Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1867-11-30
..0|Iblo .. G Statesulan
4 Virginia Family BeIeaguered.

A Virginia Family BeIeaguered.
The HIysier,ous Affair AT the Resi-
dence of Mr.. j. 9. Moon, of Al
= bemarIe. es gu 'nyE
{ Fl tFrom the SoottsviIle (va0 Registerl
SCoTTsvILLE, ALBEMARLE Co., I
~ 'f,.ss5 VIRGINIA, Nov. IL, 1867. 4
+, About ten months ago, candle box,
filled with rags, saturated with whisky,
was placed against a side of Mr.. John s.
Moons house, FIVE miles from this place,
and ignited. About one o'clock at night,
the fire was discovered and extinguished;
and the unburnt rags discovered to be
fragments of garments missing from Mr..
Moons house, in the then past several
months. Whether the effort to burn the
house had any connection with what has
followed, is not known. m asr5
Mr.. Moon was not again molested, that
he is aware Of, until spring opened, when
a member of his family saw man stand
ing motionless few feet in front of his
house late at night. ~ - +. :. j.. =; ~
On another occasion, two men were
seen to walk back and forth across the
yard.
On another occasion, a negro woman,
reported she saw black looking man
crouched at Mr.. Moons front gate late.
at night; and on another occasion, also
late at night, similar looking man was
seen crouched near the gate, who after
wards got up and went towards the house.
During Mr.. Moons absence, attend
ing court, about that time, his parlor+
door, which had ;been carefully shut and
locked (the key being leap in the lock
at night J, was found open in the morn,
ing. ls5.ii ~ "a a5ss ss
In night or so afterward, parlor
window which had been fixed with a
straw stuck in the crack of it, was found
to have been hoisted the store-room
door was found open (unaccountably)
several mornings about that time. -
After this Mr.. M. fixed his inside and
outside doors and windows in such way
as to know if they were disturbed, and
found they were repeatedly opened. He
watched on the inside of his house for
good many nights nearly all night. but
failed to detect any one attempting to
enter. No one disturbed the house the
nights he watched. -.s,aetf
One night about six weeks ago, Mr..
M. fastened all the doors and windows
carefully. He was the first one to, get
up the next morning, and found his in
side dining-room door had been opened,
a store-room door opening into the din
ing room had been unlocked and opened,
door opening into the kitchen from the
dining-room had also been unlocked and
opened, and the sliding kitchen door had
been moved back. A light had been
seen to fash about the house that night
after the family had all retired. From
he store-room about four or five pounds
of sugar, gotten and weighed the evening
before, had been taken, and the whisky
out of demJohn, known to have been
full the night before, was missing. By
the sugar was basket of silver ware
which was not disturbed.
sIR The next night Mr.. Moons son, about
fourteen years old, was sleeping in his
fathers office, which is about 100 yards
from the house. On this night effort
was made. to hoist the window, which
awakened his son. He jumped up, saw
man run off, got his gun and made in
effectual pursuit. -
The next night noise was heard in
the dining-room, and man seen from
an upper window to run off from the
house through the back passage door,
which was found open, though carefully
closed short time before. The door
had not been locked because of sickness
in the family. so ,..s s7za e7g'
4 The next night some one was heard to
stumble on an open shed over the back
passage door. A loud crash immediate
ly followed. Upon going out, Mr.. Moon
found on the ground, not far from the
shed, several ladies' and childrens' gar
ments, taken from the upper part Of the
house, and the remains of two plates
taken from the dinning-room, wrapped
up in them; also bible taken from the
dining-room mantlepiece, few feet off.
"A child's bonnet wrapped up in roll of
children's clothes was found on top of
the shed. "a 90 lsas7sd tetfaoi uao saa .t.-a
e The next night was dark, windy, and
rainy. About midnight, pane of glass
in one of the dining-roam windows was
smashed in, and the sash raised. Some
one was heard to jump in. and when the
alarm was given, to jump out again-no
one was seen. IS rdu H 'sr
The next night was windy and dark,
and the rain fell in torrents. Every
door and window was carefully closed
by Mr.. NJ, except the back passage
door, and he placed all of his family in
his chamber-in room opening next to
him. He sat in this open door with his
gun in his hand about two hours, when
suddenly his chamber around the corner
from him was bursted in with loud
crash. He rushed to the spot, but could
not have seen or heard a man moving in
three feet of him, on account of the
darkness, wind and rain, and the outcry
of his family. He then closed and lock-
ed the door in which he sat, and in Or
der to keep from being seen against the
sky, crawled around to the front of the
house, and placed himself twenty yards
in front of his front door, where he re-
mained until about day. While there
he heard the rattle of sash of glass,
but could see nothing for the darkness.
In the morning he found that the putty
around the side light in his front door,
next to the lock, had been cut out, evil
IDENTIFY with the intention of unlocking
the door. An effort, which was nearly
successful, had also been made to force
in the side light sashes and the pannels
below them. assl .s..e
The next night there were ten Or
twelve men around the house. Two of
them report that they saw man creep
ing on all fours along the garden fence
-one of them shot at him with pistol