Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1886-03-25
rHs sHAhpLNss rnAeEnr.
A General suppOsttiOn That 6e
Was Murdered by the FernNvoOd
tsRng.

dang.
The belief that John Sharpless met hi
death ut the hands of this quartet o
desperate cracksmen now in Moyamen
sing Prison, Philadelphia, for commit
ting the Fernwood burglaries is, in
measure, shared by nearly eyeryon,
prominently connected with the case
But to trace themovements of the Thieves
back to the fatal night Of November 22t
will be q very difficult task They hay,
covered their tracks very we'll, and th,
fact that it was not known that such /
desperate gang was operating in til,
suburbs until the detectives followed tht
suspicious. looking wagon from Oonnor'i
''fence" to Wayne station shows how
difficult il will be 10 locate them at the
time of the murder.
District-Attorney Baker was in Phila-
delphia Tuesday week to see about having
the burglars transferred to Media fol
trial. Detective Kelly had a consultation
with him and informed him of his suspi.
cions concerning "Dutch Gus" Chopaz
and his companions and their connection
with the greater crime of the Sharpless
murder.
Chief Kelly, when questioned about the
probable connection of the Fernwood
gang with the murder yesterday week,
was nt first very cautious in his replies,
and finally said that it looked very much
as If they had committed the crime.
81 have always held, said he, 'that
there was good, strong, level head di-
recting the movements of the men who
were at the Sharpless house on that fatal
night, just such q man as Wilson, who is
the leader of this gang. do not believe
1t was the work Of one man, nor have l
ever believed it was. It has been my
theory that the burglars went to that
house in wagon with the intention of
weighing it, or in other words, of tying
up the occupants and robbing the prem
ises. If one man had been going to do it,
he would have waited until the family
were in bed. The confused manner Of
the man who returned to the house after
Jane Pratt went out to look for John
Sharpless, and the hesitating manner in
which he went to the door to go out,
strengthen my belief that he was expect
ing somebody who failed to come, II is
just the sort of job that Wilson, Chopaz
and Walton are capable of doing. There
might have been repetition of it at
Frigar's, in Fernwood, il any one had
disturbed them at their work."
District-Attorney Baker said he had
believd from the outset that there was
more than one man at the Sharpless
house on the night of the murder. He
has not changed his opinion since the
johnson trial, although he thought John
son was in the party aud the one who had
entered the house. He said that, to his
mind, all the circumstances go to prove
that it was the work of two or three men.
When Judge Broomall, who has been
Mrs. Sbarpless' close adviser since the
ieath of her husband, wns seen, he said {:
II have read about the Fernwood bur
glars and think it is very probable. 1t
is in accordance with my theory. do
not think Samuel johnson is guilty.
Susan Sharpless did not identify him at
the trial; in fact, she did not go so far
towards identifying him as she did in the
case of Carpenter.
Johnson's counsel, James S. Cummins,
has little doubt, in view of the suspicion
attached to the Fernwood burglars, that
johnson will receive a new trial.