The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1883-12-29 00:00:00

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AN OUTLAW HUNTED BY BLOODHOUNDS.
The following narrative of the pursuit of a notoii-
ous criminal appears in a recent issue of the Phila-
delphian Times: Seven determined men and two
bloodhounds raced over the rocks and be it th
thickets of Ephrata Hill, November 12, in search
of the outlawed Buzzard brothers, for whose cap-
ture, dead or alive, the farmers and storekeepers of
that part of Lancaster county offer a reward of
1,000 dollars. The hunters were Henry Vashurg,
Abraham R. Myers, John S. Durlein, Henry P,
Zollinger, George W. Gibbs, Hiram Eichelberger,
and James R Morris. Constable Jones, the only
public official Ephrata has, was to havo joined the
party, but just before the start ho withdrew, saying
that he bad to go to Lebanon to testify against a
brace of captured burglars. Jones is a cobbler, and
many people express the opinion that he does not
like the smell of powder, The farmers are indig-
nant because he fired into the air instead of into
Clifford when that desperado was brought to bay
Ist week. Jones and several other men watched
Abe Buzzard's house ou Ephrata Hill, last week
with the hope that the proprietor would visit his
family. Clifford says that Buzzard and he discovered
picke s of the enemy and fell back. Buzzard coolly
remarked to his companion "Well, if Jonesy is
watching my shanty he can't be guarding his own
so let us go down and clean him out" They then
marched into the village, robbed Jones's house of a
lot of clothing, piliaged his hen roost, bought a
quart of whiskey at a saloon, and retreated to the
mountains. The men who scoured Ephrata Hill
have no personal grievances to settle with the
Buzzards. They simply want the reward. Zollinger,
Morris, and the dogs came from Litz on the first
train this morning and their comrades awaited
their arrival here. Gibbs aud Zo linger carried shot
guns. Eichelberger had a musket, and the others
were armed with revolvers. The hunt began before
nine o'clock. The 200 houses of Ephrata are strung
along the turnpike for half a mile and at the South
eastern end of the string stands Ephrata Hill and
th 3 rJad to the top of it is a mile long. With the
exception of a few small clearings this mountain
is covered fromibase to peak with heavy woods
dense thickets and huge boaters. A chain of hills
equally as wild connects this ono with the Welsh
mountains, about six miles away. In a clearing
on the north-west ei le of Ephrata Hill are the
houses of Abe and Ike Buzzard, two of the represen-
tatives of the third generation of Lancaster county's
most notorious criminal family. Ike's wife and
family went away some months ago but Abe's
family are still there. The houses are of wood and
very old and the one inhabited by Abe's wife and
• three children looks as though it might tumble
down at any moment. Everything about the place
is dirty and miserable looking. Abe's wife is 30
years old, coarse and vicious. Her sister is married
to Ike Buzzard. Abe's children are ignorant and
homely. There are two rooms on the ground
floor of the building. In cold weather the Buzzards
cook, eat, and sleep in the front apartment, from
the windows of which one can look down into the
heart of Ephrata. The furniture consists of a
wooden bunk, a table, two or three chairs, a clock,
a looking glass, and a few cooking utensils The
children are warmly, but not cleanly, clad. Mt s.
Buzzard is es aggrsssive as a game hen. Facir,g
the reporter this morning, she said, "I'll tell you,
as I have told all the rest, that if you have come to
ask about Abe you won't get anything from me
but a broken need • I'm not afraid of all of you,
and if I had that shoemalter, Jones, here, I'd cut his
heart out." Having relieved her mind she became
dumb. On a shelf under the looking-glass stood a
dirty photograph of her outlawed husband. Notic-
ing the reporter 0) eing it she boon eed to her feet,
snatched the picture, and thrust it into the bosom
of her dress. Judging from his picture, Abe is
neither good-looking nor intelligent. He is 35
years old, has been under arrest 46 times, and has
s(rved 19 years in prieen. Eleven years ago a re.
ward of 30) dols. was offered for his arrest, and he
lived in the "Welsh mountains 16 months before
he was captured. He was a terror to farmers and
country et• rekeepers when a boy, and they fear him
more than ever of late years. When Clifford was
shot and captured list Friday the infuriated
Lrtners, headed by Constable Jones, wanted, to
hum the houses of the Buzzards. Abe's wife, how-
ever, refused to leave the building and dared the
crowd to set fire to it. It was generally believed
that Abe owned the houses, but his wife declared
that they were only rented, and, fearing the
consequences of burning property that did not be-
long to the Buzzards, the crow I concluded not to
apply the torch.
