _Provided,

however_, that the manufacture and sale and keeping for sale of such

liquors for medicinal, pharmaceutical, mechanical, sacramental, and

scientific purposes, and the manufacture and sale of denatured alcohol

for industrial purposes may be permitted under such regulations as the

legislature may prescribe. The legislature shall, without delay, enact

such laws, with regulations, conditions, securities and penalties as

may be necessary to carry into effect the provisions of this section.”

* * * * *

An Act of Congress of the United States known as the

Webb-Kenyon Law.

“An Act divesting intoxicating liquors of their inter-state character

in certain cases.”

“Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the

United States of America in Congress Assembled, That the shipment or

transportation, in any manner or by any means whatsoever, of any

spirituous, vinous, malted, fermented, or other intoxicating liquor of

any kind, from one State, Territory or District of the United States,

or place non-contiguous to but subject to the jurisdiction thereof,

into any other State, Territory or District of the United States,

or place non-contiguous to but subject to the jurisdiction thereof,

or from any foreign country into any State, Territory or District

of the United States, or place non-contiguous to but subject to the

jurisdiction thereof, which said spirituous, vinous, malted, fermented,

or other intoxicating liquor is intended, by any person interested

therein, to be received, possessed, sold, or in any manner used,

either in the original package or otherwise, in violation of any law

of such State, Territory or District of the United States, or place

non-contiguous to but subject to the jurisdiction thereof, is hereby

prohibited.

Postal Regulations--Parcels Post.

The regulations of the United States Postal Department prohibit the

shipment of intoxicating liquors by mail--the language of the rule

being as follows:

“There shall be prohibited from the mails all spirituous,

vinous, fermented or other intoxicating liquors of any

kind.”--Section 16, paragraph 2, Parcels Post Regulations.

Sec. 37. It shall be unlawful for any person to own, operate, maintain

or have in his possession, or interest in any apparatus for the

manufacture of intoxicating liquors, commonly known as “moonshine

still”, or any device of like kind or character. For the purposes

of this act, any mechanism, apparatus or device that is kept or

maintained in any desert, secluded, hidden, secret or solitary place,

away from the observation of the general public, or in any building,

dwelling-house or other place, for the purpose of distilling, making

or manufacturing intoxicating liquors, or which by any process of

evaporation, separate alcoholic liquor from grain, molasses, fruit,

or any other fermented substance, or that is capable of any such use,

shall be taken and deemed to be a “moonshine still”; and the owner or

operator of any such “moonshine still” shall be deemed a “moonshiner”.

Any person owning, operating, maintaining or having in his possession,

or having any interest in any moonshine still, shall be guilty of a

felony, and upon conviction thereof shall be fined not less than three

hundred dollars nor more than one thousand dollars, and be confined in

the penitentiary not less than two nor more than five years. Any person

who aids or abets in the operation or maintenance of any moonshine

still shall be guilty of a felony, and upon conviction thereof shall

be fined not less than two hundred dollars nor more than five hundred

dollars, and confined in the penitentiary not less than one nor more

than three years.

Gunnoe Murder Case.

On the banks of the Great Kanawha river, two miles above the City of

Charleston, West Virginia, lived a dairyman by the name of Willard

Gunnoe. Gunnoe, together with his wife and his wife’s sister, Ocie

Mullens, lived in a brown cabin surrounded by the picturesque mountains

of West Virginia and five acres of fertile soil, on which grazed the

milch cows of his dairy. The nearest cabin to Gunnoe’s place was about

one quarter of a mile away.

In the month of April, in the Spring of 1914, Mrs. Gunnoe was reported

to have been found dead in her kitchen by Willard Gunnoe, her husband,

and Ocie Mullens, her sister. The Mullens girl and Gunnoe had been

to the barn, some seventy-five yards from the house, attending the

cows. The alarm or report of the finding of Mrs. Gunnoe was given by

her husband to neighbors. On information furnished to the Prosecuting

Attorney of Kanawha County, that official instructed G. D. Acree, a

constable of Charleston District, to investigate the circumstances

surrounding the case. The Prosecuting Attorney also requested

the writer to work in conjunction with Mr. Acree in making the

investigation.

On our arrival at Gunnoe’s house we started our investigations and

found foot prints from a large foot on the kitchen cabinet and the

condition of the room showed there had been a struggle. Our next step

was to examine the body of Mrs. Gunnoe. A careful examination disclosed

finger prints on her throat and bruises on her arms. Her lips and

right side of her face were burned, apparently by carbolic acid. These

findings aroused our suspicions and we called Doctor O. L. Aultz, then

the county physician. Dr. Aultz advised a post-mortem examination of

the body, and all witnesses were hastily summoned before C. W. Dering,

a Justice of the Peace of Charleston District, who acted as coroner.

Mr. Gunnoe’s testimony before the coroner’s jury was to the effect that

he, together with Ocie Mullens, were in the habit of going to the barn

and milking before daylight in order to make early deliveries of milk

in the City of Charleston and suburbs; that after completing their

work they returned to the house and found Mrs. Gunnoe’s body lying on

the kitchen floor. He stated that at the time he returned to the house

day was breaking and he saw a man running from the kitchen door; that

he and his wife had had no trouble and there was no reason for her

committing suicide; that he was positive she had been murdered by the

unknown man he saw running from the house. Mr. Gunnoe also stated that

he heard no cries or commotion in the house whatsoever. Gunnoe showed

no emotion over the matter and acted unconcerned. His actions caused

no suspicion. Gunnoe had a long scratch from the left eye leading to

the tip of the nose as if caused by a finger nail and when asked the

question as to the cause of the scratch, he stated that while watering

his horse down at the river a sharp stick struck him in the face and

made the scratched place.

Ocie Mullens testified that she had heard no struggle or cries and

that she had also seen the man running from the house as Gunnoe had

testified. The witnesses were not separated during the examination

and she corroborated Gunnoe’s statements. After the hearing of the

evidence, the jury returned a verdict that Mrs. Gunnoe had been

murdered at the hands of an unknown person. For the purpose of further

investigating the matter, a warrant was sworn out for the arrest of

Gunnoe and Miss Mullens on instructions from the Prosecuting Attorney

and they were held without bond to await the action of the next grand

jury.

