Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1873-11-14
ore (Oct. "a Correspondence Of Il
Cincinnati Commercial.
GlDEHYDOT. 0Ss.
\ Remarkable Chapter sn Crime.

SADEREDOI'.S10
The trial of W. T. Udderzook for
murder, which commenced on the
9th inst. at Westchester, Pa, promi-
ses to unfold one of the most remark
able criminal cases Of the age-a case
involving more of mystery, startling
incident, greed for gain, and heartless
butchery than was ever coniured up in
the brain of the most sensational
writer OF modern fiction. The plot of
this dark tragedy. it's scenes and incl
dents, as disclosed before the courts,
coIoner's jury, and unearthed by
shrewd detectives, may be summed up
as follows
ACT FIRST.
a wooden tenemen! IN the suburbs
Of Baltimore, occupied by one ". S.
Goss, who is ostensibly engaged in ex-
perimenting on substitute for rub
Der, for which he proposes securing a
patent. He has a partner, one ". L.
Udderzook, who Las put 5000 Job
tained from his mother) into the COM
mon purse, the object being not to
perfect a patent, but to defraud five
insurance companies out of SO, ,000.-
Goss is a married man, and these poll
cies are on his life, one of so. 0G0 be-
ing in the Travellers (accident( Com
pany. Udderzoot procures a corpse
from some cemetery or dlssecting
room and places it in the build
ing. Then, ali being in readiness
for the final coup, Udderzoot
and Goss start one morning for this
building, purchasing on the way pint
of whiskey and a gollon ct eoal oil.
They also borrowed al axe of a neigh
Dor, who accompanies them. With
the axe n quantity of kindling is cut,
| and at dark futile effort is made TO
light coal oil lamp. Udderzoot then
goes away with the neighbor, osteDsi-
| bly, for the purpose OF procuring an
| other lamp. They had not been gone
long before the building was in flames.
Gyss had piled tie kindling wood on
the body, drenched it with coal oil,
and set fire to th. pile He then ran
down the lane, got into a buggy which
his brother, A. G.. Goss, had procured
| ana held IN waiting, and drove to the
Philadelphia depot. He then took a
| train noTthward, to become q votun-
tary wandcrer, q homeless outcast.
UdIeixno5 and his companion
, hastened back to the h,az.Dg 3UIII:ng-
: The ,!righhor5 gather acnurd, and
stand in the gar" e ia" cracking
/ flames. Not 1tntil tllr fire feld had
| done it's worst did JdjeI: rot mention
20 thos" around hi0. that GosS WAS il
| the building. tbs failed 10 create Il
! sensation, however, as several had
! seen a man run down the jane when
/ then fire broke ont, a d there had
! been no explosion.
| ACT sEC0Hp.
! The United States Circnit Court
| Room, Baltimore. The widow of
! Goss had claimed OF the insurance
, companies the amount OF the policies
, on her husbands life, and payment
had been refused on the ground that
| Goss was not dead. The widow
maintained that her husband had
perished III the flames, and she
brought suit Then the remains
found in the ruins were disinterred
| and examined by medical experts
! The defense urged that the teeth We're
| unlike the fine set Goss was known to
have possessed; that the hair exhibited
was not the color of his, and so war
! was waged over these eharred frag-
ments of humanity, which resulted in
a victory for the plaintiff. The average
| Juror has no bowels of compassion for
| corporations or cormorants. An appeal
| followed, of course. The insurance
companies were dissatisfied with the
| verdict, and no wonder. Indeed, 1t is
asserted that prior to this trial over
lures had been made to the insurance
! agents ON the part Of GosS, who was