The men who hunted Abe Buzzard, on the occa•
sion under notice, are confident that be is concealed
on Ephrata Hill. Gibbs was very positive on this
point. He was once a member of the Buzzard
gang, and is said to have taken part in many of
their looting expeditions. For seven years he has
lived honestly, but some suspicious people here
think he only guided the party in order to steer
them away from his old comrade's hiding place.
Be that as it may, Gibbs gave his companions a
rough march of 15 or 20 miles to-day, and when
they returned at night all were worn out. When
the search began the bloodhounds were turned
loose a few hundred yards south of the Buzzards'
clearing. They are big and savage looking brutes,
but it was evident that they had not been trained to
hunt men, and they were as often behind as ahead
of the hunters, who were spread out to cover a trail
300 yards wide. Ben, the youngest hound, for an
hour or so, had an unpleasant habit of every now
and then bounding through a thicket and threaten-
ing to attack one or other of the men. Finally the
hound bit Darlein's right hand severely, and it was
with great difficulty that Morris prevented the
wounded man from shooting the brute. Gibbs
made the first find of the day. It was a bunch of
bloody rags, which lay in a coop made by standing
new fence rails against the face of a huge boulder.
Buzzard had evidently dressed his wounds there.
Beside the rags lay some empty cartridge shells and
Lancaster newspaper. Zollinger rubbed the
bloody rags over the noses of the dogs, and they
howled mournfully. He said that would make
them hunt better, but it didn't. They crawled
through the underbrush and chased rabbits, and
were as generally useless as before. It was noon
when the hunters came upon a cave scooped out at
the base of a r ck, The place was eight or ten feet
deep, and in it was a bed of leaves. In a hole in
the ground at the mouth of the little tunnel were
ashes and charred sticks. Built in this way, a fire
could not be seen at any distance. Here the
searchers ate their lunches, and chatted about the
bags of stolen dry goods which were on Sunday
taken. from under a cairn on the mountain, and are
now awaiting identification at Magistrate Keller's
in Lincoln. Then they trudged onward, and the
dogs treed a woodchopper, and shortly afterwards
compiled two tramps to seek safety on a rail fence.
When Zollinger, Myers, and Morris saw the men on
the fence, they supposed they were part of the gang
that broke gaol with the Buzzards, and covered
them with their firearms. Vosburg and Durlein
recognised the men as harmless tramps. They were
gathering hickory nuts. During the afternoon the
weather became colder, and a slight fall of snow
made travel over the rocks very difficult. At four
o'clock a halt was called, and it was resolved to give
up the hunt for the day. They returned to Ephrata
to find the people greatly excited. During their
abscene, two men from Cheste: county had ideatified
a lot of the stolen goods in Lincoln, and Jere Spur-
za,ll reported that he had seen and talked with Abe
Buzzard near Hahnstown. Ile says Buzzard was
wounded in the left arm, neck, and shoulder. Buz-
zard told him that he did not intend to leave Lan-
caster county. He was going to remain in the
hills, and kill auyone who attempted to arrest bun.
The Hahnstowu woods and the big Manheim cave
will be searched by the Gibbs and Morris party to.
morrow, but the bloodhounds will not be used.
The general impression here is that timid farmers
in the neighbourhood are secretly assisting Abe
Buzzard: Jones, Lauer, Rohrer, and two or three
other citizens who caught Clifford are quarrelling
about the reward of 100 dots. offered by the sheriff.
Barr, the young luau who was shot during the fight
with Clifford and Buzzard, is out of danger. Three
men left Akron during the afternoon for West Co-
e, filial township, where the Buzzards have relatives.
They think Abe may be concealed in that neighbour-
hood. Mr Myers said, "It is batter we don't make
so much chasing after Abe and party. He will get
tame yet, like he was before, and then we can catch
him, and hang him right away by a tree."