Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1879-08-05
ATTEMPTED FIBNDIsH OUTRAGE.
NEAn M1ppLEwAY, August /; 1879. ;

hood is now in a state of intense excitement,
which has been caused by an attempt by one
of those miscrcants, who are the scourge OF
the country, to commit one of those diaboli-
cal and outrageous crimes for which they are
notorious, and which, for audacity and eff
frontery, exceeds the attempts of the most
sudacious. and perhaps reaches the climax
of tramp deviltry, tho particulars of which
will communicate to you as they were com.
muuicated to me by the family of Mr.. Jno G.
Mcclure, at whose residence the attempt was
made, and which may be relied upon
correct and truthful account OF most fcud-
ish attempt at most heinous crime. The
residence Of Mr.. Mcclure, who is farmer,
is situated on the Middleway and Summit
Point road, and is about midway between
the two places, and on Sunday evening about
sunset, while he aud his family. together
with some visitors, were sitting on tho porch
engaged in conversation, one of those
ubiquitous pests, known as tramps, in his
uomadic peregrinations, made his appearance
aud euquired for work, saying that in con-
sequence Of his inability to speak tho Eng
lish language, he was unsble TO get it. This
to Mr.. Mcclure seemed to be very plausi-
BILE story. and aroused his syampnthies for
what he supposed to be charitable object,
| and in the Kindness of his heart he asked
! him if he had been to supper, aud receiving
I q negative answer, he told Mrs Mcclure to
prepare some fo5 him, which she did, and of
which he partook largely. and then prepared
| for him a comfortable bed on the back porch,
expecting he would leave in the morning
| but in the morning, while they were Ut
| breakfast, they noticed that the fingers of
one of his hands wero off above the knuckle
| joints, and upon making enquiry, he told
IL I, ,trr- Gats if-
together with his apparent earaest desire to
obtain employment, induced Mr.. Mcclure to
allow him to remain telling Mrs. Mcclure
| that he would try him day or SO, aud ifhe
| found that he could DO any thing in his Grip
| pied condition, he would keep him. and Oh
| Monday night they gave him a room aud bed
| in the gable erd Of the building, which is
built upon the cottage order. At the other
| gable end is another room occupied BY niece
! (Miss Susan Taylor) and little granddaughter
| Of Mr.. and Mrs Nee, both from Baltimore,
and now on a visit to their relatives. Between
/ these two rooms there is small windOw
containing four six By eight pancs of glass,
| and which is necessary from the construction
Of the building for light and ventilation. but
| which had been well secured and fastened
and hung with heavy double curtains in the
| room of the lady and mirror over these,
while directly under it was bureau, the top
| of which was covered with those things
which make up the toilet of lady and how
| he succeeded in getting Into her room in
| despite of the obstacles of these articles
| without Awakening her, is mystery which
can only be explained upon the theory of
| Mrs. McClnro. that during the absence of the
family on that day, he must have: gone up
stairs and removed the fastenipgs of the sash.
| and in the night, after they had retired and
| were asleep he could easily remove it without
| disturbing thcm-this is no doubt t;u sou-
ton Of it, for it was uidn Sht when the attempt
| was made. The first intimaton she had of
The presence of this black, hearted migrate
was when he grasped her by the wrist, which
partially awakened her, and in her semi
conscious state she cnonircd "Rho is this ?"
and was answered by this monster in human
for,n, in broken english, cit ish me. Again
she asks, perhaps not yet futly reused, what
| do you want" and BIO answers, in the same
broken dialect, emo wants kish." She
then fully realized her terrible danger, and
jumping from her bed she gave one scream,
which was heard by her aunt. " no awakened
her husband, and although rs years OF age,
| and though there were two heavily loaded
shotguDs standing at the head of his bed but
| forgotten in the moment of excitement, and
|
hand, yet be FASTENED to her rescue, and to
encounter this devil incarnate bent upon his
helish design, and as soon as she could get
her door open she ran down stairs to her
aunt, and when Mr.. Mcclure entered the
room his little granddaughter was trying to
make her escape ty jumping from window
looking into the yard, but he picked her up
and took her down stairs and locked the door
after him to prevent the escape Of, as Mrs.
| Mcclure called him, this vile wretch. This
| all traUspired in the dark, but as soon she
could procure light she sent little black
boy in their employ to their nearest neigh
Dor, Mr. Roscberry, for assistance, and Mr..
Mcclure seized shoemaker hammer which
he had, and with this, and By threats. he
held his prisoner until the arrival of MIR.
Roscberry's two sons, George and Charles,
and Joseph Gruber. when they bound him
with cords and marched him to Constable
| Markle, who took charge of him until day
| light, and then took him before Justice Rot>
erts, who after hearing, committed him to
jail to await the action Of the grand jury.
where he will no doubt receive such punish-
ment his attempted crime deserves.
OPEoUoN.