The age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1897-1902, 1898-11-29
MYSTERY OF
COLSON' FLIGHT
Left Birmingham on the l. &
\, Sunday Afternoon,
DARING LEAP FROM TRAIN
This is the Story of Flagman
Curry
NEGRO X " A REVOLVER
When an : mpt Was Made to Make
g. i'm Pay Fare.
-
IN THE VICINITY OF CALERA
All Trace of the Murderer was Lost-The
Supposed Golson Captured at
Clanton Turned Out to Be
Counterfeit.
IN THE VICINITY OF CALERA

Calera, November 2S.-(SpeciaL)-The
slayer of Chief Deputy Robert Warnock is
still at large, perhaps roaming the woods
or lying in hiding in some negro cabin not
a score of miles distant from Calera.
Here, or within three and one-half miles
of here, has been found absolutely the
only tangible clue that has served to give
the officers the least semblance of an ink
ling as to the course pursued by Will Col
son, murderer and escaped jailbird, after
his dastardly crime in Birmingham.
Three friends of the murdered deputy
passed through here this morning on the
early Louisville and Nashville accommodate
ton en- route to Clanton, In response to a
dispatch sent to Birmingham stating that
a negro answering the description of Col
son had been captured there by telegraph
operator.
The gentlemen, Messrs. John D. Handy,
r. M. Gayle and C. ]. Martin, Jr., found
the negro bound hand and food sittingz (.
Clanton's dingy station under strong
guard. They saw at glance that he was
rot the right man and turned away dis
appointed. He was a big. black raw-boned
fellow, barefoot and half-witted. When
questioned he gave his name as Jim Sharp,
of himself While he is not the. man
wanted for the killing of Deputy Warnock,
il is thought that he is an escaped convict
from Coalburg.
Got Their First Clue
The chagrin of the acting deputies was
cnly too apparent, and they boarded the
fast train on the return trip, reaching Ca
lera by 10 o'clock. This proved a lucky in
cident for while the train was whirling
through the country at a rate of almost
forty miles an hour they were given the
first practical clue of Golson's flight from
Birmingham by Flagman Curry.
Curry was on the southbound Louisville
and Nashville leaving Birmingham at 4.30
Sunday afternoon. The train Is due to
leave there at o'clock, but was thirty
minutes late. When about five miles north
of Caera Flagman Curry discovered
negro stealing ride on the rear end of the
last sleeper He told the negro that he
must pay his fare or be put off. The negro
protested that he had paid the conductor
his fare to Calera and was going no fur
ther. Holding his lantern in the irate
negro's face the flagman clutched him by
the collar and attempted to drag him in
side the coach.
Quick as a flash the negro drew re-
volver from his pocket
LET go or l will kill you,' he yelled and
the fiagman seeing no other alternative re-
laxed his grasp and ran inside for REIN
forcements.
Negroes Daring Leap
The engineer was doing what members of
the craft denote as ''railroading," and the
flyer was bounding over the rails at a
lightning like pace to make up for lost time.
" zen Flagman Curry returned to the rear
platform the negro had either leaped from
the swiftly moving train or succeeded well
in hiding himself. The f1agman declares
that the negro jumped from the train be-
tween ONeals lime kiln and the regular
siding near the section foreman's residence,
Notwithstanding the fact that at the least
calculation the train was making forty
miles an hour
When Curry flashed the lantern in the ne
gro's face he AYERS that he had an excellent
opportunity to observe his makeup. Ac-
cordng to the fiagmans statement, the de-
scription tallies exactly with that of VIII
Go.son. The negro wore an overcoat sim lar
to the one worn by the murderer and had
on a brown derby hat
He had his overcoat buttoned up, but I
know he had on sweater for 1 felt it
when grabbed him by the throat" said
Curry.
Would Have Killed Him
BY some it is held that If the supposed
had dashed from the fast going
train, as Curry alleges, his carcass would !,
have been found the next morning where
he first hit the earth. The fiagman asserts
that after the negro succeeded in making
way with himself. he climbed on top OF the
Pullman to make sure he was not stealing
a ride by this favorite method OF the hobo.
To effect this, It is suggested that possibly
the negro darted into the toilet room at the
end Of the sleeper when Curry went for re-
1t was only three miles to
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