The Baltimore County union., 1883-11-17
A Horse Thief Gives Himself Away

A Horse Thief Gives Himself Away
During the cArly'part Of lSS2. q young man hail
Ing from Virginia. made his appearance in tho
northwestern section of this county. and claimed
that he was a horse dealer. buying and selling ?
stock through the country, and gave the name
Williams. lie stopped several times at the store
Of Mr.. james X. GieS. at Butler. and finally lin
October. lSS2) induced Mr.. Gics 90 buy n horse
from him. for which he paid 81 &. The animal
proved TO be fine one aud Mr.. Gies. not snppos
ing for a moment that there was ANYTHING "crook.
ed" in the transaction. after keeping him nearly
a year. sold him TO q neighbor for $3.50. In Au.
gust Of the present year. on another trip through
that country. the dealer succeeding in selling
other horse Mr. tiles for 500. aud IL IL believed
that other sales were made in the neighborhood.
Mr. Bosom being among those who made pur
! chases.
Last week several gentlemen from Virginia in
cluding the County Clerk of Fairfax county. made
their appearance at Mr.. Gics' place. saying they
we're on the hunt of horses that had been stolen
| from Fairfax county. They then told the story
Of how they knew that Williams. whose real name
is Murray. had been ses horses in that section.
Murray last exploit in Fairfax was 90 steal three
horses from farmer and with these no started
north. lie passed through Butler. on his way TO
Philadelphia, where. II Is said he sold tho stock
at n stable in that city where he had disposed n
less than sixty horses within the space of few
months. On his return south, after having sold
these norses nc maue uuntner Dou striNe by steal
ing fine pair Of road horses. After taking them
some distance he sold the pair for $500. and this
last sale led TO his arrest.
Murray. after being lodged in Jail At Fairfax
Court House. sent for some of the men from whom
| he had stolen horses and made clean breast Of
| all his transactions in the horse business. In
| order 10 be accurate about IL he wrote gu,
lengthy statement; telling from whom he had stolen
| stock and 10 whom he had made sales in Baltimore
county and elsewhere. even describing the kind Of
money he had received in payment for the horses.
II was this that lei TO the visit Of the Virginia
| gentlemen 20 Mr.. Gcs. When they arrived at
| his store they made their business known. One
Of the gentlemen in the party owned the horse
| that Mr.. Gics had bought in October, 1852. and
he gave such m accurate description of the animal
that there could be no mis;aking his identity The
other ono was also accurately described and Mr.
! Gies a; once made the whereabouts of the two
horses known TO the gentlemen and they were
returned TO them promptly. The horse which
Mr.. Bosom had was also recovered and the party
proceeded their way IN other horses whose
whereabouts Murray had described.
! II is said tina, Murray. who il fine looking
| young man. belongs to n very respectable family
| In Fairfax county. His transactions in this line
run over period Of year or two. during which
! time he sold very large number 81 stolen horses
in Jersey City. Philadelphia and elsewhere. II Is
thought by some that he belongs to regularly
organized gang of horse thieves.