Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1883-08-03
A HORRIBLE TALE.
The Shocking Details Of a Murder
and Robbery
Coming to Light After Twenty Yeas-Ihe
Skeleton Found in a Well-Arest
of Kirkbride- Witnesses
Spirited Away.

Oh uNGe@I
tanned the outline OF Q horrible murse1
| Just brought to light at Matamoras afte1
having been buried for nearly twenty yeszs
| in the breasts Of the murderersL The story
sounded so ganzy as to be doubted, but 1t
was fully corroborated yesterday. A gen.
! tleman from that section arrived in the
city and gave Q REGISTER reporter the fol-
lowing account Of it:
In 1854, q New York syndicate OF wealthy
men sent a man cat to MAtamesas to pros
pect for oil land. The mans name is now
lost, but he can be called Smith. Mr..
| Smith went to Matamoras withs fne team,
was handsomely dressed, sported line jew
| elry and was believed to have $4,000 in
| greenbacks with him. He went from Mat
amoras to Archer's Fork, a short distance
above, and stopped with a man named
| Ward, whom be took into his employ. He
and Ward ~prospected about the country for
a time, when
SUDDENLY HE DISAPPEARED.
His team remained at Wards, but that
individual said Smith bad ~absconded with
| his EMPLOYERS funds and had left him the
team in payment for his services. This
story was secuted, but there vas no evi.
dence OF other facts, and II had to be &C
cepted. Soon afterward Ward made a
change. He was a poor man and owned q
small and sterile farm; this he disposed OF
and moved to Matamofas, where he pur.
chased a hotel property and branched out
amazingly. This set tongues going yigor-
| ously, and Ward was openly accused OF
having
MURDERED SMITH AND ROBBED HIN.
His enemies flung it into his teeth and he
| never resented il. Soon after, a young
man, a nephew of Wards, talked very
| mysteriously about the missing man and
exhibited the watch Smith had carried:
This nephew went West with plenty oil
money, obtained mysteriously. Another
Young man did exactly the same thing and
went away with a goodly sum in green
| backs. Soon afterward a young man named
Stewart fell sick, and feeling death ap.
preaching, said he hal
TERRIBLE SECRET TO REVEAL.
He was a nephew of Ward and had board.
ed With him when Smith stopped there.
Ward heard of his having a secret and went
straight TO his bedroom, staying with him
until he breathed his last, without making
the promised confession. After this, for a
long time the Smith mystery was no more
the talk, except when an enemy OF Wards
| would occasionally taunt him with the
murder. About three years ago Ward
walked from his house into the yard, threw
his hands up suddenly and exclaiming:
oh, my God dropped dead. With his
death all talk Of the disappearance OF
Smith ended, until it was brought back in
THRILLTNr WAY,
recently. James West, a good for naught
about Matamoras, who had suddenly come
into possession of money a long time ago,
was taken down with an illness which
promised 10 be fatal. Feeling his end ap
preaching, he said: Il have a terrible dis.
closure to make; send for a minister"
The minister came, and West poured out
the long hidden mystery OF the murder of
Smith. Ward had come to West and told
him of Smiths money, and how easily
they might obtain it. They decided to
murder him, and took into their confidence
4 mar named kirkbride, a butcher in Mat.
amoras. The three waylaid Smith. one
dark night, at Archer's Forks, and while
Ward and West held him, kirkbride
CUT HIS THROAT WITH A BUTCHER KNIFE.
They then robbed him of his jewelry and
about $4,000 in money. On one finger was
a gold ring, which fitted so tightly they
could not remove il and decided to allow ii
to remain. They buried the body under a
manure pile for a few days and then dug II
up and threw it in a we'll on Wards place,
afterwards filling up the we'll. Ward gave
out that the we'll had caved in. They
divided the money equally and kept their
mouths shut. West said they might find
the skeleton in the well and could identify
it by the gold ring. After making his con.
fesSiOn West gave up the ghost.
The disclosure created the most intense
CONSERVATION and excitement in Mata-
moras, though no prompt measures were
taken to institute search. kirkbride was
| there and denied and ridiculed the story.
Blu after some little time had passed the
filed.up well was found and searched, and
there, like Geneva,
SKELETON WAS FOUND,
| with a gold rig c~linging to the bony