Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-04-13
FOUND IN DETROIT.
dorsey Viers' Lifelong Hunt for the
= m He was Accused of Numbering.

m He was Accused of Numbering.
"a ron, Ohio, correspondent Of tn
An Al, Press tells a remarkable sto
DeslO ~ z 80 nee of Dorsey Viers, on,
y ~ 'ne q peI'e Tmmit county. Ohio
who died recently at the. age % ~
Early in 1926 Viers and his we received
! to their cabin in NOrthfeld ToN,N HsHlp an
Englishman named Rupert Charles worth:
He was a jolly fellow, with plenty OF
money, and he became very popular in the
neighbOrhoOd. Suddenly he dropped out
of sight. He was known to have gone to
Niers' cabin the night of July %, but the
constable who went there early the next
morning to arrest him for passing coun-
terfeIt money could not find him.
One day, good while after, hunter
found human skeleton under log in the
woods near Viers' farm. The discovery
helped to jog the memory of a man who
had heard rifle report at Viers' cabin
the night of CharleswOTth's disappear
ance. Another suddenly remembered that
he had seen blood on the bars in Yiers'
lane, near the woods. Viers was ques-
toned. At one time he said that the Eng
lishman had jumped from a window and
ran away; at another time he said he
knew nothing about the mans departure,
as he was asleep at the time. The consta-
bic who had gone early in the morning to
Niers' cabin to arrest CharleswOrth, re-
membered that at that unusual hour Mrs.
Niers was hopping the floor. For five
years the gOssips talked, but nothing was
done. Finally, January s, 1881, Viers
was arrested on a charge of numbering
Rupert CharleswOTth. The hearing was
before George Y. Wallace, Justice of the
Peace, and for seventeen days the rude
court room was crowded with witnesses
and listeners from miles around.
Circumstances were as plentiful as
blackberries pointing to Niers as the MUIR
derer of his bOarder. Statements that had
not been heard before were adduced in
testimony. A hired girl who was working
! at Viers' cabin when Charles worth dis
appeared said that bed blanket used by
the Englishman was missing the morning
he left, and that it was afterward found
concealed under q haystack with large
spots on 1t resembling clOtted blood. A
dozen neighbOrs testified to CharleswOrth's
reputed wealth, and others told of the
sudden evidences of prosperity that had
been seen about Viers' premises in the
shape of new house and in the purchase
of some bloOded stock. Viers and his
pioneer wife grew sick at the prospect.
But an unexpected deliYerance came in
the last two days. Two men from North
west Ohio took the stand and gave posi-
tive evidence that they had seen Charles
worth subsequent to his disappearance
from Mortified. This turned the scale in
Viers' favor, and he was discharged.
Three-tOurths of the community still be-
lieved, however, that Niers was a muir
derer. So great was the excitement fol-
lowing his discharge that lynch law was
proposed, but the material to carry out
such scheme couldn't be found among
the church-gOing NOrthfelders. Viers de-
termined TO live down the story on the
ground from which it had sprung. But
he resolved to find the man whose blood
had been laid at his door if he had to de-
vote his life to the search. In the next
few years Mrs. Viers wrote hundreds of
letters to public officers and others in all
parts of the country. Niers finally started
out on his apparently hopeless quest. Fol
lowing the clue given him by the two wit
nesses who had saved him at the trial, he
traced his man from town to town In the
West, and finally learned that Charles
worth had returned to England. To Eng
land went the resolute searcher, only TO
find that CharlesWOrth had re-embarked
for the United States, with New Orleans
as his destination. Back came Viers and
went straight TO New Orleans, but Charles
worth was not there. Viers followed up
the river, visiting every town up to Gin
cinnati.
Thus the search was kept up by letter
and travel for nine years, till in 1910 Niers
entered a tavern in Detroit and asked if
any there had knowledge of one Rupert
CharleswOrth, an Englishman. A man,
bearded and rough, drew him aside as he
left the place and revealed himself as the
long-sOught-fOr man. His story was
quickly told. Having passed a counter
felt bill on a citizen and fearing arrest,
he had secretlyleft the house of his friend
and gone West under an assumed name.
He agreed to 90 to Ohio and show him.
self to his old crOnies on condition that
his present place Of residence should be
kept secret. So, fourteen years after the
alleged Tragedy Rupert Charlesworth and
his Teputed murderer yieItod Mortified
Boston, Akron and other points In sum.
NIT county. The Englishman conversed
with large number of persons, and was
recognized by them. In few days he re-
turned to Michigan.
No sooner had he gone, however. than
the story went around that the man was
not Rupert CharleswOrth, but a cousin re-
sembling him closely, whom Viers had
hired to serve his end. This story was in
dustriOusly circulated by Viers' enemies,
and was believed by many. Viers was
almost sick Of life. He found that his vim
dicatiOn was not yet accepted, 50. two
years later, in 1912, he went to Michigan
again and brought Charlesworth back
with him to Ohio. He put up handbills
in NOrthtield, Boston and adjoining town
ships, stating that certain day Rupert
CharleswOrth would exhibit himself at
one of the churches, and all persons who
had known HIM were invited to be present
| The meeting attracted a great crowd.
CharleswOrth took the platform, from
which through the day he responded to
lnterrOgatOries. The examination was
chiefly conducted by one of the shrewdest
attorneys at the bar of Akron. Not only
did CharleswOrth readily recognize and
name persons he had not seen for sixteen
years, but he related incidents known only
/ to individual questiOners and himself He
refreshed the memory of an old farmer
with regard to a spree in which they had
been partners, recalling the curious cir
/ cumstance Of their having boiled their
whisky. Late in the afternoon a vote was
taken as to whether the man before them
was Rupert Charlesworth. The audience
I affirmed with one voice that that man
/ stood before them. The reputation of Dor
! sey Viers was fully vindIcated.
I His nine years search had impover-
/ ished him, but he afterward amassed a
| competence, and his last years were
| passed in comfort and peace