The new dominion. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1876-1904, 1892-12-17
RAMSEY GIVES UP.
After two More Verdiets Against
the Outlaw, His Counsel
FILES AsoLLE CosrESDERE PLEA.



Give Him 40 Years.
Last Wednesday the grand jury
of Fayette county came out of its
session with big lot of true bills
Of Indictment, and the next day be-
gan the trials of divers and sundry
Cooley cases, and from appearances
it would seem that the law will deal
with his thieving gang just what all
good citizens bad hoped it would.
Among TIE batch we're the bills
aginst the Csoleys, Ida Pastorius,
William Martin and others.
The work of disposing of the Coo
ley trials was then taken up. Will
liam Martin alias William Shriver
and wife were the first of the defend
ants put on trial They were chsrg
with larceny and receiving stolen
goods. The prosecutor was Jacob
Prinkey, the old mountaincer who
was robbed and beaten by the gang
He related the story Of the robbery,
and told how his son had shot one of
the gang, who proved to be the lead
err, Frank Cooley. He Unidentified an
oyercoat, fife, revolver and pair of
mittens found in Martins house some
time after the robbery. DR.. Gribble
of Fairchance testified that on the
morning after the robbery Martin
came to his house and took him to
mountain resort where Frank Coo
ley was lying wounded. The com
monwealth held that these facts
showed concIusively that Martin was
with the gang when Prinkey was rob-
bed.
The defense then created sensa-
ton by calling Charles David, a
member of the Cooley gang, to testify
in Martins behalf. David respond
ed, and made what is considered, by
him at least, a full confession. He
coclly admitted that he was one of
the Cooley gang, and declared that
he and Frank Cooley, Montana Pete
and Sam Jones robbed old man
Prinkey, and that Martin wasn't in
it. This confession in the witness
box created sensation, not only in
the crowded court room, but among
the members of the bench and bar;
and it seemed to paralyze the coun-
sci for the Commonwealth This
was considered shrewd move on
the part of Jack Ramsey, who is the
master of David, body and soul ap-
parently, and used the fellow as a
mere tool. 1t is a significant fact
that of the four persons David i'm
plicates in the robbery in question,
be is the only one that can be pun
ished. Frank Cooley is dead, while
Montana Pete and Sam Jones have
both left the State.
David admitted that he was in
Jail on several charges of robbery.
That his prospects for long. term
in the Penitentiary as bis reward
for those crimes, seems to be appar-
ent, but don't effect him the least.
He is a young and weak looking
character, and from his actions and
testimony apparently unprincipled.
The only way his unexpected testi-
money could be explained by the
prosecution was that it was clever
scheme on the part of Ramsey and
Martin to get David to help them
out of a hole. David knows that
he has no show whatever, and the
theory is that he was called in to
testify to help Martin out of this
case and to lay ground work for
Ramsey's defense on the alibi line.
The jury soon reached verdict of
guilty as to Martin on the charge of
receiving stolen goods
A. j. Hicks, who helped capture
David and John Ramsey the day
after Frank Cooley was killed, testi-
fed that he had said to the prisoner,
"Charley, / wouldn't have thought
you would have been caught in such
a crowd" and then David, replied,
swell, they can't have but two
charges against me, one for robbing
Sacob Prinkey and one for robbing
my brother"
Charley David, the defendant, was
the only witness for the defense.
His testimony was short. He de-
MED everything and finished by
swearing this his brothers family
and Hicks had all sworn falsely.
Judge Ewing directed the jury to
find David not guilty ON the first
count for breaking and entering and
to find him guilty on the charge of
robbery if they believed the testi-
mony of the Commonwealth. The
Jury agreed upon a verdict without
leaving the box.
This robbery was David's last be-
fore becoming member of the Coo
ley gang, which it is alleged he join
ed in few DAVIS and which made
him eligible to membership. The
money is supposed to have been used
in buying an outfit.
The trial Of Jack Ramsey, co leader
with Frank Cooley, was taken up the
case having been delayed by the alb
sence Of Thomas NJ. Marshall, OF
Pittsburg, Ramsey having protested
against going ON trial without a
good lawyer. The cases tried were
two charges of burglary committed
in German township, near McClell-
and town, by the McClellandtown or
Sullivan gang, of which Ramsey was
youthful member In the spring
the gang raided the houses of Joseph
Anderson, Mrs Sarah Keener and
Harvey Grove. They succeeded in
robbing Keener's and Anderson
residences, but at Groves they were
met by fusilade from an old army
musket that drove them away, one of
their number being severely wound
ed.
1t took nearly three hours to get
a jury, and before the twelfth man
was found who had not fixed opin-
ion of the defendants guilt or limo
cence the panel was exhausted.
Nearly every man called having read
of Ramsey and the doings of the
Cooley gang had formed an opinion
as to the defendants guilt or limo
cenae and were generally afraid they
could not sit on the case and pass
on the evidence impartially. After
the jurors had been sworn Judge
Ewing cautioned them not to talk
nor listen to talk concerning the cas-
es they were to try. He also in
structed the tipstsves to admit NO
one to the court room during the trial
| eycapt witneaspa IN tho case iurors