The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1894-03-11
ABDUCTED A ID
Detective Grady Prevents a Lynch
ing and Abets a Wedding.
James Shields. of the Arsenal, Taken to
Manchester Where an Attempt Is
Made to Kill Him.

L.. p. Grady, resident detective Of the Big
Four. returned Friday night from Manches-
ter, a little railway station on the Big Four,
in Dearborn county, where he was one of
the most important factors in a wedding
that came very near being a lynching. The
unwilling groom was James Shields. a
young man of twenty-four, who during
the past six months has measured out dry
goods, sugar and pork to the farmers i'm
the neighborhood of Manchester. where he
was chief clerk in the general store the
village boasts OF.
Shields made too many friends among the
unsophisticated young women of the neigh
borhood, and recently left Manchester,
grievously mourned by three daughters Of
as many different families of the simple
German farming population of the neigh
borhOod. one of his victims. Ellen Mahan,
a pretty blonde German girl of seventeen
years, swore out a warrant for his arrest
upon a paternity charge shortly after his
departure, and the document was placed in
the hands OF Mr.. Grady TO serve. He traced
the young man from Manchester to Nor
gantown. where he had tarried a week or
two, and thence to this city, where he
had enlisted as a raw recruit in the service
of Uncle Sam for three years, and was sta
toned at the Arsenal. The young soldier
was Swallowed to the residence of his SIS
ter, on Maryland street, where the detect
i've nabbed him Thursday evening, and,
without giving the government a chance
to say yea or nay to his arrest, carried him
off bodily on the evening train to Manches-
ter.
When the train arrived at Manchester,
which place consists mostly Of the railroad
station and the general store mentioned
above, the detective and his pris-
oner found themselves confronted by
and three big brothers of Miss
Alahan. AS the train moved away they
were set upon by the Mahans. who had a
rope and were evidently prepared for a
lynching bee; A rough and tumble fight
and was only ended by the detective draw
ing his revolver and declaring that unless
the Messrs: Mahan would listen to reason
there would be various and sundry corpses
in the vicinity. They desisted in their at
tempt to set hold of Shields and a brief
parley resulted in dlspatehing one of the
party with the section boss of the station
to Lawrenceburg, a few miles off, on a
handear. There a marriage license, a min
brought back posthaste. In the meantime
the rest of the party went to Mahan5
house, where the daughter was lying
stretchd upon a bed suffering in agony. Her
screams and groans again excited the father
and brothers to uncomfortable wrath and
again they made a dash at Shields, and
would. doubtless. have roughly handled
him had not Grady been rather prompt in
bringing his pistol TO bear. The physician,
marriage license and minister arrived just
in time and the marriage ceremony fol-
lowed quickly upon the birth of a girl baby.
The detective stayed over night and in the
morning the father and brothers solemnly
pledged their friendship to the bridegroom
with liberal rotations of their homemade
Catawba wine. Grady departed on the even
ing train, leaving the luckless young sol
der with his newly-acqu-red family, and
is now devoting his attention to an efIort
10 get him released from his enlistment
in the army. How he will fare with the
relatives of his other two victims remains
to be developed in the future.