Wilmington daily commercial., 1872-12-07
PROF WEST sURRENDERs HIMSELF TO THE
3 SHERIFF. "a; Va
His Full Confession of the Murder.
Threatened Lynching - scenes at tho Dover
Depot, Last sight. -5,-r,

are before the public. Professor West has re-
turned to the scene of his murderous operations,
surrendered himself into the custody Of the
Sheriff Of Kent county and is now securely locked
within the portals Of the new jail.
After his disappearance from tho train at Del
mar, nothing more was seen Of the Professor
until last night when, shortly before the arrival
OF the North bound freight, with passenger car
attached, at Harrington. he suddenly and almost
unobservedly
TURNED UP AT THE DEPOT
Few persons, however. il any, recognized in
the mud-stained and mutled individual the ana
BILE and good-looking Profession, and his person
ality was unknown to those collected at the de-
pot, until boy named Reeoe Merritt remarked to
the byetanders, "rhere IL the man went to
school to, at Dover, Mr.! West. He is the man
who was blown up by the gas explosion at Do
YER"
No attempts were made to arrest Mr.. West at
Harrington, and when the train started,
HE ENTERED THE CAR,
and sat himself down in one Of the seats, foot
sore and weary, and much agltated in mind.
The conductor, Thomas II. Hawkins, in the
meantime, had been apprised of the presence OF
MIR. West upon the train, and kept constant
watch over him. When called upon for bis
ticket, he replied he had none. and no money TO
pay his fare, The conductor, however, allowed
him TO ride on to his destination, after he had
said he was "going to Dover to give himself up
VESTS CONFESSION TO MR.. HAWKINS.
Taking seat beside MIR. Vest. Mr.. Hawkins
began to question him relative to the murder
aud the singular manner IN which he had acted
He frankly confessed that he had taken the life
of the colored man, but said, in paliation of the
deed, that ii was committed in self defence
that OoOch Turner, (the man murdered) had OBJ
tanned y glimpse OF his pocket-book and its we'll
filled contents, as he was paying bin for some
work done, whereupon he (Iurner) picked up
sA.nA
| Turner then, he says, advanced upon him with
| the hammer uplifted, when he picked up bar
| Of iron, one or two feet in length, and struck
him on the back of the neck, killing him instant
| ly This was done on Monday.
THE MUTILATIoN OF The BODY. l..
The commission OF the murder, West says stu
| piled him with horror, and his next thought was
| the disposition of the body, without the knowl-
| edge of it coming before the public. He says
/ that ho, therefore, began to remove the body by
| piecemeal cutting off the hands, head and feet,
| with the Intention of burying them, but the
| ground was frozen 30 hard that he found this to
| be an impossibilIty, and 30 resolved upon the
| plan TO burn the building and the body with ID,
| lie in the meantime disappearing, in the hope
that the charred remains would be taken for his
| own and the whole affair would be attributed to
an explosion of the gas which he was exper-
| imennng with. & 10
''YoU NEVER HAD DEAD NIdaER ON YOUR
/ HANDS,"
When questioned as to the singular manner in
| which he had acted, and why he did not at once
| confess the deed which he had committed, that
| he might be honOrably exhonerated, he replied
that he was no confused he knew not what to do
that tyou never had dead niger on your
hands" and don't know what you would have
done under the circumstances.
ARRIVAL AT DOVER.
Word had been teegraphed the sheriff Of Kent
county from Harrington that West was on the
| n,,A f,,F i'm tr he at ha
its arrival at Dover. The operator at
Dover instead of quietly communicating the
fact to the sheriff his duty required
spread the news abroad through the community
| as we'll aud when the train drew up at the de-
pot there were several hundred people iu wait
ing. Ex.Sheuff Hargadine and Deputy Sheriff
Irons, assisted by posse, took the prisoner 10
charge. Dut the crowd pressed around them, ex-
claiming what have you done with the deao
nigger p why did you kill him ?" Hang
MIN I" and such like, and many persons suppose
that had it not been for the Sheriff, the prisoner
would have been lynched upon tine spot.
IN JAIL.
The sheriff forced his way through the crowd
aud led his prisoner to the jail, where he wa
confined to await an investigation. Attorney
General Lore went down to Dover last night
Vests brothers and his father-in- law Joined hin
, , in the cell They were very much distressed
and in tears while West coolly and apparently
! : nuconcerned ate his supper. d.,
q THE PRoFEsb0Rb TRAMP.
a From Demar, Professor West walked to Har
| | rlngton, about thirty miles, and arrived III
t | worn-ont condition. He had besmeared his fac
3 | aud clothing with mud, 30 as to prevent detec
4 | tiOn and took his seat in the oar at Harrington
= | IN this plight. MIR. Hawkins provided soap an
a towel for him. when he washed MS taee an
: hands, and seemed much refreshed thereby
1 He then became communicative and made th
y confession above related to the conductor.
>, ANOTHER THEoRY OF THE MURDER.
y Two theories of the murder prevail at Dovel
4 one OF which was puOishedin our columns, yes
!. terday The other1is that Cooch Turner hri
- | being hired to convey large box from Capt
BattelIs cabinet shop was enticed to test the gai
# which, when it had been inhaled, had quite
- different effect upon Cooch from what had bee
anticipated and resulted in his death, HaVln
killed the man, his next experiment was TO dit
pose of the BODY and 30 AZ a last resort, tn
. burning of the building, and the blowing up
=, the body was resorted to. The scheme was
~ desperate one, but had it succeeded, Dover, tC
! day, would have been lamentlng the untimel
u death of the Professor, rather than speculatin
III upon the causes which led to the commission {
the crime, and weighing the justice OF his meri
to sympathy by the circumstances as they ar
more fully revealed.
no PUBLIC SYMPATHY,
ts However rests with the Professor, we unde
ce stand, from a gentleman who came up fro
ey | Dover, this morning. The excitement runs hig
IN but the mantle OF charity is thrown over the 10
deed, aud an element in the community is .
ready strongly impressed with the insanity
Mr. West The singular manner in which he b
OK acted, we must confess, points to this concl
he sion, but it may be an insanity which orglnat
" in full comprehension Of the enormity of Il
70, crime which he has perpetrated.
"e THE INSURANCE" THEORY.
{. A private letter from a gentleman in Dover
90 ~ friend in this city argues the plausbilty
III | the theory that Prof West had murdered II
'" ner and resorted to stratagem in order to obta
the full amount of the insurance policy. T
ew writer SAYS that DR.. Shakespeare has examin
ma West forHthree Insurance Companies, within
Tor year and that the belief prevails that the tot
insurances upon his life will aggregate va, W
on for the most part effected within that tim
for But," continuesl the writer, how this thee
could have been carried out, to be OF any benht
,v. him. am at a loss to understand, except on :
aw supposition of the complicty OF his wife IN
~ act And that arrangement could not nave pc
carried out, for the reason that there would ma
4. been an administrator, or administrator, ,appol
tine ed, who would have taken charge of two-thl
oss of the insurance for the benefit Of his Chi
leaving but one-third to the wife, which Wo