Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1883-09-02
THE DEAD DAVID.
The End of a Very Notorious Char
aCtsr.
DayY Parkinson, of Bethany College lncen-
diary Fame, Dead in Texas-His
Career in Brooke County.

The central figure in the Bethany Col
lege inCendiarism, in October, 1879, was DR..
Dayy Parkinson. Smoother, more subtle
and plausible he YVES regarded as a greater
villain than Cheek, and in spite Of the vari-
Gus and determined efforts made 10 con-
Wet him he invariably escaped through
some lCnyhOle. Not u man IN Brooke
county but believed Davy was intimately
connected with the burning OF the college,
but he managed TO eiUde any consequences.
However, he found Brooke county too hot
Tor him, aud after the trial he disappeared.
News has now reached there of his death
in Texas. This was the second time he
vas hesrd Of after leaving Brooke. Shortly
after his departure he was heard OF as stay
iug with his son George A., VINO had In
the mean time emigrateu " Texas under
u rather serious cloud, ami the last
word of the Old man was OF mis-
death rs stated. Suspicion still did
rot abate, but followed him even in the
very article of death. lie owned a life
estate in certain property, which property
1t was desirable to sell, but the old mans
interest being a draw back, it was suspected
THAI the report OF his death was a ruse to
help the sale. 1t would have been very
much in character, had it been so. AG.
Cordingly, the parties getting the address
of the undertaken who buried him from
the heading of the letter that conveyed
the information, teiegraphed for c)nhrma.
ton, and received a telegram from the uu-
dertaker in reply, that the news was au.
rhenuc and ParGIns)n really dead and
buried.
Relieved of this incumbrauce the proper
~, some ninety acres oil valuable land
near BethSny, was sold NJ commissioners
sale a few DAYS ago for some $500 and
bought up by NJ. Walden, Sn attorney OF
SteubenvIlle, who acted as guardian for
some of the minor heirs. Tn price, SIS
per acre, would probably have been Larger
had it not been for complications.
Parkinson, who had spent almost an or
binary lifetime in and about Brooke
county, had a rough and certainly no; a
pleasant experience in life. For the last
thirty years at least lie was associated in
the public mind with infractions OF the
law end was regarded with suspicion; AMI
yet, althoul b often under arrest, in prison
or on trial. so far as recollected, was never
actually convicted Of an otfense.
He was a man we'll connected, of muIh
general information, shrewd and ioxy. very
ingenious with tools, q skillful dentist, &C.
customed to handling the finer metals, and
his first lapses are saIdto have been in the
direction Of counterfeiting coin. Whether
Justly or u~njustly charged, the suspicion
gave him a great deal OF trouble and he
was never able, possibly never cared, to
get rid of il.
When the stir about incendiarism at
Bethany College occurred, October, 1879.
"Davy," as he was called, was Immediately
suspected, and with others, arrested, but
acquittal followed on this, as on a previous
charge Of a serious but different char,
scter, and immediately on gaining his liz.
erty, he left the country. This occurred
in 1881.