Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1897-02-12
DID NOT LIVE LONG.
wEATHERHOLTz. THE wIFE-MUR-
DERER, DIES IN PENITENTIARY.
ALCOHOLIC POISONING The CAUSE.
The Liquor Was Used for Making
Glue in the ShOeshop, and the
Prisoner Drank IL on the sIy--His
an Interesting Career.
an Interesting Career.

W
his better half last February, and es-
capped the gallows on a technlcality.
and who narrowly escaped being hanged
by an indignant mob in December.
| breathed his last in the prison early
day before yesterday morning, having
Of his five years sentence.
Weatherholtz, who came to the prison
| December 2lst last, not for having kill
ed his wife, but for attempting to shoot
| his mother-in-law, was assigned to duty
in the shoe-shop at the prison. and was
getting along very nicely. He had to
| do with the glueing of the soles of the
/ shoes. and in this glue is used consider
able alcohol. Before coming to the
| prison Weatherholtz was addicted to
drink, and he began, as soon as he en-
tered the prison. drinking on the sly
the alcohol given him for glue. AS a
result, he was taken III on Tuesday
night. and when a physician arrived it
was ascertained that he was suffering
| from acute alcoholic poison. He was
then in a dying condition, and nothing
HIS CAREER WAS BRIEF.
Weatherholtz's career was a brief one.
| but he attained considerable notoriety
| during the last year thereof. He was a
tall, finey-built young man of q, had a
frank, open countenance and sunny
smile. and looked like a kind-hearted
man, rather than wife-murderer
His case. a most peculiar and interest
one, will be recalled with little trouble
by Dispatch readers.
He was for several years a hard-work-
ing man, and was engaged in the
tannery business travelling around from
city to city where he could secure the
best of wages. He married when q, and
leaves two boys, one Of whom is now
and the other years old. 1t was his
custom to leave his family al their home
in Shenandoah during the spring, sum-
mer. and fall, when trade was good I'm
his line of business and he would come
back and spend the winter with them
laying up enough i'm the other months to
tide them over the cold weather.
ARRESTED IN HARRISONBURG
He returned to his home last February.
and according TO his story, told a Dis
patch reporter when he was received
at the penitentlary, ascertained that
his wife had been unfaithful to him
They had some words but did not sepa-
rate, and WeatherholtZ went to Harri-
sonburg 10 buy some furniture There
he was arrested on a warrant sworn
out by his mother-in law on the charge
Of having shot at and attempted TO kill
her This. Weatherholtz said, was
trumped-up charge but nevertheless. he
was put I'm jail and kept there TO await
al H. l.,
escape. and II was while he was free
that his wife was shot and killed. She
was engaged at her home milking a cow
when a load Of shot was fired into her
back from ambush and she expired in her
own blood.
Weatherholtz was at once suspected Of
having committed the crime and was
soon apprehended and put back I'm Jail,
this time the charge of murder being
registered against him. He denied that
he was anywhere in the uelgbborhood
when his wife was shot. and said that
the deed was perpetrated by the womans
lover. who desired TO rid himself Of her,
and also to be free from her husband,
whom he feared, knowing that Weather
holtZ would be suspected of the murder
In due time, Wetherholtz was tried for
murder I'm the first degree, but the jury
brought I'm a verdict Of murder i'm the Sc
cond degree, and agreed on eighteen
years imprisonment as the punishment
to be meted out to the prisoner The
Judge set this verdict aside, as contrary
to law and evidence. and as the man
could not be tried for a higher crime
than murder in the second degree. and
there was no evidence to sustain any
such charge, a nolle proseqdi was entered.
and Weatherholtz was free. He was at
once rearrested, though. on the charge
of assaulting and attempting to kill his
mother-in-law. and was put back in jail.
THE LYNCHERS AFTER HIM.
Then it was that the people of the
county rose in their wrath and deter
mind to take the law in their
own hands. They visited the Jail
one night and demanded the body
of Weatherholtz. The jailer had in the
mean time anticipated their coming, ana
had removed the man in care Of one
of his deputies TO the County Clerks
Office lie then told the mob that one OF
his children was sick, and requested them
to keep quiet. They respected this re-
quest as far as was practicable, but
searched the jail. They did not find their
prisoner, but in some manner they learned
that he was within the Clerks Office.
They started for this building, put
through the strategy of the deputy In
charge of Wcatherholtz, they were
thwarted in their purpose. He made a
noise as though a military company were
within the Clerks Office, and the moo,
fearing that such was the case, with
drew for awhile. This gave the Sheriff
the opportunity that he was looking for,
and he at once sneaked his man through
window and rode with him to safety.
The military was then ordered out to
protect Weatherholtz, and he was ar
raigned. tried, and convicted on the
charge of shooting at his mother-in-law,
q nd sentenced TO five years imprison-
ment. He was then hurried off to the
penltentiary. and arrived here on Deem
Der 2st, as stated.
SAID 1T WAS A BLUFF.
Weatherholtz told the Dispatch man
when ne came here that he did not think
that fhe mob really intended 10 lynch him,
and when questioned about ii made light
of the whole affair, characterizing 1t IS
n huge bluff. He said that he never in
tended to hurt his mother-in-law, ana
that the charge was based on his actions
while drunk. He had been drinking hard,
and while passing her door fired a load
of buckshot into it. The old lady happen
ed IN be within. and she thought, or pre-
tended 10 think. so he said, that he was
shooting at her.
To Rinse Money for the Poor.
Misses Dora Dickens, Withers Wright