Evening star., 1901-11-11
ADMIT THE ACCUSATION
FOUR COLORED YOUTHS CONFESS TO
HIGHWAY ROBBERY.
beat Farmer Into UncOnsciOusnes
on Long Bridge and Take
His Cash.

Four young colored men are held behind
the bars at the sixth precinct station
charged with highway robbery They are
Forest Elmore, sixteen years old; Charles
Fortune and George Taylor, seventeen
years old each, and Martin Campbell nipe-
teen years. 1t is charged that they as
saulted and robbed John F. Bayliss, a
farmer, whose home is at Lincolnia, Fair
fax county, Va,
The prisoners admit their Connection with
the affair and will be given a preliminary
hearing tomorrow morning after they are
photographed at police headquarters. The
robbery occurred on the Long bridge Sat
urday night, shortly after clock Bayliss
was struck on the head and face several
times with bricks and stones and was then
relieved of $12 .52, so the prisoners say, al
though the victim thinks he had nearly $40
in the bag that was taken from him. In
the confessions of the prisoners, however,
they said the money was evenly divided
and that $3.13 was the amount each re-
ceived.
Grabs Farmers Money Bag.
Mr.. Bayliss and Charles Lacy. his adopt.
ed son, came to market early Saturday
morning After disposing Of their produce
they remained about the hay market and
bazaar until late in the afternoon. as Mr..
Bayliss wanted to purchase a horse. He
made a purchase and Fortune, who is
known to his companions as "Bupky San
ders," was employed to exercise .he .iEimai.
Taylor grabbed from the farmer shot bag
in which he had the proceeds of his days
sales. and Bayliss caught hold Of him. 1t
was with some difficulty that Taylor was
pulled away from the Virginian, and short
ly after this episode the quartet agreed
that they would follow their victim after
dark and get his roll of money. Bayliss
did not make start in the direction of his
home until nearly dark. He was followed
n or AVID %
he whipped up his horses the prospective
highwaymen lost sight of him. They hur-
ried in the direction of the bridge and over
TOOK the team where,Mr Baytss had stop
PED to give his horses water. From the
watering trough the. quartet went to the
bridge and stopped on the dirt road this
side of the draw.
The animal which Mr. Bayliss had pur-
chased became balky. and the driver
stopped his team. Just then the four
young men appeared, and Mr.. Bayliss,
having no idea of their intentions, invited
them to get in his wagon and ride across
the bridge. One of them informed him that
1t was not ride that they wanted and
Taylor then got into the wagon. Fortune
stones or bricks, and two of them say that
Campbell inflicted the injuries upon Mr.
Bayiiss. Taylor got the money, and when
he got of the wagon he had a knife. and
he remarked:
"Dead Men Tell No Tales
II did intend to cut his throat"
What did you want to do that for?'' one
of his companions asked.
"A dead man don't tell no tales. Won
know, was his response.
About the time the affair ended and the
quartet had started back toward the CITY
MIR. Lacy came along and found Mr.. Bay
liss wandering about the bridge in a dazed
condition. Two policemen were on duty on
the bridge at the time, but they knew
nothing of the affair until a few minutes
after the crime had been committed. They
then summoned the ambulance and the
wounded man was taken to the Emergency
Hospital. He was unconscious when he
reached the institution, and 1t was feared
he would die. His condition improved, ana
this morning the doctors said they We're
satisfied he would recover.
Capt. Boardman's detectives. as well as
the men IN the several precincts, worked
hard on the case. Detectives Hartigan and
Muller were assigned to 1t from headquar-
ters while Precinct Detectives Evans,
Cornwell and O'Dea OF the second, fourth
and sixth precincts, respectively, followed
several clues and finally the four pris-
oners were landed.
Lieuts. Hollinberser and Moore took their
statements today. The only variance In
their confessions was as to which one act
uaily inflicted the injury upon their victim