Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1894-11-07
DOOMED ALL TO DEATH,
Confession OF Man Arrested FOR
"Tecking a $500" PasSen-
ger Train.

| Merrill, Wis, Oct. 81 - Wholesale
murder and express robbery was the mo-
tive that inspired the recent train wreck
ing on the 800" road Two men charged
with the murder of the man who lost his
life by their work were given Il preimin-
| airy hearing here today, and were held to
| trial. One of the prisoners has con-
! fessed, and his story details the methods
| pursued to derail the through Minneapo-
! l1S-BoStOn limited near Heafford Junction
on the night Of October T. In the crash
tlreman Charles Cottrill was instantly
/ Killed and Engineer James Dutch serious
| ly injured. The plan was to cause
wreck that would kill every person on the
! train and then rob the safe in the ex-
press car, as it was supposed the safe
contained 4 large sum of money. The
man who confessed is Levitt Hazelton.
about 20 years old. who claims to be Il
| resident of Brainard, MINI. His com
panion is Frank Williams, a short thick,
and friends at Appleton. Wis Williams
stouty maintains that he knows nothing
Of the Wreckng.
Tracing the Wreckers.
The officers traced these men from
Minneapolis to this city. On September
80 they broke into and stole an oil coat
and an OvercOat at the tool house at
Prentice That night they sawed al
bridge near that place but owing to the
short time in which they had TO do the
work it was not complete and the trains
passed over safely The following week S,
time was spent between Prentice and;
Ri aelander. On October q they were
seen in Rhinelander and there purchased
some groceries, On October they
sawed the piles and stringers of the high
bridge near HeaffOrd Junction and the
weSt-bOund passenger train went crash
ing down a twenty-five foot embank-
ment The train was running slow SO
the wreck was not as complete as the
Wreckers expected. The baggage car,
smoking and day coaches and two sleepers
We're not broken and none of the passen-
gers were hurt. On October II Sheriff
Patzer received Il telegram from the sta
ton agent at Irma to look out for two
suspicious looking characters. That
night the sheriff accompanied by others
stationed himself about a mile from the
city, near Lake View, ana about 10
O'Clock two men appeared. They were
taken in custody and were found to be
heavily armed. The 800" officials were
notified and detectives put on their case.
The men were sentenced for thirty days
for carrying concealed weapons. Last
Wednesday they were taken before Court
Commissioner Helms charged with the
murder of Fireman Charles Cottrll.
They pleaded not guilty and their exam
HldClOn SET Tor To-Day.
HazeIton Makes a Confession.
Last Friday Levitt Hazelton signifed
his willingness to confess. His statement
was taken before Ed IIleutz. notary pub
lie, in the presence of Sheriff patzer,
District Attorney Anderson and +. Y.
Hotz. Hazelton says: About dark we
sat TO work with the purpose of wrecking
a passenger train so that we could rob the
express car. We expected the wreck
would be much worse than it was. We
expected that the cars would be all
thrown from the track. smashed up and
the passengers and train crew all killed.
SO that we would have no one to prevent
from accomplishing our purpose. We
Thought mostly of the money we would
get and not of the loss of life. We began
work west OF the center Of the bridge.
We cut all the stringers across the bridge
and two sets of them at the ends. and
then sawed the piles or posts upon which
they rested. We also cut Il brace. After
a train passed over we sawed the outside
post and the other brace, took the bolts
out of the fish plates. pulled the spikes
next TO the fish plates and removed the
bolts from the fish plates at each end of
the rail.
Cries of Dying Men.
eve waited at the east end of the
bridge until the West-bOund passenger
train came and broke through the bridge
We were on the south side of the track
at the east end of the bridge when the
crash came. Then we walked westward
to the point where the wreck was. We
heard someone crying. Are YOU hurt|
The other man answered, "A little Then
we heard someone crying out again. We
did not want to hear more. A man was
coming toward us and that scared me
out We walked away and went down
pretty near to the next town on the Chi
cago Milwaukee & ST. Paul track and
went into hay barn. We remained there
three days and then started for Merrill.
The Prisoners in Court.
Williams and Eazalton were brought
before Court Commissioner A. A. Helms
this morning and the examination of wit
nesses with regard to the Wrecking of the
train was commenced. The prisoners
were without counsel and none could be
obtained for them. Supt. d. Willard
Conductor B. NJ. Lewis of the wrecked
train, Roadmaster John Collins. Section
Foreman Nels @. Mark and John II. En-
geikrout of the 500 railroad testified as
to the wreck, the killing of Fireman
Charles Cottrill the cause of the wreck
and the manner in which the bridge was
sawed The latter testimony cOrroborated
the confession of HazeltOn. Nothing ma