Constable Acree and I made repeated trips to Kanawha City and continued

our investigations and found foot prints in the mud leading from the

rear of the house to the barn and from the barn to the kitchen. About

half way between the barn and the house we discovered tracks which

led us to believe there had been a struggle at that point. One of the

prints compared with that found on the kitchen cabinet and the other

tallied with that of Mrs. Gunnoe, showing that she and her husband had

been at this point on the morning of the murder. To further bear out

this point, Mrs. Gunnoe’s shoes were covered with mud. On our return

from the Gunnoe house we visited the morgue and viewed again the body

of Mrs. Gunnoe. Our purpose for the second examination was to try and

determine, if possible, whether or not the scratch on Gunnoe’s face

was caused by Mrs. Gunnoe during some kind of a struggle or fight. We

examined beneath the finger nails of Mrs. Gunnoe and cleaned them out

with a tooth pick. The result of this disclosed human flesh.

Our next step in the line of evidence was obtained from the

post-mortem examination made by Doctor Aultz, which disclosed that

death preceded the apparent taking of the carbolic acid, as when her

throat was examined it showed no discoloration.

Gunnoe was indicted and tried in the Intermediate Court of Kanawha

county for the murder of his wife. The jury returned a verdict of

guilty of murder in the second degree, which carries a sentence of

from five to eighteen years in the penitentiary. Judge H. K. Black

sentenced Gunnoe to serve twelve years. Gunnoe resorted to all legal

steps to avoid the serving of his sentence, carrying his case to the

State Supreme Court, which court sustained the judgment of the court

below. After failing in his purpose Gunnoe, while confined in jail

awaiting transportation to the penitentiary requested permission to

converse with the Prosecuting Attorney. This leave was granted and in

the presence of Hon. T. C. Townsend, then Prosecuting Attorney for

Kanawha County, and the writer, Gunnoe confessed to the crime and

stated that he killed his wife accidentally by strangling her to death.

The altercation between them which led to the killing was caused by

jealousy on the part of Mrs. Gunnoe, she accusing him of being intimate

with her sister.

[Illustration]

Strange Creek Case.

In September, in the Fall of 1915, the writer was called to Glenville,

the county seat of Gilmer county, and was also called upon about the

same time by the Prosecuting Attorney of Braxton county in regard to

the above case.

Near Gilmer Station, on the then Coal and Coke Railway (now the B. &

O.) a young boy was rowing a small boat in Elk river and found the

corpse of a fully developed baby about three months old. The boy was

somewhat frightened at his gruesome find and went to the Town of Gilmer

and reported the finding of the dead baby. For some time there was a

question of jurisdiction between the authorities of Braxton and Gilmer

counties, and after a conference between L. H. Barnett, Prosecuting

Attorney of Gilmer county, and James E. Cutlip, Prosecuting Attorney of

Braxton county, it was decided that Gilmer county had jurisdiction.

I was then detailed on the case by Mr. Barnett and began my

investigation the latter part of September. No clue was in evidence

and no information to start from. For several days I visited each

little town on the Coal and Coke road between Orlando in Lewis county

and Clay Court House in Clay county. About ten days after I started my

investigation I was lunching at a small hotel at Burnsville and heard a

lady speaking of a young woman who had left the station at Burnsville

one night before the arrival of the B. & O. train carrying a small baby

and a yellow suit case. Upon investigating this matter I found that

a yellow suit case filling this description had been checked to a

station a few miles away, called Strange Creek on the C. & C. railway.

After securing all the information I could around Burnsville I went to

Strange Creek and found out that a young lady who had been teaching

school at Uniontown, Pennsylvania, had returned home and lived on a

farm up Strange Creek a few miles from Strange Creek station. No one

suspicioned the young school teacher, whose name was Ora Wilson. She

was from a good and respectable family which owned several farms in

Braxton and Clay counties.

I received at Strange Creek a description, as best I could, of Ora

Wilson and went back to Burnsville with this description. I found it

tallied with the one given me by the agent and the woman who had seen

her leave the depot a few nights before. I then walked from Burnsville

to Gassaway, a distance of about fourteen miles, inquiring as I went

if any one had seen a lady carrying a baby the night that she was seen

at Burnsville. There is a little school house about one mile from the

station at Gilmer and I ascertained that a strange woman had stayed

there all night alone. My next step was to proceed to Strange Creek

where I gathered from dates which I had that Miss Ora Wilson had

reached Strange Creek the evening after the woman had been seen in the

school house near Gilmer station.

Through an intimate friend of the Wilson family I found out that Ora

Wilson had been stopping at Weston, the county seat of Lewis county,

and that she had a three months old baby. This friend also advised

me that she was at her home on Strange Creek and that the baby was

missing. After receiving this information I satisfied myself that Miss

Wilson was the party wanted for the drowning of the child. I secured

a warrant for her arrest and went to Strange Creek and proceeded up

Strange Creek on horse back. On my way up the Creek I tapped the

telephone wires and learned from conversations on the rural line that

my presence and purpose in the neighborhood had been divulged to the

Wilson family and others along the line. When I arrived at the Wilson

home Miss Wilson was not there, and on account of it being a stormy

night it was impossible for me to make any search at that time. The

next morning Miss Wilson’s brother, who is a farmer, came to me at

the place where I stopped over night and stated that his sister, Ora

Wilson, had been out all night in the woods and wished to give herself

up. Mr. Wilson said he would accompany me to Gassaway that night and

we would then take the morning train there to Gilmer Station. When we

arrived at Gilmer station the whole town and vicinity had turned out

to see us, about two hundred in number. We hurried her from the train

to a taxi-cab which was waiting and from there went to Glenville where

she was placed in the county jail. Miss Wilson would make no statement

and would not converse with me. Her brother remarked to me on different

occasions that his sister was insane and that he was going to employ

the best counsel to do what he could for her. He employed Senator Kidd,

a very able attorney. At the preliminary hearing of Miss Wilson, held

at Glenville, Senator Kidd waived examination and she was held without

bond to await the action of the next grand jury.

