The Sedalia weekly bazoo. [volume] (Sedalia, Mo.) 187?-1904, 1877-11-20
HELLT HERO!
Dying Doomed J.! Damned!!!
The lGan.Killer Of st. Elmo
Tho Man Who Laughs ct Death


On Friday the BAzoO's pecialdispatches
from St. Lonis first informed our citizens Of
the capture Of the mysterious murderer oi
St. Elmo, and terrible tragedy which occur
ed in arre-ting the moet desperate and
gamest desperadoes that ever lived. Below
We re-publi-h the dispatch, together with
full and later particulars Of the event, and
. brief account of the St. Elmo tragedy,
from the st. Louis press.
First We give an account Of the cicum-
stances which led to Rande's capture.
THE gibson MURDER.
On the ID Of August last tramp, as he
was STYLED, passing through ElmwOod, a
town Is miles wes. Of Peoria. Ills, called At
Lilley's gunshop and asked for work. They
had no work for him ami he went away.
That night the g;n.hop was burglarize,i
| and robbed Of a lot Of revolvers. NJ s,is.
picion attached TO the tramp at the time
, Two DAYS latter WOolford Price, farmer
living near G;il-on, found on returning from,
churcI, that his house had been entered and
went out to look for The thief, and finding
his tracks, followed them IL corn6eld. lie
aroused his neighbors, aud large numter
brought to bay, and began operations By
firing On his pursuers, using navy revolver
in each hand. 4 by Was rhot in the foot,
which exasperateJ the Pursuers to the last
degree 4 number Of men were on horse
Z l. "A.
capture the scUundrel, but
NET WIN DISASTER.
An estimaLle citizen, Mr. W. Z. Eclden, was
shot through the head and Instantly killed.
A number Of shots were fired at the assas-
! sin, but luck seemed as good as his aim
and he escaped injury. On his part, how
ever. he shot another man through the
| lungs and etill another less seriously. The
whole county turned out 10 hunt the fellow
down, and five days afterwards lac was fol-
! lowed INTO the wood near Henderson. Here
again lie turned ON his pursuers without,
however, doing any more serious damage
than 10 put bullet through the hat Of a
Swcde named johnson.
THE ST. ELMO TRAGEDY.
About two miles west of the town named
lived farmer named John X. Scoles. On
Saturday, the S,h Of September, the
Sco!es family went visiting. When they
returned, Mr.. Scoles discovered rough
looking man skulking away carrying
valise.
Mr.. S. hurriedly stripped the harness
from one Of his horses, mounted and
started in pursuit. The tramp looked
carelessly over his shoulder when he heard
the sound of the borse's hoois, but did not
increase his leisurely gait. The tramp
climbed the fence, then faced around and
drew large navy revolver, remarking, ~
he leveled the weapon at his pursuer
"Now then, damn you, I've got you where
where want you." With this preface he
fired
THE FIRST SHOT
OF thst awful tragedy. Mr.. Scoles fell
from his hor-e, and the murderer sprang
over the fence, went directly to his pros
trate victim and fired two additional shots.
All this had been witnessed BY the terror
stricken wife and children of the murdered
man, and nv farre named S. L. SchlOtt.
When the murderer had disappeared Schlott
whipped up his horse AMI made all haste
20 ST. Elmo, where he gave the alarm.
Within twenty minutes twenty men were
armed. mounted and speeding toward the
scene of the trat edy.
Frank Barnes, Of st. Elmo, vas one of
the punuers, and mounted fence between
a corn6eld and some timber. lie had been
standing i'm that position but a momen,
when the assassin appeared from behind a
cluster of bushes about eighty yards dis
tant. Barnes, who was armed with q
dOuble.barrelicd
SHOT GIN LOADED WITH BUCKSHOT,
fired one barrel at the man and
attempted to follow up with the other bar
rel, but it missed fire. Barnes then took .
rifle from companions hand, and, siill
stan ding on the highest rail Of the
fence, drew bead ON the de~perado, but
before he could pull the trigger the muir
derer firesl, sthe ball entering Barnes face
at the base of the nose ON the left aide,
passin: upward through the brain. Tie
viaim fell 10 the ground without groan,
dead. Frank Wireman, mounted ON fiery
young horse, rode around the cluster oil
bushes which the desperate had passed
through, and "a Barnes was in the act of
raising his rifle to shoot, Wireman al-O
drew bead on the de-perado, hut his
fatal shot at Barnes, wheeled and fired ut
WIreman. At that instant Wireman's
horse was doing pirOuette, aud
THE LEADEN MEssENGE.
entered the victims head about one inch
10 the rear Of and little below the left
ear, passing through the head and out Of
the base Of the nose ON the right side The
II - IT, 4.
Of the wound and from the mouth.
lie Was taken from the horse, placed in
q spring wagon. and sent to the house Of
his brother, John Wireman, in St. Elmo.
While most of the citizens were engaged in
caring for the wounded Wireman and dead
Barnes, the murderer,by q few well-directed
shots, moved his way through the lines
The horses Of George Long and a man
named Woodwork we're sbot-the former |
IN the shoulder. the latter in the neck. |
One bullet peeling George Sidenar's right |
eyebrow froM his f-ontispiece, causing that |
gentleman 10 lose all interest in the Chase. |
Having forced q passage-way through the |
ranks Of his enemies, the desperado started |
or run through an open wood toward a !
deep ravine, about One-fOurth OF a mile 10 |
the southwest.
That night the murderer stole horse |
and escaped his pursuers. When morn
ing arrived the horse was found hitched 10
q post i'm LacIede, fmall village on the
Illinois Central road, twenty miles south
Of bingham. At six o'clock ON the same |
morning the murderer entered the store of
Mr.. Kicharlsou in Farins, four miles
south Of Laclede, where he purchased some
crackers and cheese. This is the last
fine:e information which has been re-
ccived of the fugitive. 1t is the universal
belief in the region where the tragedy &C.
CURED, that the murderer ia: Frank
Nichols, . desperate rascal, weii-known
in Efingham. where he has spent most Of
hE life. Nichols is about 70 years Of age,
and has served term in the penitentiary
The offence in question for
killing of VIM. Howe, 0 saloon-keeper in
in 1871. Since his release he
,as spent most of his time in the isr Wet.