The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1886-08-04

hsrY
"Oh, yes"
ibid you see the dead manlH
sob, yes and for awhile thought twas this
mar. True. the body had decomposed SO much
that It was impossible to be accurate
"Were yes in Fort Worth when Mrs. Weaver
reached that placeP
Eyes, was there. Weaver, or rather Pierce.
as we knew him. was doing well, and the affair
broke him up / believe, however, in fact,
know Mrs. Weaver was honest 10 her claim that
the dead man was her husband
Weaver takes his detention easily, and makes
friends with all to whom he talks. His story is
calculated to arouse sympathy anywhere. He
tells how his wife led him hard life, and of the
times she broke him up in business
Why" said he mo man could hare lived
with that woman as long as did. She was
perfect termagant and led me miserable life
She would quarrel about nothing. Why, III
give you an example. On one occasion in the
with snow, she drove my old mother, whose hair
is gray from age. out OF the house. That's the
kind of a woman she was, and yet she said she
wanted my body because of her love for me-"
She followed you to Texas2"
eyes; there Is another example of her love for
me- She came down there, because Murdoch
wrote and told her where was, and had me ar
rested and fined just so she could get half the
fine, and she got it. She has ruined my life,
broke me up in business several times, haunted
lieve, wouldn't let me rest in my grave"
Just what Judge Lochrane and Mr.. Brown will
do with the case cannot be told, as neither gen.
tleman could be seen yesterday. They are Mrs.
Weaver's attorneys, and are sueing the road for
$50, 600.
The appearance of Weaver upon the scene
brings out the terrible accident in all its horror
again. and brings to surface the Pierce Weaver
matter.
Last fall Texas stock man who gave his
name as j. Woods Pierce, came to Atlanta with
three or four carloads of Texas ponies. He
stopped at w. O. Jones's livery stable, and
while there traded carload of ponies for
Gypsy, the white Arabian mare. On the 14th of
December he started away from Atlanta on the
Georgia Pacific road with the mare About
midnight, while the train was standing at a
tank seventeen miles out, an East Tennessee
cannon-b ball train ran into the Georgia Pacific,
and from the collision twelve persons were killed.
The stock man was among the number who died
from the effects of the injuries His remains
were brought to Atlanta and turned over to
Swift, the undertaken, by Mr.. w. o. Jones'. who
telegraphed the dead mans family. The Pierce
family lived the frontier and the telegram
was slow in reaching them, and the body was
buried in Westview cemetery. Soon after the
accident Messrs. Gartrell and Ladsden were en-
ployed by the family to bring suit against the
railroad. This was the first chapter in the
Pierce Weaver mystery.
Early in January Mr.. Walter Brown received
letter from indianapolis stating that Mrs.
Weaver, of that city, believed that the man kill
ed in the accident was her husband, and he was
employed to sue the railroad. By correspond
ence Mr. Brown ascertained that j. p. Weaver
his clients husband, had been a successful I'M
dertaker in Indianapolis, and that he had run
away with Mrs. Eden and gone TO Texas where
he assumed the name of j. w. Pierce, the same
as the dead man. Mrs. Weaver advised to
come to Atlanta, and did so. After reaching
Atlanta her story gained circulation extern
sive as the city. and created great deal OF SYM
patty for her. She said that her husband had
been too attentive to a Mrs Eden in Indianapo
lis. and that he had been shot through the neck
by the woman's husband. After recovering, he
and the woman went to Fort Worth where he
assumed the aams of j. w. Pierce and went
into the hotel business. She found out
that the woman was with her husband and
going to Fort Worth, caused his arrest While
she was in Fort Worth she met Miss Morgan
Long. of this city. After her husbands arrest
she went back to her home. and in 1885 lost
sight of him. On the last of December she re-
ceived letter with the Western g. Atlantic rail
way postmark on it, and upon opening it she
found printed account OF the accident, and an
old card of her husband, j. p. Weaver, used by
him when he was undertaken. In the list of
the killed was j. w. Pierce, the name her hus
band went under in Texas. This story made
everybody, nearly believe that the dead man
man was her husband. Miss Morgan Long, of
Atlanta had known Weaver as Pierce in Fort
Worth, and had known Mrs. Weaver when she
came to Fort Worth She called Mrs. Weaver
and identified her as the wife of the man who
kept the hotel Mrs. Weaver's attorneys de-
cded to take up the body so that 1t might be
identified. Mrs. Weaver said that her hus-
band had high forehead. that his teeth were
wide apart, and that scars, made by the
wound he received from Eden, were on the
back of his neck. She then described a peculiar
cramped condition of the toes She went to the
cemetery, and the body taken up. She
looked at it, and quickly said that i. was her
husband. Miss Long recognized the man as the
one who ran the hotel Then the cramped
toes were found The scars described on
the back of the neck were there, and the wide
apart teeth. This carried the day for Mrs.
Weaver, and she was in the act of removing the
body to Indianapolis, when Mr. LadSden en-
joined them. Mr.. Brown asked for an injunc-
ton restraining Mr.. Ladsden from interfering
with the removal, and the case came up in court
In the meantime an array of witnesses started
from Texas who had known the Texan all his
life. The grave was opened four times for wit
nesses, and when the case came up six witnesses
testified that the dead man was Weaver. Mrs
Weaver swore to it, and described the scars and
other marks. and showed the envelope contain
ing the card and account of the accident. Miss
Long stated that the dead man was the one Mrs
Weaver had had arrested in Fort Worth DR..
Wilson, of the Surgical Institute. had
known Weaver in Indianapolis. and
said that the dead man was Weaver
Professor Clark embalmer and undertaken of
Columbus, O.. had sold Weaver goods and knew
him well, and said that the dead man was Wea-
yer. This made strong case for the Indianap-
oils lady. Mr.. Ladsden showed that j. Woods
Pierce could not write mis- name. and conse-
quently could not be the author of letters exhib-
tied by Mrs. Weaver from her husband. He
produced witnesses who swore they had known
Pierce from his boyhood, and with testimony
that could not be impeached traced him from his
bovhood, almost day by day, up to the accident,
and every witness swore that the dead man was
j. Woods Pierce. The Texas party made con-
elusive case, and the body was awarded them.
Soon after this both ladies left for their homes
and the lawyers went ahead with their suits for
damages. Some time after the body was
awarded Mrs. Pierce, Mr.. Ladsden heard that
Weaver was in Charleston, going under the
name of j. W. Pierce. With steady firmness
he traced the Pierce around until the arrest Sat
urday in Chattanooga. Unless it can be shown
that Weaver is not Weaver and that Pierce, the
dead man, is not Pierce, the Texas claimant, Mr..