When the grand jury finished its work, it failed to return an

indictment against her. The jury’s action in this matter, I have always

thought, was brought about by Senator Kidd’s cleverness. He would take

every farmer and citizen who would come to Glenville on business to see

“the crazy woman up here in jail.” This caused the sentiment of the

people to favor Miss Wilson and so many of the people and citizens of

the county had seen her it was impossible to get a jury who was not in

sympathy with her and she was released from custody.

[Illustration]

The Smith Gang, or the Lucky Thirteen.

In the year 1906, the Smith family, originally from Kentucky, moved

to Crown Hill, West Virginia, a mining town a short distance from

Charleston, known as one of the toughest little centers in the State of

West Virginia.

The father, W. H. “Bud” Smith, by occupation a miner, with a chief side

line in making counterfeit ten dollar gold pieces, which he passed in

poker games, at country stores and on persons who were unable to detect

them. This counterfeit would only last a few days, as its color would

change. The United States Marshal and other officers pursued him for

about four years and about the year 1910 found his molds in the “Black

Cat” mine near Crown Hill.

Tot Smith, a son of W. H. “Bud” Smith was a very young and desperate

outlaw. While engaged in a friendly wrestling match at Crown Hill one

Sunday evening, a young man by the name of Albert Summerfield threw Tot

to the ground twice, when Smith became aggravated and shot Summerfield

through the body. Mrs. Charles Summerfield interfered and tried to

take the pistol from Tot and he discharged a shot into her body from

which she afterwards died. Tot was apprehended for this murder and

was incarcerated in the county jail for a number of months, when he

became ill and one of Charleston’s best citizens aided and assisted

him in getting a $5,000.00 bond. When his case was called for trial in

the Intermediate Court he was absent and his bond was forfeited. His

bondsman at this time detailed the writer to apprehend young Smith. In

my investigation I found that young Smith would mail a package to his

mother from some point in Oklahoma and his next letter would be mailed

in Missouri or Kansas, never giving us a chance to apprehend him in any

city from where he would communicate. I made several trips to Kentucky,

Ohio and Indiana and parts of West Virginia in an effort to secure the

proper information to effect his arrest, but he evaded me at all times.

One winter day in 1913 I went to Crown Hill to capture him when he

and his father quietly got into a row boat, each having a Springfield

rifle and crossed the Kanawha river, leaving me behind. They took the

mountain trail which is just back of Riverside, West Virginia, and not

having anyone to assist me I did not follow them into the woods.

My investigation quietly went on, and at all times I had the house of

Richard Hager (his uncle), under surveillance. On Friday evening, March

13, 1913, (Lucky Thirteen) I received a telephone call which stated

that two strange men were at the Hager home at Paint Branch on Cabin

Creek. Being well armed, I summoned a local officer to accompany me,

but between Charleston and a stop on the C. & O. called South Ruffner

he gave up the trip and returned to Charleston. I then walked on to

South Ruffner and caught what is known as the “Bull Moose” train, a

local C. & O. freight, and went to Cabin Creek Junction and walked up

to Paint Branch, a distance of five miles, arriving there just before

dawn.

Upon my arrival the Hager family was up making a fire in the kitchen

stove when I knocked on the door. Mrs. Hager came to the door and asked

me what I wanted. I stated to her that I had been informed that Tot

Smith, who was wanted for murder, was in the house. She told me there

had been two men from Kentucky staying with them for a few days but

they had gone. By this time Richard Hager came through the house and

told me that there were two strange men up stairs, but neither of them

was Tot Smith or Bud Smith. I told them I wanted to look the situation

over myself and started up the stairs. Mrs. Hager told me that if I

went up the steps I would never come back alive, at the same time

urging her husband to shoot me in the back. I went up the stairs where

the children of Hager’s were sleeping and there were two young girls,

aged about 12 and 16 years in the first room I entered. I examined the

under mattress and found two feet which did not belong to either of

the girls, which feet were between the mattress. I was satisfied that

these were Tot Smith’s feminine feet. At this point I heard a door open

and Bud Smith said, “You will take nobody from this house,” and saying

this ran down the stairs. I ran down the stairs after him and he ran

into the front room and picked up a Mauser rifle. I demanded at the

point of my pistol that he drop the rifle, which he did. I did not fear

Tot Smith and I was sure that it was he up stairs and thought he was

securely hidden. I then told Bud Smith that I knew Tot was upstairs and

that I was going to search the place. At this point Tot Smith knocked

on the window while I was standing in front of the house and called to

me and remarked, “Clendenen, if you won’t shoot, I will come down and

give up.” I told him not to bring anyone with him and to come down the

stairs with his hands up, which he did. I had their clothes brought to

the front door where they dressed.

Mrs. Hager proceeded to curse me and call me all manner of vile names

till her husband made her cease.

By this time breakfast was ready and the prisoners asked me to allow

them to eat. Over the protest of Mrs. Hager I sat down and joined them

at the table. After breakfast both men requested me not to handcuff

them and I complied with their request, bringing them to Charleston to

the Kanawha county jail. In this case I received a reward of $700.00.

Fred Smith, a younger son, became a notorious burglar, having served a

term in the state penitentiary for robbery committed in Boone county.

He was arrested and convicted by the writer and members of the police

department for highway robbery. While waiting to serve his sentence

he made good his escape from the county jail, in company with another

Smith, named Dot, convicted of the same crime. At this time fifteen

prisoners sawed their way to freedom.

W. H. “Bud” Smith was tried and convicted at Charleston in the United

States Court for the Southern District of West Virginia and given a

sentence of a number of years, which he served, and on returning died

at Leewood on Cabin Creek, West Virginia, in the year 1919.

Tot Smith was tried for murder and convicted and given eight years

in the penitentiary at Moundsville. Serving about four years of this

sentence he was paroled on good behavior and became a noted bootlegger,

carrying liquor from Kentucky to the coal fields of West Virginia.

While leaving Ashland, Kentucky, with a considerable quantity of

liquor, riding in a coal car a special agent of the C. & O. at Ashland

saw him. Tot saw the special agent first and pulled his gun and

instantly killed him. After this affair he escaped. Being indicted for

this murder a reward was offered for his apprehension and about six

months later he was accidentally arrested for hoboing and identified

by Special Agent Johnson of the C. & O. as Tot Smith. He was returned

to Ashland, Kentucky, tried for murder and convicted of murder in the

first degree. He is now serving a life sentence in the Kentucky State

Penitentiary at Frankfort, Kentucky.

