The anti-monopolist. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1874-1878, 1874-11-26
Execution Of UddeYZO0k.
West Chester, Pa, Correspondence az
12) Chicago Tribune.l


West Chester, Pa, Correspondence Nov.
l2) Chicago Tribune.]
In this quiet, peaceful, Quaker town,
William &. Undertook was strangled
to death to-day, according to the forms
Of the law. He deserved to die, al
though, up to the time of his arrest on
the charge of murder, he had an excel
lent reputation, and he could have sum-
moned multitude of witnesses to tes-
tify that his previous life, as far as his
friends and associates could judge, had
been wholly blameless, No man ever
went to the gallows with so good
character. Although
TIE STORY OF HIS CRIME
has been published far and wide, bret
review may not be uninterestlng on
this, the day Of his execution.
Two years ago. there lived ia Balti-
more handsome, easy-going, good-na'
tured fellow, named Winfred Scott
Goss. He vas cabinet.maker by
trade, but had no taste for hard work.
Having lost his situation in furniture
store in which he had been salesman,
he devoted himself to picture-frame
gliding, and occasionally made models
Of various little mechanical Inventions.
for which he claimed great merit. He
often importuned the newspaper re-
porters 10 inform the public of the I'M
provements which he was about to IN
troducc in the manufacture OF sundry
articles Of domestic utility. His last
hobby" was the pretended discovery
of substance possessing all the prop
critics of India rubber. 1t is supposed,
however, that this discovery, which he
succeeded in having mentioned III at
least one of the city newspapers, was
ONLY a blind. and that his constant talk
about it was part OF the plot which, IN
the end, cost him his life.
TIVE NTY-gIyE THOUSAND DOLLARS IN LIFE
INSURANCE.
Although the victim of chronic lmpe
CURIOSITY. Goss invested largely IN lite
insurance policies. in 1858 he took out
n policy for Is. 600 in the New YORK
Mutual Insurance Company, payable &c
his wife in May, 1871, ne took out
another policy for the same amount II
the Continental Insurance Company o.
New York, in October OF the same
year. he procured an acciden. policy Il
the Travellers Company. of Hartford
for $4,000, and on the 26th of Janua
nv. 1872, eight days before his death. h'
took out a policy in the knicherbocke
| Comuaay for 5000. Early in tn
summer Of 1872, Goss rented sinai
shop on the York road, a short distance
beyond the city limits, and in this n
occasionally shut himself up, and pre-
tended to be making experiments i'll tn
manufacture of his substitute for india
rubber.
TIE SKELETON IN THE ASHES.
On the night of the I'd of February
| 1872, this shop was burned. William
f. Undertook, the brother-in-law G
Goss lthey were married to slsters), wa
the first man at the fire. He said tina
he had accompanied Goss to the shop
Goss went in, and he (Udderzook) ven
to q house in the neighborhood to get
lamp: when he returned the shop wa
on fire; he supposed that the mystic
rious chemicals with which Goss va
experimenting had exploded and Sc
the place on fire. In few minutes
number Of people gathered about tn
burning shanty. and [ dderzook. wh'
I'D to this time. had acted a if ne sur
posed that Goss had escaped from III
. building, suddenly discovered his bod
living on the floor. The remains OF
, dead man. charred and disfgured, wei
pulled out. There was coroner s II
: quest. and funeral attended by weel
, ing friends and q disconsolate wido,
, Subsequent developments showed TIL
they had shed their tears over a pa
tally decomposed body which one
A the mourners had procured IN Ne
A York.
, THE coSsPIRACT.
l When Undertook and Goss parte'
e on the evening Of the ID Of Februar
e 1872, the former went to neighbor
o house. on the preiense of borrowing
Il flamp; the latter jumped into bugg
$ and was driven to the President sire
/ depot. He took the first train f
n Philadelphia. and. while his wife, al
:. brother, aud brother .in-law. were wee
e ing over the mutilated remains OF :
$: loved and lost" purchased in N
&c York, and brought out to the shop on
n draw. the much-insured inventor OF
IS substitute for India-rrbber began
IF melancholy wanderings, which last
lie one year and five months He assum
$. the name of A. c. Wilson, and We
/. from one place to another. eTerywhe
n leaving traces of his identi'
e. which subsequently became links
IL the chain of evidence against his M
y derer. 1t was heavy tax on the b
r timore conspirasors to pay bus boa
rs aud travelling expenses. During p
,e ten of the summer of 1872 he ma