Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-12-13
VAN BAKER INNOCENT
An Anonymous Confession in the
Celebrated Murder Case.
ONE STATEMENT is CONFIRMED.
The Amount of the Judgments Entered Up
at WaYnesburg.
ALL TIE NEWS FROM NEARBY TOWNS
srEcr1L THLEeRAx TO rHr DISPATCH,

IsFEoIGL TRLEeRAN TO Tm DIsPArcH.i
WHEELING, December ia letter wal
received In this city yesterday, postmarked
Columbus, o., December 10, which seem.
destiend to create good deal of excitement
throughout the Panhandle counties in this
State, and in Western Pennsylvania and
Eastern Ohio. 1t relates to the fendish
murder of Mrs. Eliza Baker and her mother,
Mrs Luzella McWhs, at Holidays Cove,
Hancock county, on the night of May 8,
1857, for which crime Van B. Baker was twice
convicted, and who was sent to Moundsville
last week for life. after vain appeal TO the
Supreme Court of the State.
lie double murder was perhaps the most
ologdY analr in the criminal history of this
portion OF the country, and created the widest
excitement over a large extent of territory.
Since the second conviction of Baker, which
event occurred at Wellsburg, there having
been change of venue from Hancock county,
ana the dismissal of the appeal by the supreme
Court the matter dropped from the public
mind, but the receipt of the accompanying
letter has again stirred up the excitement, and
Their is talk of further legal proceedings, al
though Just what can be done is not apparent
Following is the letter, which is given with all
Its 1mperfecuons:
AN ALLEGED CONFESSION.
II want to tell you and your readers some
the penitentiary Baker did not do it. Myself
and two other men done it. We went and
rented a lot and saw they had money then went
back in the evening and saw the women there
alone and went to the back door and nOcked
and while was there the other two broke in
front shutter and got in, for we saw the win
dow was up. The woman opened the front door
and then is when the two went in the room and
the woman screamed and was struk with an
iron bolt and nooked down l pushed the door
open and rushed in and shut the door.
''The woman run in front room and picked up
her shoes and started to run out and was
nOcked down by same man with bolt just as she
got IN the kitchen. Both women screamed but
the first one the most The same man then hit
her SIX OF seven times and killed he The other
woman was hit six or seven times and killed
We heard noise outside and looked and seen
some men out by the stable. We quickly all of
us blinded the kitchen windows with several
things and also pulled down the front blinds and
carried the women into front room and then
waited till we saw the men go away
i seen an ak by the side of a shed and went
out and got it and broke open two trunks and IN
one found $50 dollars in bills and dollars and
"a cents in coins and little piece of gold In
the buro we got l dollar and cents and in
pocket book in clothes press we got l59 dollars
and 60 cents We did not see any watches We
took three shirts two white and one wool one
and found fine opera glass and took out of
the trunk an odd stone like worm or bug. We
found nothing OF value in any other place.
DETAILS OF THE DEED.
THE man who killed them got his SHIRT
bloody and he burnt it in the stove using some
little wood and paper that was in a box The ak
was not used only the bolt and if they dig the
women up and let doctors see them you will see
the doctors lied and am telling what is true
We took the shoes the women had in her hands
and put them under a bed after we had looked
In them for money for she held on to them SO
tightly We thought she had her money or dia-
dc in ecod4
for money in their clothes but found none Both
women had night caps on and when the one |
started 30 run out be grabbed her by the head |
and her cap pulled back but not OF but the |
string broke on the other one and it come off 1
and we pulled them back on again We found |
tub of water in the kitchen and carried it into |
the room and washed and wiped on the dresses |
and throwd everything into the tub of water |
We found an envelope in trunk with some /
kind of notes in and when we went out we went /
back to stable and throwd them in there in the |
back stall and we also throwd dollar bill and
some silver change in the manger That man
who sWore be found them papers out in the
orchard lied or else somebody took them and |
put them there When we were at the stable a
log kept barkin and somebody called him in |
5he house on tn, other side of the lot We went
back by the house and out the side gate and on /
mp the road above the station and there
Jumped on a freight train and went to Pitts
ourgh and the other two men went their own
way The man who struck the blows got killed
n railroad wreck about year ago.
Two Of us are living yet and are both to-
sether.
1--WE are sorry for Baker for he is innocent
Please print this and send copy to Chicago
1apers to publish. MAN NUMBER l."
BAKER BELIEVES IT.
Your correspondent saw Baker at the peni-
,entiary tonight He broke down on reading
ne letter and cried like child. He said the
etter must be what it purports to be and reit-
,rated his innocence. He said: II will show
rou one thing which stamps the letter as true-
That is its reference to the papers thrown in
he stable which one of the witnesses found |
inder the fence in the yard found those
Dapers in the stable the day after the murder
Nv first impulse was to show them but when I |
effected that my story would not be believed 1
hrust them under the fence. I never told any-
me but Co onel Arnett, one of my counsel and
le told me to keep it quiet. Ny other counsel
lid not know it at all"
Colonel ATnett confirmed this statement this
'vening