[Illustration]

A Railroad Theft.

During the holidays it is customary for railroads to employ what is

termed “relief agents” or men who are experienced in railroad agent

work, to take the places of men wishing to be absent during the

holidays.

The agent at Clendenin, West Virginia, on the Coal and Coke Railway,

wanted to be relieved for ten days. H. Crawford Bosworth, alias R. W.

Edwards, called on the train master of the Coal and Coke at Charleston,

West Virginia, and advised him that he was a telegraph operator and had

had considerable experience as station agent and that if there was a

position open as “relief agent” he would like to have the same.

Bosworth was employed by E. O. McGrain to relieve the station agent at

Clendenin for ten days. At this time the oil fields were running in

full blast and Clendenin was in the center of the field. Considerable

money was taken in by the railroad from freight and passenger traffic

during the holidays. At one time Bosworth had over four thousand

dollars in his possession and the assistant agent became suspicious

of him and notified one of the Clendenin banks just across the street

from the depot to call and get about twenty-six hundred dollars, which

he knew should be placed in the bank. The bank did so, leaving several

hundred dollars in cash still in Bosworth’s hands. On Monday evening

before Christmas, 1915, Bosworth came to Charleston, bringing with him

several hundred dollars and never returned to Clendenin. The writer,

being Special Agent of the Coal and Coke system, was notified of the

theft and I immediately started an investigation.

No one was acquainted with Bosworth. No one knew of any of his

relatives or place of abode. In a few days I understood that some

of the references Bosworth gave to Mr. McGrain had been dead for a

number of years. I gathered all the data and information I could and

consulted with the different employees, passenger conductors, etc.

We received some information from a conductor on a local freight who

stated that he had seen Bosworth over on the B. & O. about Chillicothe,

Ohio. I went to Chillicothe and made an investigation but received

no information or clue that would lead to his identity. On this trip

I visited several small Ohio towns on the B. & O. but failed to

get any information as to my man. On returning from Chillicothe I

purchased a Cincinnati Post from the news agent, dated January 26,

1916. In this issue of the Post I found a photograph of one Miss Myrta

Snider, stating that she had been holding a “man’s job” on the B. &

O. at Orient, Ohio, which is on the B. & O. S. W. Miss Snider was in

Cincinnati at the time seeking employment and had made application to

Miss Margaret Maxon, in charge of the State Cities Free Employment

Bureau in the City Hall. I went to Cincinnati and located Miss Snider

and had an interview with her in reference to the description of

Bosworth. She stated that at one time she had a sweetheart on the B.

& O. at Manchester, Ohio, by the name of H. Crawford Bosworth and she

told me that he had married a girl by the name of Marjorie Smithson,

a daughter of a blacksmith at Cuba, Ohio. I followed this clue and

found it genuine, but found that the Smithsons had moved to Manchester,

Ohio. I detailed one of my female representatives to make the trip

to Manchester, Ohio, by way of Cincinnati and she went there under

the disguise of an agent of the Prisoner’s Relief and Aid Society of

Huntington, West Virginia. The operative was in Manchester but a few

days when she made the acquaintance of Mr. Smithson, who was still

engaged in the blacksmith business and informed him of her business,

saying that she was appointing sub-agents on a nice percentage to

work for her. He immediately informed her that his daughter Marjorie

had been “down south” and had returned home and would be glad to

assist her. My representative went to the Smithson home where she met

Marjorie Bosworth, the wife of H. Crawford Bosworth. After gaining her

confidence and employing her as an agent, she gradually extracted from

her the information that Bosworth was in business in Atlanta, Georgia.

Upon receiving this information from my representative I immediately

started for Atlanta, Georgia, and on my arrival there went to police

headquarters. The chief of police at Atlanta detailed two of his best

detectives at that time, namely: Hollingsworth and Sturdevant to

assist me in locating Bosworth and making the arrest. After two days

of investigation we found that Bosworth had owned a pool room at No.

249 Whitehall street, but had sold out and had left the city. The

detectives gave up the case when they were assured by persons whom

they trusted that Bosworth was not there any longer. I then started

the investigation myself and in two days I had Bosworth located and

called the two detectives above mentioned. We arrested him as he was

entering a fashionable rooming house. When told we wanted him for the

embezzlement, he said he would not return alive and started to fight.

We were compelled to give him a severe beating before he was subdued.

After the fight, he and two other crooks were taken to the hospital

which adjoins the city hall. Bosworth engaged the services of Lawton

Nalley as counsel and for several days fought requisition papers.

We were granted an audience at 11:45 on Saturday morning before the

Governor. Mr. Nalley called us at the State House forty-five minutes

later stating that he had withdrawn from the case. Governor Harris of

Georgia immediately honored the requisition of Governor Hatfield of

West Virginia and we left with Bosworth for West Virginia.

After Bosworth’s arrival in Charleston we received telegrams from

numerous railroads and bonding companies who wanted him. The reward

would have amounted to about $2500.00 in all, but while confined in the

county jail, Bosworth made the statement that if the bonding companies

would not allow him to settle for all the thefts he had committed that

he would not be tried. A week before the convening of the grand jury,

Bosworth in some mysterious manner sawed his way from the jail and

escaped.

Holly Griffith--West Virginia’s Most Noted Criminal.

A little over thirty years ago there was born in Harrison county, West

Virginia, near the City of Clarksburg, a young man by the name of

Holly Griffith. Griffith was born of poor parents and had very little

chance to secure an education. The thought never entered the minds of

his parents that their child would turn out to be the case-hardened

criminal and murderer that he is, but such was his fate, as never

before in the annals of history of criminals in the State of West

Virginia has there been a man who led such a spectacular life of crime

as did Griffith.

In the month of May, 1915, Chief of Police Orden Thompson, of Gassaway,

West Virginia, while attempting to arrest Holly Griffith on a warrant

charging him with passing bogus checks, was shot and fatally wounded

by Griffith, and a bystander shot in the leg. As Griffith ran from the

scene of the shooting, he turned and told the crowd that had gathered,

“Don’t any of you men follow me.” He left Gassaway going toward Gilmer

county.

