Asheville daily citizen. [volume] (Asheville, N.C.) 1890-1900, 1891-09-24
WASTHELETTER "FIXED?"
ANOTHER OPINION ON THE
WILLIS CASE.

Detective Agency, Tells 9Th,
Citizen" what He Believes II
Regard to the Case of Il. u. viii
lis, now in state Prison.
Several days ago THE CITIZEN askct
of w. H. Deavcr, chief of the Pnion de
tective agency in Asheville, his opin
ion of the Willis case, which has sattractet
SO much attention and has assunet
such an interesting phase.
Mr.. Deaver was getting ready to leav,
the city on business, but promised t
write THE CITIZEN his views In accort
with that promise Mr. Deavcr sends tn,
following:
EDITOR THE CmHEN:-You ask m,
opinion as to the guilt OF
innocence of one H. l.. Willis, who
is now serving a term for life in our
state prison. | remember very clearly
the points in the case or rather the case
OF robbery. At that time it was known
that two were in the robbery. HalfDrd
was known. watched the develop
ment of the case with some interest, un
til after they were tried and convicted.
remember that Halfurd and Willis
were captured about Del Rio or New
port, Tenn, and the money described as
missing was found upon each of their
persons. Now, where the third party
comes into the arena am not able to
saw On general principles governing
he trial of criminals in North Carolina,
it may safely be said that there is so
much oi milk OF human kindness in the
breast OF her iu ors, that fully
n'nety-nnc go unpunshcd, to one con.
viction. Hence public feeling on an
apparant feeling tOr the time that An in.
noccnt man is suffering under the penal.
ties ui the law. The executive should
not go wild (and know hat GOV. Holt
will not over the excitement incident 70
statement that a citizen of North Can.
olna has actually been deprived Of his
liberty over three years, and him an IN
n"cent man. North Carolina has no
such records.
| think am borne ont in the rcmari,
that Willis is irgu,iy held To- pa, the pen
atty OF foul conSp! ley t. rob aud xii
il necessary the party opposing thcrol-
berry. "The thing has been liked"
Now for the fixing The letter bearing
date August 2, at Kansas City, wrthuut
the plain and invinclblc postmark.
there as you say, not having seen
the letter, is fraud No. |.
The same letter in your issue OF 18th,
(Unknown) lies in the second place,
when it says that he met Haltord a week
before the robbery in Asheville, and later
by agreement they met al Buffalo church,
and met there Haford and Willis. This
is not the conduct of criminals. They
will not form acquaintances SO fast, and
it is simply contrary to human nature
and common sense to suppose for mo-
ment that such will happen, taking it for
granted that all were criminals. Each
will be afraid OF the other.
From the anonymous letter Willis went
there tor the purpose of stealing Hal
iord's children. Then " by not 20 about
his work, and not be lett sitting on a
church step. The UnKnown SAYS he
gave Haltord only half of the smaller
stocking which only contained about
500, on account of his cowardice Then
he says that he helped rob eight express
trains. In this he lies TOR in ten wears
there has been but four trains held up in
the state OF Texas. "0h how it grieved
my simple heart when heard that Will
lis was hung tor crime hadcommltted
myself What a stretch OF imagination
the "hxcr" of this letter made, and it
with other statements stamps fraud
NJ once upon lis face. His simple heart"
and this badly written letter tor | am
no scholar" tall lar short OF a common
sense letter, such as a cuntcssiug heart
would bctray
The letter is real " well written fixed"
or tried to be) to suit acommou criminal.
And he says turt her that he has friend
III Ashevllle who wrote him that Willis
Was in the state prison. Who, oh, who
is his friend Come to the front Young
man and help poor Willis out and tell
us who wrote this anonymous letter.
Haltords affidavit says he got $63
from Stewart. Stewart SayS he divided
500 with him, not telling him that he
had any more. Then we take il thai
Haltord had $33, and he owed Willis
some and paid that-and then he gave
Willis some Mexican dollars to dispose
OF for percent.
How much money then did Halford
have left?
How much did Willis have when he
was arrested?
The fact that larger part of all the
money that was taken, about $500, |
think, was found upon Willis aud Hal
ford, Willis is and was the identical
Ohn Stewart, Haliord and Willis never
stopped from the time they left Del Rio,
till they did the robblng and got back.
Again in Halford's affidavit appears
&c. Burnett, ]. p" know Mr..
Burnett very well, and we'll satisfied that
he died before July Sth, 1889, the date OF
swearing to the affidavit. Then again,
If Willis made confession to John Blan.
ton, who was sheriff of Rutherford
county at the time would swear that
he told whatever BLlnton says he did
| have looked over your papers care.
fully and unbasedlv and cannot help
thinking that there is foul play attemp.
ted at the mercy seat. Yours truly,
w, II. Deaver.