Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1892-02-07

Eldridge was TO arrest BoVar, and Wes-
ley, the porter at the store, on the
charge OF conspiring 10 defraud, aud
they were also lodged In jail. The end
OF this was that all four were sentenced
to two years confinement in the Jail,
the utmost limit then permitted under
the laws of West Virginia for a misde-
meanor.
There was no State penitentiary In
this State In 1864, and many criminals
from other counties were sent TO the
Wheeling Jail for safe keeping. It
thus came about that the four men sent
up as above made the acquaintance Of
three lifers, sent up for murder. There
were also three Confederate soldiers,
names Weston, Charles Meredith of
Baltimore, and Marks, who were doing
respectfully four, five and seven years
for rObbing the Adams Express Com
pany office at Parkersburg. There
were also one Shelton, who was doing
fifteen years for horsestealing. Shell
ton worked out plan Of escape, and
man named Green, who was doing five
years for robbery, one Morgan, who was
doing ten years for horsestealing, e.
bridge, Bidwell, and some others into
the plot. Mr.. Jones was then jailer,
and in the latter part Of July, 1865,
Eldrldge, shelton, Green and Morgan
made their escape. Morgan was shot
dead by Tailor Jones as they were run
ming through the lower corridor, past the
door of one Of the rooms now used as q
residence. The remaining three fugi-
tives took 10 the hills, avoiding the
great crowds that soon filed the streets,
and after travelling four nights, hiding
by day, they imagined they must have
crossed the line into Pennsylvania.
They held a consultation, and decided
that they would go to house and get
food and see where they were, and Ed
ridge, being most presentable, having
one good shoe, was fitted out with the
best clothes the rest Of the part had.
He advanced TO the edge OF
clearing ut the brow Of a
hill, peeped over the crest, and
then beckoned 10 his companions. They
looked into the valley and exclaimed
simultaneously: That's Wheeling and
there's the jail" They had been tray-
cling IN ring for four days. They
made a fresh start, got about twenty
miles up the river, crossed the Ohio, in
doing which at night all nearly drown
ed, and Eldrldge became separated
from the others and made his way fin
ally TO Harrisburg, where he got lodg-
ings at a police station and saw posted
on the wall an offer OF $500 reward for
the capture Of himself and companions.
He never saw his comrades again,
and they were probably drowned
in the river. Eldridge went on TO Phil
adelphia, met friends and went into
business in New York.
Meanwhile Bid we'll remained in Jail,
aud soon entered into conspiracy with
Marks and a convict named Penney to
escape. They induStrlouSly sawed OIL
several bars, but were detected, and
kept In close confinement for two
months. The following December, on
Christmas eve, they succeeded in get
ting out in safety. Bidwell went down
Twelfth, then Monroe street, to Water,
with a companion named Wesley, went
down Water 10 aud across the creek,
over the b. & o. bridge, reached the
lower end Of town, and crossed to Bell
ARE in a sSiff. Then they went out the
Central Ohio, walking by Belmost
station, where Eldridge had escaped by
leaplng from the car window. Bldwell
was never captured, but Marks was,
he having remained in West Virginia,
working al his trade as carpenter. In
New Orleans Bdwell accidentally met
Penney, who had escaped with him, and
gave him $500. Bidwell then went TO
New York, met Mrs. Bolivar, gave her
money, and she came to Wheeling and
secured the remission Of half her hus-
bands sentence, settling up mis- debts
to the Baltimore firm. Bolivar was re-
leased from Jail four months after Bid
well escaped. Bolivar died in 1885.
Bidwell launched out anew on career
OF crime which made his name world
famous and which secured for him, in
the end, fifteen years sentence In
Newgate Prison, London.