A mob was soon formed of Braxton and Gilmer county citizens and the man

hunt was on. The posse followed him through Braxton, Gilmer and Jackson

counties, and at times were only one mile behind Griffith. Griffith

showed cleverness in going to farmers and using the Citizens Telephone

lines and several times turned the mob back by giving them the wrong

information as to his own trail.

At one time in Gilmer county, the prosecuting attorney and other

members of the posse who were driving in automobiles came upon a man

near a little creek bank and almost surrounded him. This man was

Griffith and he picked out the prosecuting attorney, who was talking to

him at the time, and shot several times at the telephone pole behind

which the prosecuting attorney was hiding, splinters flying in every

direction. This posse claimed to be unarmed and Griffith escaped.

The next time he was seen was near Ravenswood in Jackson county by

a posse there. He knew that he was surrounded and had no chance of

escape. Griffith came down to the county road from the edge of the

hill and displayed two automatics, a deputy sheriff’s badge and a

pair of handcuffs, asking the posse if they were trying to apprehend

Griffith. They told him they were and he replied: “I have seen him and

will get in your car and assist you in finding him.” Griffith rode

about three miles in this car. At this time his left hand was bandaged

from a bullet wound inflicted while in the scuffle with Thompson at

Gassaway. Griffith saw some other cars coming in the opposite direction

and figured that he would be captured. He had the car he was riding in

stopped and said he would go into the hill and search for him. When

the two posses met they discovered that Griffith was the man they

wanted and went into the hill and separated and tried to surround

him. He evaded them by taking a boat and crossing the Ohio river near

Ravenswood. He was shot in the head while in the boat, which was only

a flesh wound and when he went up the bank on the other side his

right shoe heel was shot off. He then went about three miles from

Ravenswood into the country and got information from a farmer as to

the telephone connections, etc., and talked with the posse over the

telephone, telling them that Griffith had gone in another direction

and threw them entirely off the trail. At this farm house he had them

prepare a meal as he had not eaten in four days, being continually on

the “go”.

[Illustration: HOLLY GRIFFITH alias F. S. ROSE

_Serving three life sentences in Moundsville State Penitentiary and

will be tried for the murder of Jeff Goff, a constable of Wirt County,

West Virginia._]

Griffith then went to Parkersburg, where he stayed a few days and

while there visited his wife. He went from Parkersburg to Wheeling,

West Virginia. While in the act of boarding a B. & O. train bound

for Pittsburgh an officer attempted to arrest him and he knocked the

officer down, and I have been informed that the officer’s leg was

broken in the scrap. Griffith then went to Pittsburgh, where he pawned

one of his automatics and from Pittsburgh went to East Youngstown,

Ohio, on a freight train.

I had secured information that he had sent his wife a post card from

Pittsburgh and that he was on his way to Youngstown. I was at this time

City Detective for the Police Department of Charleston. One day while

searching the waste basket (this in the month of May, 1915) I found

a letter addressed to the Chief of Police, asking him if he wanted a

man by the name of Rose, for a crime, stating that he was under arrest

for resisting an officer, carrying concealed weapons and hoboing at

East Youngstown, Ohio. This letter was signed by the Town Marshal of

East Youngstown, James Murray. Murray stated that he had blank checks

from the Kanawha Valley Bank of Charleston, West Virginia, on his

person when arrested and also that he had a flesh wound in his left

hand. I asked permission of the Chief of Police to investigate this

letter and advised him that it was my opinion from the information

that I had secured before that it was Griffith who was apprehended

at East Youngstown. I sent several telegrams and told them that we

wanted Rose in this county for a forgery. As soon as I was satisfied

that the man was Griffith I went to East Youngstown, Ohio. I arrived

there and presented my warrant for S. F. Rose on a forgery charge

and asked him if I could not speak privately with the prisoner. I

was granted permission and was placed in a cell 6x10 feet with Rose.

Rose (Griffith) informed me that he was not able to talk much as the

authorities had been giving him a “sweating” for two days in order to

get him to tell where he was from and what he was wanted for. They had

kept him two days in this cell with a large Burnside stove, which is

usually found in small school houses, going full blast. They gave him

very little water and nothing to eat. Still Griffith refused and would

not talk. I told Rose his right name and said, “Holly, I remember you

distinctly. When you were in Charleston your chum was Grover Roush and

you are the same man that visited a certain dive on Dryden street, and

the same that gave Lawrence Beller a bad check for $100.00 for a motor

boat.” I also told him that the scar that was on his left hand was

caused by a bullet wound when he shot and fatally wounded the Chief of

Police at Gassaway. He then opened up and said to me: “Clendenen, I

thought several times of writing you a letter and telling you where I

was so that you would come and get me and return me to either Wirt or

Braxton county for a trial for the crimes that I have committed, and as

you are ‘on to me’, and if you will agree to take me to the Clarksburg

jail and leave me there until I am tried in either county, I will go

back with you without requisition papers, but please go and get me

something to eat as I am suffering from hunger.”

I told Griffith not to do any talking until I could investigate the

charges against him to see whether or not I could get the authorities

to allow him to go back to West Virginia on charges of forgery. At

this point, I want to state that I tried to get an officer from either

Youngstown or East Youngstown to accompany me to Charleston with

Griffith but without avail. My purpose in asking this was that a large

reward had been offered for the arrest and detention of Griffith and I

felt that the officer who had arrested him in Ohio should get his share

of same, but could not afford to give them full details as they were

holding him on two charges in Mahoning county, Ohio.

After several days’ deliberation, the prosecuting attorney of Mahoning

county agreed for Griffith to return with me on a forgery charge

and I brought him back, arriving in Charleston May 24, 1915. It has

been stated by the press that Griffith attempted to assault me in a

restaurant in Pittsburgh, but this is not true, as he was a model

prisoner at all times while in my care. It was not necessary to

handcuff him--this being one of our agreements when he agreed to return

without the necessary papers.

By some mysterious manipulation of “police routine” Griffith was taken

from Charleston to Sutton by another officer of the Charleston Police

Department and the whole credit for his apprehension and arrest was

given to another member of the department, which was unjust in every

sense of the word. Neither of these officers were familiar with the

crimes Griffith had committed and had not devoted one moment of their

time in looking up data in regard to him which might have led to his

apprehension.

