The daily gazette., 1883-02-19
THE CITY AND STATE.
A SERIOUS cHARoEAGAlNsT A
DOCTOR.
SOME REPORTS ABOUT PEACHES.
A Most Dashing Horse Thief--Muthart
Now In Jail aud His Exploits in Della
ware.

William Muthart, the great Montg omery
county horse thief, who has extensively op-
Grated In Delaware and on the Eastern
Shore has been arrested at Media for steal
ing horses. Not long Muthart stole a horse
| from Still Pond, Md, and It is believed that
he is the man whom Jacob Sharpley shot as
he was stealing horse from the Sharpley
| barn, in Brandywine hundred, not long ago.
Although 65 years of age Muthart stands
to-day the peer Of any offender who has ever
led horse by a halter Age seems not to
have impaired his cunning, but experience
has placed him In position TO be regarded
as the king of horse thieves. Although
| of respectable parentage, he preflted
not by their wise instructions, but at an
| early age went astray. For almost
forty years he has been a terror to farmers
and others possessing valu BILE teams, and
there was scarcely a society for the detec-
tion of horse thieves that did not have de-
scription Of the man posted up in their
meeting houses. He was especially noted for
his daring and rapidity of movement, often
stealing as many as four or five teams in as
many different localities on the same night,a
plan ofoperation that often servedto bewilder
jury to his advantage when he was cap
tured. In his younger days he was SO sue
cessful and the stolen property accumulated
on his hands with such rapidity that he
found 1t necessary to establish ageucies in
different cities adjacent to Philadelphia,
where would send the teams to be disposed
OF. On one occasion, when Muthart was
shipping fine pair of carriage horses to the
South via the Coast Line from Philadelphia
he had a Harrow escape. The horses broke
away from him on the streets, but were
finally recaptured, and the thief was COM
PEELED to stow himself away on q Savannah
steamer. He was followed on board by a
detective, but while the vessel was passing
Lewes, Delaware, after dark, Muthart
lowered himself down the side of the
steamer and swan ashore.
When pardoned in Montgomery county
last spring Muthart swore never the steal
another horse in that county. He never
broke his word. He, however, Immediately
began stealing horeses In Delaware and
other localities, which was developed quite
recently when he ran off with the wife and
team of Colonel Cregar, the counterfeiter, at
North Wales. Most of his stolen teams he
had placed in the hands of Cregar for dispo- |
sal. One night when the great horse thief
went to Cregar's house, the counterfeiter |
received him with a shotgun and sickle. |
Muthart had driven up in stolen team but |
when he attempted to escape he found that
some one had unfastened a trace and the |
vehicle upset throwing him into the road. He
fed to field where he remained until Cregar
had disappeared with the team, when he
deliberately walked into the counterleiter's
stable, jumped on mare barebacked and
with nothing but rope halter on, drove
into town. Arriving here, he made con-
fession to friend, with the view of getting
square, with Cregar, and which resulted in
the recovery of much stolen property. The
Still Pond horse was gotten at this time.