Evening journal., 1890-07-15
BEDWELL STILL ATLARGE. E.
HARTLEY FARMERS THREATEN 10
LYNCH HIM.
Active Search for the Man Who Shot
Caleb Ford-His Mistress Suspected
of Assisting Him to Esoape-Reply to an
Accusation.

| DOVER Del, July 15.-The JoUR.
NAL correspondent again visited the
scene of the Bedwell- Ford tragedy yes
terday afternoon, and found that al.
though the excitement and interest in
the case was in no wise allayed, yet q
more systematic routine had been
adopted. and the men of the neighbor-
hood had gone at the affair in a business
like way.
eve must not only secure Bedwell, the
murderer" said old Farmer Curlett,
"but we must also get down to the bot
tom Of this internal affair, and | believe
that there were more than Bedwell IN
this plot. There are several reasons
why the people begin to surmise that
Bedwell was not alone In the plot,
and one of the weightiest is that
he has been kept thoroughly posted
about all the doings at the Ford place
since Sunday morning. It is now posi-
lively known that Bedwell did leave the
Ford farm on Sunday morning aud has
not since returned All day long Of that
day, persons interested in the tragedy
were passing back and forth on the high
ways and through the fields, and the
house and yard may be said to have bee n
literally filed with people from daylight
till far into the night
Bsdwell left the farm very early Sun
day morning The magistrate was
brought from Marydell to Fords bedside
about twilight, in a quiet manner, yet,
about one hour after the warrant Of ar
rest was issued, Bedwell was seen by a
farmers wife fastening across the fields
just north of Hartley, directly for his
brothers house, with the Identical gun
which has not been seen since Mrs
Short saw 1t In his hand last Thursday
morning when he called at her house to
buy the meat Now It doesn't
take very brilliant mind to
surmise that Bedwell must have
been hidden in that swamp all day
of Sunday, and that the gun was there
with him, and again it is plain that
somebody must have notified or warned
him of what had occurred in the house
that evening. Suspicion is growing that
that somebody was Susan, the sister OF
the wounded man, the mistress Of the
assassin and the mother of the
girl Annie. "If this be so.
ths neighborI say, then we know
that Susan helped Bedwell to concoct the
internal scheme, that had for its object
the removal of Caleb Ford from their
path. They withered under his manly
protest against their mode of living, and
especially did they fear his vengeance
should hs discover the outrage which
Bedwell himself boasted he had perpe-
trated on young Annie Ford, favorite
niece.
'Susan's actions give color to the sus
picion. Ever since her brother was
brought home bleeding from the wounds
he received at the hands of her para
mour she has maintained sullen 81
lence. She has not entered the room
where the victim of Bedwell's treachery
groans In pain and she has refused to
talk or advance any information regard
ing the affair When the Joun
NAL representative was there on
Sunday afternoon. she sat in the dark of
the little shed, looking sullen and defiant.
and when the little girl, at the request
Of the newspaper men, asked her
whether she would not talk to them her
only reply was something between a
grunt and a snarl
"Well, what have you done towards
capturing the would be-murdererY" was
asked Of old gray-haired farmer Jim
Curlett, yesterday afternoon. we have
done everything under the heavens that
is possible, replied the old man. ''and
let me tell you further, that We propose
keeping it up until Tom Bedwell swings
from the limb Of tree or is safely
lodged in Dover jail And there
are plenty of law-abiding citizens
around here who think that the former
plan would settle the matter more effec-
tually than the latter. We have not for
gotten the outrage of last Christmas Eve
or the one Of two months ago, when z
K. Grant was struck down In cold blood
almost at his own door step and we have
not forgotten that the law did nothing
for us in either Of these cases.
The JOURNALS readers will remember
that on the day before last Christmas
two roughs from Dover, Peterson and
Honey, entered the blacksmith and
shops Of Fred Mas and
George Dill, and lo,u Mas weltering in
his blood and Din beside him very little
better, Although the crime was fas-
tened upon the two above named, and al |
though Fred Mas will bear the scars of |
the knife thrusts to his grave, yet both |
the aesailants are to-day free men.
Honey walked out OF court and disap |
peared and Peterson jumped his bail.
In the Grant outrage the same result
was obtained Grans was the most
prominent and highly respected citizen
of the town OF Hartley AS agent for
he was forced to distrain man
named Johnson. Johnson openly made |
threats that he would kill Grant. One
night, about two months ago, while |
Mr.. Grant was peaceably entering his own |
gate he was struck with bar Of iron.
his skull fractured, his jaws broken, and |
to oday he Is but the semblance OF his |
former self and wreck physically. The |
ponderous machinery Of the law was too |
slow tn this instance and before he could |
be captured the assailant moved away |
into Virginia, where he now is.
1--WE remember these things, said one |
Of the most prominent young farmers Of
the hundred yesterday, and You must /
not be surprised If our people take the |
law into their own hands. Now. the |
question arises this morning, Where is
bedwell the assassin2 The belief is that |
he is lowering around the border of the |
state line In the dense forests which fringe |
that line for miles Yesterday morning |
before daylight he called At
a wayside cabin on the Hartley road
within one mile Of the seen, and asked |
FOR fomething to eat Receiving Ii he |
hurried into the woods and that was the |
last seen Of him Such men as the
Pleasantons, the Hawkinses, the Burnes
and the Berrys, are determined, how
ever, that he snail not escape. Mean
while at the Ford farm, Caleb, the vic
tim, Is suffering, and the old mother is
pleading for some one to bring "her boy
Caleb home to dinner
Response to the "MornI ng News. 4"