The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1865-04-10

further at that time, l returned to lftts'
burg.
Before completing tb,tevi'lence for the
rrosecution. tLe c,a,c was adionIne'
oven until this morning a. nine oc'clok
TRIAL AND ACQUITTAL OF THE SUP,
,osED "CONFIDENCE" MAN.-On Satur
day morn.ng c. NJ. Gordon, who was al
.ested here one day last weel. charged
with being engaged in a confidence
s%iudle, had hearing before Justice OF
ihu Peace T. J Blair on Saturday morn
iug. and was honOrably acquitted
The evidence for the prosecution went
70 show that Gordon, on or about the
18th of March, came to this city, and on
and after that time, took the mail matter
from lock box 81; that said mail matter
was confidence" swindling correspen-
dence game carried on by one T. t. Nor
ton; that one day last week Gordon was
seen taking the mail from the box, was
followed to the Grant House and subse-
quently arrested; that on his person were
found the signatures to a number of let
tiers, and number of one dollar bills, all
in roll labelled "T. T. Norton" the key
of lock box 62 was also found upon the
prisoner.
The evidence for the defense; clearly
proved that Gordon had taken the train
from Columbus, Ohio, for home on the
l4th day of March; that he had a few
days before graduated at Athens College;
that the train was delayed all night at
Newark by soldier train in front being
off the track that Gordon had long con-
versation with a man calling himself T.
T. Morton, said Morton representing him
self to be treasurer of an Eastern oil
company; that Morton was very anxious
to get to Wheeling to transact some bust
ness before going East; that after the de-
lay Morton desired to employ an attor-
ney to transact the business in this city;
that Gordon made The fact that he was
a lawyer known to Morton, and had a
conversation with him relating to en-
gaging himself to the oil company as an
attorney, &c. Some five or six leading
citizens of Belmont county, Ohio, who
had known Gordon from childhood, testi
fled as to the character and standing of
the gentleman, representing him to be
Christian, man of honor and integrity,
whose character was unimpeached, when
the counsel for the defense asked for the
discharge of the prisoner. The counsel
for the prosecution seconded the motion
for the discharge of Gordon, and the
Justice Immediately upon the close of
the evidence acquitted and discharged
the prisoner.
1t is evident that Gordon was duped
by some designing scoundrel that he en-
gagged himself to receive letters here and
forward their contents, saving only the
signatures of the letters, and that Cor
don was an honest and reliable man, in
that he faithfully performed the work he
had agreed to do .l---
The following is copy of one of the
innumerable letters sent from this city,
to which about one hundred replies, con-
tanning as many dollars we're received in
this city:
WHEELING, Va, March 18th, 1865.
George ". anderson,
y~We have a package valued at $50, to
be transferred to you, which will be done
by sending us 81 90 to pay former trans
portation charges otherwise it will be
sold according to statute. Address
T. T. MORTON,
Drawer No. 62,
Wheeling, Va
As the letter bears upon its face evil
dence of a swindle, many persons favored
with letters wrote back toi the authori
ties of the affair, and so the swindling
game was squashed.
THE MURDER OF JOHN ICE.-One day
last week We briefly stated the tact that
Nj. John Ice, Of Marion county had been
murdered by soldiNr5 near Fairmont.-
The Pttsburg .Chro.iclC, paper noted for
ultraism, and i'll favor of anything except
Jaw, order and deoency, had some doubts
about the article in question. Since the
perusal Of it's ungenerous and libellous
article We have endeavcred to obtain the
fl, Is come, led With the muIGtr, and can
now state hem follow ''ITce Fed
eral scouts starred in pursuit OF. two
l'uslIwhackers, and after >hasigg them
some distance lost thym and were about
abandoning the chase when they came
across Mr.. Ice, who was busilv eng. .sed
\. g!ou. uiHS VI . held. The scouts ask
ed Ice if he had seen anything of the
rebels, to which interrogatory Iceleplied
that he had not. The scouts continued
the chase, and in crossing Ices field dis
covered what they took for the foot
prints of the guerrillas. They returned