Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1886-03-11

White Wen supposed 10 be the Muir
dererS-TaIe OF n Criminal.

Chief Of Detective Kelly, of Philadelphia,
Is working on II clue which, II 1t does not
lead to the arrest Of two well-known cracks
men for the murder of John Sharpless, will
prove Samuel Johnson's innocence, Some
time ago he was sent for by George Meyers,
who is serving term in the county Jail,
Philadelphia, and was told this story:
ION Monday or Tuesday, November 23d
or oath met English Tom burglar, on
Broad street, near Chestnut. | knew him
pretty well from having done crooked work
with him, and said, Hello, Tom whereu are
you goineY He replied, I'm going to skip
the boOmin' town. l ad n little job down
in the country and the Big Tn made mess
Of it, ! knew he meant by the Big Tn,
Big footed Kid / walked along with
English Tom continued Meyers, "and he
cursed the Zig I'm and said II he had hold
of him he would break his neck, We went
down to Media to stick up the Job, said he
and had everything in shape. We made u
fire in the woods and blHcknned our faces
with charcoal. Then ] goes to the house
and gets the mark ont to the barn, whore
he intended to stun him n bit and 20
through the house. when the old man got
to the barn the Kid who was waitin' there,
cracked him too hard and killed him.
goes back to the 'uHsr, onr of the women
| folks is gone AMI left ncthn' for us to do
| but skip
"when he finished this story" said
| Meyers 1--WE were Mt the Brnnd street sta
ton and he bought ticket, for which he
paid S29.5O. | don't remember if he said
| anything about the burning barn or not -
| After Chief Kelly heard this story he sent
for eX-ludgs Broomnll Of Chester, who
| heard Meyers repeat IL, The convict was
questioned closely and showed such n
thorough knowledge Of the vicinity and de.
tails that he made himself an object of sus.
picion. Chief Kelly has learned that
| ttEnfptiGh frIDt' lnft ba
Eleventh and Walnut streets one morning
about the time that Meyers says he me
him. John Il. Butts, the ticket agent III
window No. 5, Broad street station say,
that he remembers selling u big English
man ticket to New Orleans late in Novem
her. and that he gave him for II $50 IN note
and he returned 50 cents in change.
Lawyer John Robinson, who defended
Samuel Johnson, was seen Tuesday aLC
said:
II summoned Chief of Detectives Kelly a
witness during Johnson's trial, and h.
then told me he was working on the clu
that cracksmen had committed the crime
and told me Of Meyers statement. For tli
reason let him of. Dlstrict-AttOrney Bake
knew of Meyers confession, and though
he would ask for a continuance OF the cas-
against Johnson, but he did not. The state
ment, however, will be used In the argu
ment for Il new trial, and will be in evidenc
III iil' ADN AAAhls VthhHpAN bNAANNps oato
he was convicted, broke down and wept
That was not ut all remarkable. The dis
! trict-attorney saw him and he told him
was innocent. lie has told me all alOn
that on the Snis9ay night of the crime h
was with Molle Stephens, his wife, In
negro dive in Philadelphia called the Bull
PEN He said that during the evening hi
T wife left him and went to cook Charlie
l Stephens supper, and came back"
Several circumstances corroborate MeN
ers story about English Tom. Shortly afte
the murder in the woods not far from tn
house was found the charred wood of n fl
aud not far away was found gum she
: worn by foot-pads. A revolver was als
4 found in the vicinity.
o An old negro named Branard living abol
!, 800 yards from Lindsay's burned barn, ne5
J. the road TO Chester, says:
II was awakened by my wife, who tol
i me that Lindsay's barn was burning, and
u dressed and ran to try and save the horse
b l cut across the fields and was almost to ii
barn, which was in flames, whenI heard
carriage rush down the road like mad.
g passed right by the fire without stopping
and l knew that wasn't natural. In II
81 country everybody stops at fires"
q The old mans wife corroborates him
T. Saying that shortly after he left the houi
r fpr the burning barn a carriage ratified
W az a terrific gait and turned up the roo
I 1tadfnu Nadia paonlo 1ttvine. IN, u