The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1889-09-10
NOT A PLEASANT PLACE TO LIVE IN
This year,s record Of Crime In Tur-
bulent west Virginia.
sIxtv.two Murders In the First Six
months Of 1889.
Judge Lynch's Court the Only One to
Act Promptly.

state of West virginia has well earned the
right to be called the Ozark and Bloody
Ground" in the last u months. The month
of August closed fearful record Of crime.
In the first six months Of the year 62 mur-
ders were committed, and the only hangings
taking place were those by mobs of infu-
rated citizens. OF these there have been
five in the last 60 days.
The intelligent and law-abiding citizens
are looking ON this record with horror and
alarm. The law seems powerless, and in
some sections every man feels that he car
ries his life in his hands and is armed to the
teeth. Often the motive for the commission
of crime is of the most trifing nature, and
all that the murderers have to fear, IL they
escape summary punishment, Is long
drawn-0ut trial and hopes of speedy pardon.
Indeed, the pardon record has been almost
as disgraceful as the record Of crime, With
in the last six months 20 desperate criminals,
three of them murderers, have been re-
leased from prison as free men.
The August series of murders was confined
to eight counties. OF these Kanawha and
Mcdowell furnished five each, and Lewis.
Randolph, Hancock, Boone, Tyler and
Fayette one each. the last being the lynching
OF negro desperate who had taken five
lives.
The first of these crimes was committed in
the little village of Glenyille, Gilmer county,
on August g. Fred Ewing, a white man,
and Jerome Crawford, colored, quarrelled,
and Ewing stabbed Crawford in the arm.
The next morning Crawford was found ly-
ing by the roadside with his skull crushed
In. Ewing is under arrest for the crime.
He Is connected by marriage with the lead
ing families of the State.
On the same day Richard Winlack, ma
tive of Schuylkill county, Pa, while survey
ing wild lands In Randolph county, was am
pushed and shot by an unknown SQuatter.
Winlack was buried where he fell, and no
one has been arrested for the crime.
On Friday, August 9, widow named Gil
lis and her two grown daughters, living in
lonely part of Mcdowell county, were all
brutally outraged and then murdered. Two
brothers named Hollis were suspected of the
crime, and were hung up by the heels by a
mob and shot to death.
lchabOd Sayre and James Dixon quarreied
over the division of crop in Tyler county
ON the 18th, and Dixon split Sayres' head
open with an ak, killing him instantly. Dix
on made his escape.
Kanawha county. Mrs. Julia Holstein de-
liberatelv poisoned her son-in law, Albert
Summerfeld, prominent man. The muir
deress is In jail.
On the 14th. William Thompson, the coun-
ty clerk of Boone county, was struck on the
head by a rock, thrown by Melvin Nelson,
and was fatally wounded. The murder Gre
ated great excitement, but verdict against
Nelson Is very improbable.
The next murderous affray occurred in Ka-
nawha county on the 18th. Gordon Adkins
and John johnson attended dance at Qnin-
cy, near st: Albans, and engaged in quar-
rel, and johnson pulled a revolver and shot
Adkins three times. death resulting shortly
after. johnson escaped
Two days later, Hancock county, in the
extreme upper end of the Pan Handle, was
the scene of an unprovoked murder. The
victim was Jack Lee, well known pugilist,
and his murderer was John Tasley, who is
now in the Wheeling Jail for safe-keeping.
called the Annie L., which had been the
scene OF similar crime not two months be-
fore.
Matters were then quiet until the 22d,
when Trigg Penn was shot by George Young
in a row at Coal Valley. Kanawha county.
The trouble was caused by Young, accusing
Penn of stealing goods at recent fire. The
two men fought regular duel in the streets,
each firing five shots, and Penn fell with
three bullets in his body.
In the same county on the 29th VIM.
Vance and John Shamlin became involved
in drunken row Jacksonville and Shamlin
wrs whipped. He returned to James NJ
J0hnson's store, and seeing Tim Jones seat
"D-n you, I'll kill you" and struck him on
| the head with hoe. Jones' skull was frac-
tured, and he died from the effects of the
blow. The murderer escaped, and has not
been apprehended.
In the same county, on the 9th, Seth
Jones, a white man about IS years OF age,
became involved in quarrel with Bush
Moore, negro. Moore struck Jones with a
stone, and then procured an axe and struck
him once on the head and several times on
the body, innicting fatal wounds. The
cause of the killing was a quarrel Jon es had
with M0ore's mother In regard to the use of
| water from J0nes's well.
The final act In this terrible list of TRACE
| dies was on the 10Th. In Fayette county, when
John Fur, a negro, who had murdered
Charles Walker at Rush Run, on the 4th of
| July, was taken from the Jail at Fayetteville
by an armed mob of 200 men, shot three
times, dragged half mile over a rough
| road by the feet, and hanged to tree, and
| his body riddled with bullets.
In addition to these crimes, there were
numerous affrays in which horrible wounds
| were inflicted.