The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1876-01-06
/ Railway Wicker: Killed hv =.

: ''f<@-*:. - y O16tceF.&.5 sT%'.faz ;
= twill be remembered, says the Gin,
cinnati Enquirer Of the 18th, that some
six or eight weeks since brief account
was given Of = passenger train beine
wrecked on the Ohio & Mississippi rail.
way between Willow Valley and Huron,
two stations beyond Mitchell. It vas
thoroughly established that = rail had
been torn up by some unknown wretch OF
wretches on purpose to ditch the train,
but whether for revenge or plunder was
not known. There was but = paucity ol
facts to aid detective, but with them
Detective Stewart, or, as he is sometimes
known, Martin, went to work. He put
this thing and that together, and finally
traced his man, to some woods near Hu.
ron, where he succeeded in freeing him
snd identifying HIM as formerly an
employe on tho road Forthwith
he procured a warrant and sheriff from
Mitchell, and last Friday made efforts to.
ward capture. The man, whose name
was given yesterday as Williams, was not
to he taken so easily, however. He had
been living in the woods on the shores O
the White River, not far from Huron,
ever since his devilish crime was commit.
ted; had endured all sorts of hardships
to escape justice, and he certainly was not
going to yield himself willing prisoner.
AS the sheriff and detective came upon
him in his retreat he therefore broke and
ran for the river, evidently bent on cross.
ing it, and on the other side expecting in
some way to find refuge. Plunging in he
had waded up to his arm pits and was
making good headway toward the oppo.
site shore when Stewart began firing upon
him and commanding him to halt. The
sheriff also ordered him to return, at the
same time threatening to shoot. Will.
liems seemed to take all that was said,
however. as empty threats, and the firing
as only done to scare, and so he continued
his fight. The sheriff then, in much
quicker time than it requires to tell it,
took deliberate aim at the fugitive s
head and blazed away. The aim waStoo
fatal; for, with terrible yell, and with q
death.lcap characteristic of the
American savage, Williams sprang
we'll nigh out Of tho
water, and then splashed back corpse,
shot in the ear and through the head.
By this time hungry crowd had COL
lectcd, among which was Williams BROTH
CT. He had come up in town to witness
the Sheriff's deadly skill, and was max
ing toward that officer, intent on re-.
vengc, when he, too, by the same officer,
was ordered to halt or 20 where his
brother had gone. The Shcriff's cour.
age was all that saved him, for they have
way of dealing very summarily with
cowardly officers down there in Indiana.
The body Of the dead wretch was after
ward recovered, and over it an inquest
held, and the Sheriff exonerated. The
burial took place Sunday. It has since
developed that Williams purposes in his
tiendishness, in which he had risked the
lives of whole train of passengers, was
to obtain revenge on the railroad COM
pany, from which he had received some
imaginary wrong. The roughs of Mitchell
and Huron are terrible loud in their
threats against the Sheriff, and swear
they will kill him sooner or later. The
awful vengeance meted out by an out.
ragged community 1T Seymour a few years
ago, when the three Reno brothers and
three other wrctches were found hanging
to a tree one pleasant morning, seems to
have been forgotten by these courageous
threateners.