Daily new dominion. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1897-1906, 1900-07-24

hended story of Their Crimes
Narrow Escapes OF Trains.
WHEELING, July III Detective
John NJ. Shorts OF the Baltimore S
Ohio railway, returned last evening
from the interior OF the state where
he nnearthed men who confessed to
having made attempts 60 wreck trains
of the Grafton \ BelIngton division
Of tic road. George AID Homer Har-
YeY were apprehended and admitted
their guilt. The attempted wrecks
We're bold pieces OF work and savored
of the doings OF the wild and woolly
west years ago.
There have been four attempts TO
wreck trains on the road in the past
two months The first was made at
Sandy Creek on May 26th Follow
ing this were two attempts TO wreck
trains south OF Philippi and one at
tempt north Of that town. Detective
Shorts was ordered by the b. Il @.
officials To proceed to hat locality
and endeavor TO cause the arrest Of
the guilty parties. He went at once
TO Sandy Creek and made a full in
vestigation of the facts relating to
the first attempt. In this case the
attempt was made to wreck passen-
ger train and had IL not been that d
special freight train was run ahead OF
the passenger, there would nndoubt-
edly have been many lives lost Sew
eral pieces of iron and other material
hu y.la ls.s
The point selected Is three miles
from single residence and In a wild
mountainous region. As the engine
turned the curve In the road a short
distance from the obstruction the en-
gineer caught sight of IL and at once
put on the air, and reversed his en-
CINE. In spite OF this, however, the
weight of the cars and the speed at
which the train was travelling car
ried 1t on, striking the distractions,
which were pushed along for dis
lance Of forty Yards. The engine did
not leave the track, but the sudden
stop piled up number of cars in the
rear end OF the train
When Shorts arrived on the scene,
the only clue he could get was in re-
gard TO fishing parties who had stop
ped at an old deserted cabin, hid in
the laurel bushes on the mountain
side. After following up these clues
for some time he was aec0sted by a
young man who informed him that
he made mistake In not going back
two miles further in the mountains as
a ha rs ~ II Enx Il
ported back there. Acting ON this
advice Shorts soon had information
as to two OF the guilty people. They
were George and Homer Harvey.
warrant at Philippi, he
started back after them. When
about twelve miles on the road he
met man on one of the wild noun
tain roads who answered the descrip-
tion OF Homer Harvey. who he later
proved To be. Shorts entered into
with him and soon learn
ed his name. He was carrying an
axe and was on his way to some point
in the mountains. He informed him
that George Harvey was down the
road, aud he was called up After
his arrival Mr.. Shorts told them he
was an officer and ordered them to
get into his buggy. This they did
without hesitancy, and stated that
they had been surprised that he had
not come after them sooner.
MADE FULL CONFESSION.
When taken to Philippi they made
A full confession In the presence Of
the Justice. w. A. Mason, and stated
that the only reason they had for
placing the obstruction on the track
was TO see the train go into the river
After placing the stuff on the track
the entire party went up the.moun-
tain and stood there watching to see
what they termed "the fun .
AfterAtheir confession, Oak Harvey
and 'sSoddy" Fitzwater were arrested
and held for .he grand jury, and yes
terday Jed and Asa Summers, the re-
OF the party were placed UNI
der arrest and taken to PhiIippi where
they will be given hearing Tuesday
before Justice w A. Mason.
No attempt has been mada~b by any
)f the accused to deny the fact, five Of
them seeming To think that they are
not liable because the obstruction was
placed on the track by the other one,
Homer Harvey. He is also perfectly
stating to the officers that
ne would as soon be in the peniten-
.iary as any other place. Arrests Of
others who are implicated will follow
shortly.