When Griffith’s case was called for trial at the county seat of Braxton

county I assisted Hon. James E. Cutlip, the prosecuting attorney of

Braxton county, in the prosecution. While on the witness stand I

related Griffith’s confession to me, which was as follows:

“I was born of poor parents near Clarksburg, West Virginia, and

have worked considerable of my time at hard labor and had very

little chance to secure an education owing to the financial

standing of my parents. I have only been married a short time,

living near Elizabeth in Wirt county. While dealing at a

country store in the neighborhood I gave a merchant a check for

merchandise which was turned down by the bank and a warrant was

issued for my arrest and placed in the hands of Jeff Goff, a

constable of Wirt county. Goff came to my house one night in the

winter of 1914 with a warrant for my arrest. He knocked at the

door and I asked him who was there. He stated his business and

said if I did not open the door at once he would kick it down,

which he did. My wife told him I would go without any trouble

and he began cursing and swearing. He shoved my wife to one side

and came at me in an angry way. I reached for my pistol and shot

Goff. He went outside through the door and some of his friends

came to his rescue and carried him home. There is no doubt in my

mind but what Goff was drunk on this night as I had never done

anything to him and was afraid that he would do me bodily harm.

I left my little cottage that night and walked several miles

and came to Charleston. I stayed around Charleston for a few

weeks in company with Grover Roush and assisted him in selling

liquor. I went to a house boat near the Kanawha river bridge

and contracted a deal for a motor boat with a man by the name

of Lawrence Beller, giving him a bum check for $100.00 for the

boat. I left in the boat and he became suspicious of the check

and was advised by one of the Charleston banks that it was bad.

Beller ’phoned to Lock Ten on the Kanawha river and got me on

the telephone there. He told me the check was bad and I told him

that if it was bad that there must be some mistake about it; but

this was not a fact--the check was a forgery. He told me he was

coming down to get his boat and I told him that if the check was

bad to come on and get it that it would be there.

“I left the boat and went to a little place called Robertsburg,

in Putnam county. I stayed there a few days and gained the

confidence of some old people at a farm house. When I left I

showed them my deputy sheriff’s badge, two pistols and handcuffs

and told them I was going in the country after a man who was

wanted for murder. I gave them a bad check for my board bill

and secured $28.00 in cash. I then went to Clarksburg and again

met my relatives and came from Clarksburg over the B. & O. to

Burnsville. I went from Burnsville to Sutton and deposited

a check for $500.00 on a Clarksburg bank, which check was a

forgery. I then passed several checks at Gassaway on the Home

National Bank of Sutton, drawing on the account. For these

checks Orden Thompson secured warrants and tried to apprehend

me. When he approached me with the warrants, which I learned

later were for bad checks, I thought it was a warrant for my

arrest in connection with the killing of Jeff Goff in Wirt

county. I resisted arrest and shot Thompson and in the scuffle

shot a bystander who was near. This occurred in a little store

at Gassaway. I was at one time with the mob while they were

looking for me and talked several times with the posse over the

telephone. This bunch seemed to be a bunch of cowards. I do

not believe I should be convicted for either murder, because

I think I acted in self-defense in each case. I admit I did

wrong in forging checks and trying to get by with it--it is

one of my mistakes. I can show you fence posts near my home in

Clarksburg filled with steel jacket and lead bullets fired from

the pistols which I carried. I did this in order to become a

sure shot and thought maybe sometime I might need my pistols to

defend myself.”

Holly Griffith made several desperate attempts to escape from the

Moundsville State Penitentiary. At one time he was hidden in a shop in

which he worked and had prepared a dummy made of a pair of trousers,

an old coat and other clothing and put it in his cell in a position

that would look like a person. The guard discovered this was a dummy

by speaking to Griffith and when he found that Griffith was not in the

cell, they made a search of the shops and found him concealed there.

On January 6, 1921, Griffith succeeded in making a daring escape from

the institution. He first set fire to several buildings and then

proceeded to the power house in an attempt to destroy the lighting

system. A fellow inmate interfered with Griffith in this attempt and

Griffith immediately drew a knife and stabbed the fellow so severely

that his death resulted. He also assaulted several other inmates and

scaled the walls. In going over the wall he passed within fifteen feet

of a guard who was so excited that he permitted Griffith to make his

escape.

Griffith came down the Ohio river on foot and by freight train and

stopped at a house on the Ohio side of the river where lived a family

by the name of Roush. One of the sons, a young man, owned a motor boat

which was for sale. Griffith induced him to run him to Portsmouth where

he said he would draw money out of the bank and purchase the boat.

After they had traveled a short distance Griffith shot the young man

in the back of the head and then finished the job by beating him over

the head with the butt of the gun, throwing him into the Ohio river.

Griffith then proceeded alone to Portsmouth. Just as he was landing

the motor boat several persons acquainted with young Roush inquired of

Griffith where he was, to which Griffith replied that Roush had gotten

off in the east end of town and would be down soon. Griffith then

landed the boat on the Kentucky side of the river at a place called

South Portsmouth, and was never seen again until he was captured.

Griffith was captured in Greenwood, South Carolina, by policeman C.

T. Nelson and turned over to Newberry county officers for the robbery

of the Post Office, Express Office and three stores at Silverstreet

in that county on the night of January 24th. He confessed to all the

robberies when arrested. A blank check has been the cause of Griffith’s

arrest each time. When apprehended at East Youngstown, Ohio, a Kanawha

Valley Bank check was found on his person and this information led

up to his arrest. When caught at Greenwood, South Carolina, a blank

check from a Moundsville bank was found on his person which led to his

identity. The following is a facsimile of one of Griffith’s forged

checks given in the City of Charleston, West Virginia, under the

assumed name he used--“S. F. Rose”.

My information is that when Griffith was arrested he had upon his

person four pistols, two razors and two pocket knives. No doubt this

was one of Griffith’s clever tricks to get a short term in the Federal

prison for the post office robbery in order to evade the officers who

were on his trail to collect the $1000.00 reward which was offered

for his apprehension. I understand that Griffith smiled and made a

full confession of all his criminal actions to the authorities at the

Newberry county jail. This was one of his polite ways in deceiving the

public.

