Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1882-07-25
THE RED MEN.
The Dawn Of Light In the County OF
Barbour.



our Jail for safe keeping. Mr.. Sam Woods
one of the prosecuting attorneys in the
case, was at the Mcclure house, yesterday,
and reporter of this journal had an in
teresting conversation with him, not only
ss pertains to these convictions, but as to
the general organization and Its operations.
In the first place said he, 1.-THE lntet'i-
geneeT published an interview with JlIn
Sweeny in which that famous detective made
out there was not ran in Barbour county
brave enough to undertake the capture Of
3 led Man. That's entirely false. IL vas
not lack of bravery, ut all, as 1t was simply
impossible. The band was widespread, and
even embraced officers. Their spies re.
layed information ahead OF warrants, and
to capture them was impossible; and even
when captured it was more difficult to con-
vict then. They got men on the grand
juries and men on the petit juries, and
what could you do? When Sweeny cap
tured that man, what was the result?
Why, he watched bis opportunity, and
though Sweeney had q revolver in his hand
he ran away from him"
what are the operations OF the gang"
"You must understand, in the begin
ming" responded Mr.. Woods, "that while
its nominal object is to prevent petty
thieving and punish the perpetrators, its
real one is to provide means for revenge
for real or pretended injury to any OF its
members. 1t must number four hundred
men In our county, but as it is secret no
one knows. The open boast is made, how
ever, that an army Of two hundred men
can be assembled at any time, all armed
with new selfcocking, central-tire revoly-
ers IL embraces men in all stations, even
including preachers of the Gospel and is
the worst organization that ever cursed
community Our people are now thor.
oughly aroused and mean business and will
yindicate the law, though precious lives
are lost in the attempt. Barbour county
has been stirred to its depths by these re,
cent trials and the convictions are the first
evidences Of the intention to crush out OF
existence this lawless band"
The circumstances of this case. as related
by Mr.. Woods, are as follows: Early in
March, last year, the Red Men determined
to punish Isaac n. Phillips, good citizen
living in the northern part of the county.
Accordingly, as he was returning from
church one Sunday, six men waylaid and
captured him. His clothing was torn off
and he was tied to tree and beaten al
most to death. 1t was claimed the punish
ment was given for beating he gave his
wife, but she afterwards deposed, under
oath, that her husband had not raised his
hand against her. Phillips recognized two
of his assailants as John Watkins and Floyd
Harsh. Information was lodged, the men
arrested, indicted and convicted, and sen.
fenced to pay fine of $50 each and undergo
imprisonment for one year.
On the night of the second day of last
November, an armed ami masked force OF
men broke into the Jail and released the
men, compelling a son of the jailor to open
the doors. A reward wassoffered for the
recapture of the men and Watkins was re-
taken near Des Moines, Iowa, but Harsh
escaped. He and Tom Warner, another
convicted Red Man, were secretly taken
from the jail at Phillip, and brought to
Wheeling for safe keeping, as has been de-
tailed, Warner having been convicted at the
last term of court.
Among the masked men who broke into
the Jail, one was identified as F. M. Howes
and was arrested. He was indicted, to pre-
vent any chance of escape for conspiracy,
riot, burglary, robbery and assault and was
convicted of the charge of assault. The
trial, which was finished last week, was the
sensation OF the times, in Barbour and
created the utmost excitement. John I.
Prim, the jailor, testified that six armed
men forced him to give the keys to young
man with him and forced him to
open the cell doors. Prim's testimony,
corroborated BY Simons and Heatherly,
two young men with him, was as follows:
"As TAILOR of the county, l had John
Watkins and Floyd Harsh in my custody,
confined in cell in the Jail of this county.
They were on the 18th day OF October,
1881, convicted of misdemeanor, a.riot,
for whipping |. n. Phillips, and sentenced
to one year imprisonment, and to pay
fine OF $50 On the night of the End OF No.
vember, 1881, Emmett Heatherly and John
Simon were at my house all night.
About ! o'clock on the morning of
the 2nd of November, 1881, my
barked and heard lot of men on the
board walk making good deal of noise.
thought 1t was officers with a prisoner.
They came up on the porch and pushed
against the door. i asked who was there,
and they replied, RED MEN" My wife
came in from another room and lit a lamp.
Meantime they became impatient and
kept on demanding that the door be open
ed, and they kept constantly rushing
against the door. slept in the room in
front of the cell and the door they were at
door and they came in. There was three
of them, +. NJ. Howes, Albert Price and a
little fellow | didn't know. Howes stop
ped near the fircboard John Simon then
lit another lamp. Price presented the pis
toll to my head and said he wanted the key
right off said. Hold on, gentlemen"
ard then handed the key to Price who re-
fused TO take il and made Emmett Heath.
erly take the key. He said, We want
Watkins and Harsh, we don't want innno-
cent men to suffer, Howes and Harsh went
g he HfNNr nd Va
went out of the side door. The key was
worth three or four dollars Price and
Howes were both armed with big revolvers
Price held his revolver close to my head
| knew the two men. HoweS' disguise was
off the side of his face. He tried to replace
il. know both Price and Howes well. |
recognized Price by his voice, shape
and appearance. He has pc
culiar voice. Howes was easily recognized
The red handkerchief he had on his face
being all off on one side. The little man
said nothing. Both Price and Howes were
at my house before the liberation of these
men and said they wanted to talk to the
prisoners. / told them it was against the
rules
John Watkins turned State evidence and
his testimony completes the story, besides
furnishing an idea of the workings of the
Red Men. He said Howes was one of the
men who released him from Jail and that
members of the organization had told him
10 be ready for release as soon as court was
over, consequently he and Harsh were
dressed and prepared for flight. Six of
them had ridden to the Jail and three
mounted guard while the rest entered.
When outside" said he, II mounted be-
hind one OF the men and we rode off. When
We had got to the forks of the road near
old man Bolyard's they let me off and told
me TO skin for the mountains, to remember
Howes ard Price, and never to inform
on them, or they would shoot me
if they had TO do it on the
witness stand. pever saw them after
was released. was a member Of the Red
Men organization, and was present when
Isaac \. Phillips was whipped. When
was tried I swOre that l was not q Red Man.
The obligation OF the organization is to
SlreGr for one another. The parties present
at the whipping OF Philips were Noah Kit
tie, Gene Wilmoth, Albert Price, Marion
Howes, Tom Warner, Bill Rozier, Floyd
Harsh and myself"
The defence in the case endeayored to I'M
peach this testimony, but OF no avail, as a
verdict Of guilty was rendered and Howes
sentenced TO pay a five Of 800 and serve a
years Imprisonment in the penitentiary.
The JeferSoRidR of this week deyotes q page
TO the case, and comments as follows: