Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1892-07-20
Arrest of William Raines.
SUSPECTED OF CONNECTION WITH THE
MURDER OF J. GRANVILLE LEECH.

MURDER OF J. GRANVILLE LEECH.
William Raines, of Rockingham, is
now in jail in Lexington, having been
arrested in Rockingham on Tuesday
evening of last week on the suspicion
of being guilty of the murder of j. 6.
Leech near Goshen, Rockbridge county
on the 4th instant. The Rockbridge
county NeaUs of last Thursday gives
the following account =
with handouts on his hands, Will
liam Raines, of Rockingham county,
was quietly brought over from the
depot at $3.50 o'clock yesterday after
noon by Deputy Sheriff w. f. Temple
ton, and lodged in the county Jail. He
was arrested under a warrant charging
him with the murder of J. Granville
Leech, near Goshen, on the evening OF
the 3rd. The arrest was made by
Sheriff Templeton, assisted by Sheriff
V. II. Lam, Deputy Sheriff j. A
Nicholas, and special deputy John
Sullivan, OF Rockingham county, in a
spot in the Blue Ridge mountains, fiji
teen miles east of Harrisonburg. at
O'Clock Tuesday afternoon.
Since the Tuesday following the
murder, Raines has been suspected by
Sheriff Witt as the author of the deed,
and plans have been quietly laid for
his arrest. Deputy Sheriff Templeton
left Fairfield on the B. u o. train Tues
day morning. When he reached Har-
risonburg he was met by the sheriff of
Rockingham county and two deputies.
A brisk drive brought them shortly
after midday to the house of Raines'
father, which is in the mountains three
miles east of Port Republic. Young
Raines was taken unawares and hand
cuffed without trouble. He denied all
knowledge of the murder. He was
brought to Harrisonburg that night.
What the Sheriff of Rockbridge
knows of the connection of Raines with
the murder of Leech he carefully keeps
to himself All that can be said is that
suspicion and some evidence point to
him as the man and it is the determi-
nation of the county authorities to fol-
low every clue to the end until Leech's
murderer is caught and punished.
Raines is miner. He worked at
Clifton Forge and Buena Vista, and
the week previous to the murder had
been at work at Victoria mines. On
June Gath he worked one day at Goshen
furnace. On July 4th, the day after
the murder, he left the Goshen section
and proceeded homeward by rather
unusual route at this time. He passed
on foot through McCutchen's gap in
North mountain into the Walkers
creek section, and thence to Rocking
ham. He implicated himself by his
conversation on the journey, and there
are other things nearer the scene of
the murder, known only to the sheriff,
which shadow him with suspicion.
Raines is a stout young man aged
about twenty-one years, Is about five
feet nine inches tall and will weigh
about 100 pounds. Has black hair and
a slight black mustache. His complex
ion is dark and his face not very pleas
ing. He was raised in what is con-
sidered the most lawless section of
Rockingham county, and his people
are not regarded as very peaceable or
law-abiding. In going to make the az
rest Sheriff Lam thought it wise to go
with a good force and heavily armed.
A preliminary trial will be held here
within the next few days and the value
of the evidence against him ascertained,
An important thing to be proven is
whether he was the man seen near the
scene of the murder. He appears to
have been stranger to the Goshen