[Illustration: _This check was one of Holly Griffith’s

forgeries under the alias of F. S. Rose._]

Griffith was returned on requisition papers to Moundsville, West

Virginia, and tried in Marshall county for the murder of his fellow

inmate. The jury returned a verdict of guilty and he was again

sentenced to life imprisonment. After this trial Griffith was taken

to Point Pleasant, the county seat of Mason county and tried on the

charge of killing young Roush. The jury there also returned a verdict

of guilty and he was again sentenced to life imprisonment, this making

three life sentences he is now serving in the State penal institution.

At each of his trials Griffith in some way managed to either quote

himself or have quoted to the jury the following from the Bible: “Do

not take that which you cannot give.”

Griffith still stands charged with the murder of Jeff Goff in Wirt

county in 1914, and it has been intimated that he will be tried for

this crime, in an endeavor to hang him. He is the only man in the

United States now serving three life sentences.

A Moonlight Tragedy.

At one A. M. on the morning of March 26, 1921, T. E. Martin, a Justice

of the Peace for Loudon District, Kanawha County, West Virginia,

together with Special Officers Pete Tyler, Lawson Tyler and George

Jarrold, conducted a raid on the Davis Creek section, three miles from

the City of Charleston. The party was in search of moonshiners, and

during their progress from the mouth of the creek they discovered a

large mash box containing about two hundred gallons of sour corn mash

hidden in the underbrush in a small ravine above what is known as Jack

Dodson’s farm.

The officers, on finding the mash, came to the conclusion that the ones

interested in it would return soon and start their run. In carrying out

their plans, the officers concealed themselves and awaited the return

of the moonshiners. It later developed that the moonshiners had seen

the officers approaching and had hidden in the thick underbrush. Two of

the moonshiners rose from their hiding place and Pete Tyler discovered

them, saying to Martin: “Tom, there are two men.” Martin immediately

arose from the ground and promptly raised his shot gun to his shoulder

with the command to “throw up your hands,” Pete Tyler rising at the

same time. No sooner had these words been uttered by Martin than a

volley from the hillside echoed through the still night and Martin

and Tyler fell to the ground, Martin with a bullet wound in his neck

and Tyler shot just below the left eye. After the volley Lawson Tyler

and Jarrold fled from the scene, and reaching the nearest telephone

notified members of the Charleston Police Department, who together

with J. Walter Bee, Prohibition Officer; Clark Martin, a Constable for

Charleston District, and other officers left immediately for the scene

of the shooting.

On reaching the scene the injured men were placed in an ambulance and

rushed to the Saint Francis Hospital in Charleston where four days

later Martin died, Tyler recovering from his wound.

On delivering the men to the hospital a posse was formed under the

command of J. Walter Bee and Clark Martin and left for Davis Creek with

warrants for Jim Richards, Gilbert Hall, Jim Smith, Deward Huffman,

Charles Aldridge, Arthur Hudson and Herman Hudson. These men were

brought before G. D. Acree, a Justice of the Peace, charged with the

shooting of Martin and Tyler. They were placed in the county jail and

held without bond awaiting the outcome of Martin’s injuries. They were

later charged with murder and released from custody under heavy bonds.

After the preliminary examination Deward Huffman, Arthur Hudson and

Herman Hudson were released from custody and Richards, Hall, Aldridge

and Smith were held to await the action of the grand jury.

The author was absent from the city at the time of this murder on

his farm at Rural Retreat, Virginia. I was advised by wire of the

crime and immediately left for Charleston and on my arrival was given

personal charge of the investigation. Having a very good idea of who

the assassins were, I immediately began work on the case. My knowledge

of who the guilty men were came from several trips I made with Squire

Martin and other officers into this locality where Martin was killed.

At that time I had information that this mash belonged to Jim Richards

and others.

The prisoners all employed the same counsel and were advised to do no

talking. It was at all times impossible to get any statements from them

relative to the shooting and their whereabouts on the night of the

shooting.

In my investigation I saw that a mistake had been made by these men

being apprehended before there was an investigation made as to the

shooting, because as soon as they were apprehended their wives and

relatives began arranging an alibi for each man, and Davis Creek being

a moonshining neighborhood, and clannish, it was easy for this sort of

evidence to be secured for the defense.

After the indictments were returned Richards would make frequent trips

to Charleston declaring his innocence and talked as if insane upon

the streets, remarking that he knew a lot about the murder but was

not guilty and was afraid that his life would be taken because he had

informed on the other prisoners.

One beautiful spring day before the trial the sheriff was notified

that Jim Richards had been murdered and burned up in his log cabin

home on Davis Creek. Deputy sheriffs were sent to the scene to make an

investigation, bringing back with them what seemed to be the bones of

Richards tied up in a piece of cloth. These bones were shown to the

writer as soon as they returned. I saw immediately that they were

not the bones of a human body. I immediately left for the scene of

the fire and collected a number of small bones and turned them over

to Dr. W. P. Black, County Coroner, who was assisting in conducting

the investigation. We then held a consultation with the prosecuting

attorney and the State Fire Marshal. The Fire Marshal immediately filed

a complaint and had a warrant issued for the arrest of Venie Richards,

the wife of Jim, for the burning of her residence. She refused to give

any statement regarding the fire and murder, other than to remark:

“Jim and I were sitting in our little cabin on Davis Creek when

a rap came to the door and some one requested admittance. On

opening the door, thinking that it was some of our neighbors,

five masked men pushed their way through to where Jim was

standing and said, ‘Jim, we have come for you and are going to

put you out of the way.’ Jim saw that he was up against it and

said, ‘Well you have me,’ and picking up the old banjo, which

was a family relic, handed it to me and said: ‘Venie, you take

the old banjo and keep it, I may never see you anymore.’ I ran

from the house and as I started up the hillside I heard a pistol

shot and knew that poor Jim had been murdered. I turned and saw

the house was in flames and everything was silent. I never seen

poor Jim anymore.”

With these remarks she burst into tears.

She was placed in the county jail and could not arrange bond for her

appearance. Doctor Black examined the bones that were found in the

ruins of the home and discovered what were supposed to be human bones

were really sheep bones which had been sawed with a meat saw in a

butcher shop. The saw marks were very distinct. We gave Mrs. Richards

every chance to make a true statement but she refused and the above

story was repeated to everyone who interviewed her, even her close

friends.

