Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1899-05-20

luefe were TWO OF three uHuSudi
features connected with yesterdays
session of the special grand jury of the
Criminal Court.
One of these was the appearance be-
fore the jury of William Eaton, The
convicted fireJbug, who was brought
from Moundsyille upon his represen-
tation that he could and would unfold
a tale which would result in bringing
other guilty parties to justice in con-
nection with the arson of the building
No. 1902 Main street, in February.
1897. Another was the refusal of the
jury to find true bills upon Mr.. Eaton S
story; a third was the returning OF
three more felony indictments against
Eaton, and a fourth was letter to
Governor Atkinson, protesting against
the pardon of Eaton.
1t has been well known for several
days that Eaton was to go before the
grand jury and limitations from him
W llC OlliIldlo NCiS VI GuCll a hdtQt
as to lead them to believe, or at least
to hope, that the people back of Eaton
in the arson case could be reached
through him. Eaton, through his conn
sci and friends, has been making eff
forts for a pardon and probably hoped
that by turning States evidence to
some extent, and holding out the hope
that still further evidence would be
forthcoming, he could impose upon the
authorities and grand jary sufficiently
to secure some aid from them in his
pardon effort. The authorities and
jury distinctly declined to be hood
winked, however, and the net result is
that no new indictments for this par
ticular crime were returned Mr. Ea-
ton was called down personally, and
three new felony indictments fer
perjury on the stand in the trial of the
case when he was convicted, were
lodged against him. In the event thai
the Governors pardon machine re-
leases Mr.. Eaton from the penitentiary,
he will be Immediately rearrested and
brought to trial upon one or more OF
these new indictments, and his las
condition will thus be probably worse
than his first The new indictments
against Eaton are numbered 8, 10 and
II, the latter containing two counts,
and recite at considerable length the
details of the allegations of deliberate
perjury made against him. As far as
can be ascertained, there is no present
intention of taking further measures
against Fred Schmidt, alias Frank
Schmidt, or the man Cowie alias Cor
don; but proceedings may be revived
at any time the proper evidence is
procurable, and they and others may
yet be landed.
The jury was composed of Thomas
O'Brien, ST., foreman, and Messrs.
Hermann Hess, Fred Zarnitz, H. G..
Caldwell, M. L. Etzler, H. F. Nolte, E.
r. Metzner, w. H. Hervey, Joseph E.
Connelley, F. H. C. Schwertfeger, Chas.
Loeffier George Crumbacker, T. A. Lit
tie, William Exley and Robert Simp-
son. These gentlemen retired to their
room soon after Court convened, and
after Judge Hugus had delivered the
usual charge, with the addition of some
advice bearing upon evidence by an
accomplice in crime, this latter hqv-
ing an especial bearing upon Eaton's
testimony. Eaton had been brought up
to. the city by Warden Hawk, of the
penitentiary, in response to the usual
summons of the Court, and in due time
was taken before the jury, which spent
a long time in the attempt to extract
something valuable and to the point
from him. He told, according to state
ments made after the jury adjourned
a rambling and disconnected story. of
no especial value Foreman O'Brien
and others begged him to tell a straight
story, but he would not, and as a result
they dropped the matter and consid-
cred Mr. Eaton himself, from the
standpoint of criminal and as a pos