Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1888-10-18
WARDELL KILLED.
The. Strike. at the Beviers Goal
Mines Leads to a Shocking
Tragedy.
Thomas Wardell, the Leading Oper-
ator, Shot Dead in His Carriage
By the Miners.
Desperate Attempt at Train Robbery
Fooled in Dakota-Two of the Bandits
7sat2 Wounded.

T..
sse Wounded.
BEvIER, Mo-. Oct. 13.-At 12:45 O'Clock
yesterday afternoon Thomas Wardell, q
very wealthy land owner and coal opera
tor of this county, was shot and instantly
killed by number of striking miners on
the main street of Bevier, just opposite the
depot. -Iss.t
Wardell had driven from Macon in his
carriage, accompanied by a colored boy,
and had stopped his horses at the street
corner and crossed the railroad track to
the telegraph Office to send q message.
The depot platform was filed with strik-
ing miners, and asWardell passed through
them going to his carriage they jeered and
tainted him. Turning, he said: Boys
1'H beat you in the end. You can boiler
all you want"
The men then began throwing rocks az
him and he was struck in the back by one.
Upon reaching his carriage he took from
under the seat q large revolver and fired
one shot in the direction Of the crowd, but
above their heads. An instant later half
dozen shots or more came from the crowd
and Wardell fell back lifeless. The first
citizens who approached were warned
away by the men, but the dead man wac
at length taken TO DR.. Watson's.
the strike prevailing at Bevier for the last
month and the attempt of the operators 60
fill their mines with men from Chicago.
Ali the operators had gone into the ars
rangement, but the first men who arrived
Were to be placed at work in Wardell's
mine, hence the bitterness of the men
against him. -
The murdered man was fifty years OLD
the Wealthiest citizen of Macon County,
hoiy, worth over ha rai11ion HJo
an Englishmen by birth, and came TO this
country penniless coal digger. He had
always been a favorite with the men be.
cause OF his fair treatment Of them. He
was q very benevolent and charitable
man, whose loss will be greatly felt AZ
the coroner's inquest not the slightest ev.
idence could be found which pointed to
the identity OF the murderer, and it is uns
likely that he will ever be discovered.
TRAIN ROBBERS BOILED.
DEADwooD, Oak, Oct. 1a-About eight
O'Clock yesterday morning bold attempt
was made by three masked bandits to
wreck and rob the Fort Pierre 6 Black
hills railroad train, owned and operated
by the Homestead Mining Company at
RenO's Gulch, nine miles from Lead City.
The train left Lead City half an hour
late with the paymaster, w. A. Reimer,
supplied with about $40, 600 to pay off the
Blackston and passengers and employees
amounting to about twenty people were
on board. They ran with increased speed
TO make up for lost time to Q point about
100 yards from the scene Of attack, where
they slowed up TO let some section men off.
This alone averted great calamity, for
before the train got fully under way the
engine slipped from the rail that had been
removed . few inches by the robbers, and
the train was derailed.
During the excitement Of the moment q
command of Islands up" came from the
robbers, accompanied by a volley from
their Winchester rifles into the cab, fat
cars and engine without any serious re-
suits. W. A. Reimer, who was on the
engine, discharged both barrels of his
shotgun loaded with buck shot at two Of
the robbers, who fell mortally wounded.
The other fled to where the horses were
tied, mounted and disappeared in the un.
derbrush.
One Of the wounded robbers was cap.
tured and is now in the Deadwood Jail.
His name is Billy Watson, an indicted
horse thief from Pennington County, for
whom the sheriff had been hunting with q
warrant for the past two or three months.
He says the other two men werc named
Clark and Johnson and the latter vas the
leader and escaped.
UNION SPRINGS, Ala, Oct. 13.-Paulin6
Mccoy, a negro girl. aged nineteen. was
hanged here yesterday for the murder of
Annie Jordan, . fourteen-year-o white
child, last February. The execution was
private, only the necessary persons being
admitted. So 1tF
q Annie Jordan strayed away from home
in Montgomery and nothing was heard of
her till her dead body was found in a plum
,thicket at Three Notch. Circumstances
pointed 60 Pauline and she was arrested
with the dead girls clothing on her and
found guilty last spring and sentenced to
death. Efforts were made to get the Cow
ernor to interfere, but to no avail. Pauline
confessed to having killed Annie at a
lonely place near Che railroad by choking
her to death.
The execution took place near the negro
cemetery, within one mile of Union
Springs, in the presence of about 1000
white and colored people. The crowd was
orderly, the sentence being approved by
all classes as just Pauline was carried
in two-horse wagon TO the place OF
hanging, seated on her coffin dressed in a
long robe, handcuffed. Two officers were
with her. She was quiet on her way to
the scaffold. On arriving there she was
assisted up the steps and a Handkerchief
was tied over her head. Rev. j. H.
Hale, colored, prayed with the con-
demned. She subsequently shouted and
said: 'sTen my mother not to mourn for