The search was then instituted for Jim Richards. Several Charleston

citizens were on his bond as surety in the sum of six thousand dollars.

A close watch was kept for mail that might come to Mrs. Richards and

after a patient vigil, Henry A. Walker, Sheriff of Kanawha, discovered

a telegram for Mrs. Richards from some man in Boone’s Mills, Virginia.

After a careful investigation he located Richards in Rocky Mount,

Virginia, and had him arrested, returning him to Charleston where a

reward of two hundred dollars had been offered for his apprehension by

his bondsmen, this reward going to J. P. Hodges, Sheriff of Franklin

county, Virginia. The writer at this time was at the Ponce de Leon

Hotel in Roanoke, Virginia, making an investigation as to the character

of Jim Smith, etc., and while there met Sheriff Walker and others, in

the lobby of the hotel. I remarked, “Well, boys, where is Jim?” and

they told me he was in the county jail. My investigation was completed

and we all returned from Roanoke to Charleston on the Virginian train.

Several people from Princeton and other places on the Virginian Railway

identified Richards as the man who had been riding the Virginian train

between Deepwater and Roanoke and told us they believed he was crazy,

as he had made several proposals of marriage to young girls, telling

them that he had a fine farm in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia

and that he was a single man at present and wanted a wife. He would

carry with him on these trips a small Bible and quote scripture.

Richards made a complete confession coming from Roanoke to Charleston

as to the arrangements made for getting the bones and burning his own

residence, and offered as an excuse that a Voodoo Man from Virginia had

worked some kind of a hoodoo on him until he did not have his own mind;

that this man had sent word to him by a detective from Virginia telling

him that if he burned his house and put the bones in the ashes that

everything would be alright. He still denied any connection with the

murder of Martin.

Thinking that our strongest case was against Richards we proceeded to

try him at the next term of court on a charge of murder. He was tried

and the jury, after a short deliberation, returned into court with

a verdict of “Not Guilty”. The jury in rendering this verdict based

their actions on the fact that the only eye witness who identified

Richards as one of the men who did the shooting was himself shot in the

eye, Pete Tyler, together with the fact that it was in the night time

and the men were some forty feet away from Martin at the time of the

shooting.

Gilbert Hall was next tried and acquitted and the cases against the

others are still pending.

An odd incident occurred in connection with this case. During our

search of the ruins and the discovery of the bones, a resident of that

section of the district remarked: “Jim Richards is now in the Blue

Ridge Mountains of Virginia souring his mash.”

[Illustration]

An Investigation I Feared.

In the spring of 1921 I received a telegram from a friend of mine in

Carter County, Kentucky, asking me to report at Soldier, Kentucky,

which is on the Lexington Division of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad

out from Ashland, Kentucky. I communicated with my friend by letter

and ascertained that there had been a murder committed near Soldier,

Kentucky. After arranging a contract which was satisfactory I took a

young lady operative and we together went to Soldier, Kentucky. We

were met at the station by Albert Bailey and taken to the farm of I.

N. Edens. After arriving there, Mr. Edens and his wife told us the

following story:

“We only had two sons and both of them went to war. My youngest

son was shell-shocked and lived but a short time after his

return home. Our other boy lived on a nearby farm, a faithful

and true son to his parents and was loved by all who knew him.

It was customary for him about two evenings each week when the

weather was favorable to take a hunting trip by himself at

night, carrying with him a sixteen gauge shot gun, a carbide

light and his faithful hunting dog, Ned. One beautiful moonlight

night he left his home and went in the direction of the farm of

Kate Tolliver. On this farm is a large still house containing a

large copper still. This still had been running for a number of

years in Rowan County, Kentucky. Our boy failed to return from

his hunting trip at his usual time and about ten o’clock the

following day we started a search for him.

“Kate Tolliver had posted a sign on his land stating that no

one was allowed to hunt upon the premises. About 11:30 A. M.

the following day we found our boy in a dying condition near a

little mud hole about two hundreds yards from the still house

on Kate Tolliver’s farm. He only lived about twenty minutes

after we reached him. He told us that he was coming from the

top of the mountain towards the still house when a man, unknown

to him, sprang out in front of him and fired two shots from a

high powered rifle, both shots taking effect. He told us that

after being shot he had made it to this mud hole for a drink of

water, a distance of two hundred yards. The parties with me when

I found our boy had several different kinds of horns and shot

guns, and when we were near the scene one of the men would blow

into the barrel of a sixteen gauge shot gun and we could hear

the whines and bark of our boy’s dog. We discovered that the

only sound he would answer was that which came from a sixteen

gauge shot gun. By this means we located him.”

During my investigation in Rowan, Lewis and Carter Counties, a number

of men approached me on horse back and asked permission to form a mob

to go to the farm of Kate Tolliver and hang both him and Buck McKenzie.

Generally speaking the public believed that young Edens was killed by

Buck McKenzie at the instance of Kate Tolliver.

During my investigation I examined the thirty acre laurel patch in

Carter County which was at one time a noted moonshine den. A notice was

made on a small board with the following inscription: “This is as far

as any officer is allowed to come.” My understanding is that none would

venture beyond that sign.

The next day after the murder of young Edens, the prosecuting attorney,

sheriff and other officers came from the county seat to the farm

of Tolliver and burned his still house, but the night before Kate

Tolliver, with a gray team of horses and a sled, had hauled the still

away into Lewis County where it had been destroyed by the roadside. The

posse tried several times to catch Tolliver at home, but when he would

see them coming he would proceed to the hills and would not be seen

again for several days. We never located McKenzie.

Kate Tolliver was a member of a noted family of criminals living in

Rowan and Carter Counties, Kentucky, he having served a number of

sentences for murder in the Kentucky state prison and at this time

was on parole from a life sentence for murder. He was a member of the

same family of which four were murdered by Logan and a number of other

citizens about thirty years ago in Moorehead, Kentucky.

While completing my evidence ready for an indictment at Moorehead

Kate Tolliver rode into the county seat of Rowan county in a drunken

and disorderly manner. He was stopped by the Marshal and a pistol

duel ensued in which Tolliver was shot to death by the Marshal. This

finished my investigation, one that I feared more than any other I ever

made in a criminal case.