Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1883-05-09

the horse, wagon and harness of David
Parke at Parkesburg, On the night of Jan
uary l, 1888. He was followed to the Office
Of Squire Whitshead by large crowd Of
curious people, and there gave his name as
William johnson, though it was shown
that he had gone by that of
John Parker. He was Identified
BY William Hem ,hill. of the firm of
Hemphill Brothers, West Chester, to
whom he had sold tho grain stolen from
David Parke by Moses G. Hepburn, pro
prietOr of the Magnolia house, in the East
ward, where he had LETT the stolen team,
to be fed and by John Cummius, hostler
Of the Turks Head hotel stables, where
he had stopped for short time with the
stolen team. Elias Copeland, farmer for
David Parke, Parkesburg, was examined
in reference to the horse, wagon. harness,
grain, etc stolen from MIR. Parke, and
his statement agreed with those Of the
statements by the other witnesses. The
hearing was ended by the Squire remand
ing him to prison until Thursday after
noon, when he will b. given a hearing
upon the charge of having stolen the team
Of Hopes, Bro. and Thomas.
During tho taking of tho testimony the
prisoner sat holding handkerchief to his
defective eye and appeared very much IN
concerned rs to what was going on. He
was dressed in 4 garb of black, his hair
was nicely combed, and altogether looked
quite respectable. He gave the name Of
William Johnson in rather an undertoac
OF voice, seemingly reluctant to tell it.
sharp Practices.
At the hearing of Constable Galley, OF
WillistOwn, who identified him as the
person to whOGl the WillistOwn detective
association had paid a reward for tho cap
ture of tho horse stolen from VIM. L.
Davis, at Newton Square, Delaware
county, on the night Of Thursday, April
&c, and it is quite likely that the prisoner
was then without the trouble of fence
receiving reward for horse stolen b.
seen about Berwyn last week previous To
the stealing of tl1s horse, wagon, harness
and grain from the stable and warehouse
of P. w. Lobb ut that place.
His Picture Taken.
After the hearing he was taken to the
Photographic gallery of II. w. Taylor, by
to be photographed. During the time
he was in the art gallery he asked for some
papars, remarking that " it was very lore
some literature" The picture of him ihat
was taken is a very correct likeness and
from it Mr.. Hall, Of the West Chester
Republican, had i cut made for his paper
of this morning.
Since his arrest FrankfOr,l has given the
names of VIM. Johnson, John McCann aud
John McCanEies. The West Chester
people had NO i,lea that they had caugh;
such big game until they were informed
of his record. The officers were astOnished.
MIR. Hemphill, the young man who cap
tured, him is u member of tie finn "i
Hemphill Brothers, and prominent young
man in the town. He deserves great
credit for his cOolness and success ill the
matter. When the prisoners escaped 4
reward Of $50 was offered for tho arrest OF
each one of the refugees. That reward
still stands good and our authorities will
doubtless not hesitate in paying the money
over to Mr.. IIemphill, who certainly de-
serves it for the capture OF the most I'M
pOrtant of the escaped cOnvicts.
Frankford's i.sGorG.
The prisoner IS q noted criminal, and
although not 4 desperate man, has been
very successful in his profession His
specialties are horse and grain stealing and
he seldom took anything else. Another
act at which he is very expert is breaking
Jail, and he has succeeded i'm making his
escape from a number of iails in this
country. lie has broken ont of on: jai!
several times, and upon Ona occasion got
away after breaking his Icy. He is also
said to have once broken out OF the
Western penitentiary. lie is = very hard
man to catch, and it is very difficult I"
keep him as lie is 4 very cunning, shrowd
fellow, and possessed of more than ordi-
nary intelligence. He has a wife aud family
of several little children. who are warmly
attached to him, although for years they
have seen but little Of him except behind
prison bars. He is rather good natursd
person, and is said to be kind hearted ana
full of fun.
The crimes for which he Vas last CON
victed were all horse stealing. He was
arrested in 1877 ut CoatosviIle, after having
been fugitive from justice for several
years, by Captain Sprecher, who was then
chief of police. He was tried in November
Of that year on chlrges Of stealing horse
from Reuben Baer, this city, another from
Brackbill, at Dird-in-IIand, and third
from Mr.. Geiger, of Fairfield. He W.. S
sentenced by Judge Patterson to nineteen
years imprisonment. This sentence was
considered very severe not only by the pris
Oner, but the public generally, and it was
not quite certain that no Committed all
the crimes alleged against hiu
at that time. Knowing very we'll
that they had hard man to keep, the
prison authorities had an iron clad cell
constructed for his benefit. He was placed
in it and kept there nearly all the time.
The iron lining of the cell did not prevent
him from making nearly successful
attempt to get away. About seventeen
months ago Gas he states) he cut through
his cell and made his way into the cellar
Of the prison. Digging under = stone
wall and An iron fence, he made his way
into the large flue in the stonn
wall on the north side of the prison
He crawled to the top Of his, ami
about the time he was going out he was
shot in the face by Prisonkeeper Weis,',
who had been listening to him working.
The weapon with which the shooting was
done was a shot gun, and the man received
q terrible wound in the face, causing him
to entirely lose the sight of one eye.
When he escaped the last time he was
confined in large cell with o number q!
others and was engaged in making cigars.
They went over the garden WALL On th1
the noon stroke of the clock.
Keeper BurkhOlder remained in West
Chester over night and it was his int-n
ton to bring Frankford back to day il he
could get him. Sheriff Hopes, Inspector
Mcfarland and the Messrs. Hemphil! we're
very courteous to the representative 1t
this journal and he is indebted t, ti,.m
for many of the foregoing facts.
Found Shelter.