The Wilmington daily Republican., 1901-12-09
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS..
An Authentic Account Of the
Oak Grove Shooting.
A new VERSION or The TRAGEDY
The Nisht Attack ON the IOuRE New
Yorker Was lnproVOked Asd
the shooting Clearly Done
In Self Defense,

StAi nc1tuhVs
NEW YORK. Dec 9. Herbert Marx,
who OH Tuesday night last shot and
killed William Taylor and William
Hctiln and seriously wounded James
Q. Stiff at his fathers plantation house
near Oak Grove. Va, has reached his
home. 1880 Sixth avenue. Brooklyn. He
left Oak Grove Immediately after his
exoneration by the coroner's jury and
reached Washington on Thursday. As
10 his whereabouts Since Thursday
nothing was obtainable.
Abel Il, Blackmar. 1914 Bergen
street Brooklyn. Of the law firm OF
Baldwin 4 Rlackmar. 81 Nassau street,
Manhattan. gave ont the following
statement of the affair:
"wednesday morning received a
telegram asking me to come to Virgin
Ia at once and stating that Herbert
Marx was In trouble. started at
once, accompanied by Hcrbsrt's broth
er Ernest. We reached Frederieks-
burg OH Thursday and found that Her
bert had come UP the Rappahannock
on n steamer. We found him on board
the boat and took him to the hotel.
After hearing his story Of the shooting
We decided that il was best for him to
60 to Washington and call on Repre-
sentative Jones of his home district
and give him a full account of the mat
ter. This he did and placed himself
in the care of Mr.. .l21Ss.
Ernest Marx a4M myself drove to
Oak Grove and called upon the com-
monwealth attorney, Colonel Robert j.
Washington. a descendant Of the half
brother of George Washington. After
a conference with Colonel Washington
we decided to thoroughly inspect the
premises where the shooting occurred.
The next day We went over 10 the place
and found several things not before no
ticed We found that Taylor evidently
had fired two rifle shots through the
window One of these had passed
through the window Of the back room
on the ground floor and the other
through the second story.
when the first shot was fired. Her
bert secured his revolver. threw open
the door aud confronted a man wearing
a mask. He called upon the man TO
speak and say whether the affair was
Joke. Receiving no answer. h" fired.
The man. who nfterward proved to be
S1iff, fell on the porch. Stiff is said to
have stated that lie WAS shot by one
of his own party. hut Herbert says that
he shot him. Hetiiin fell next. and aft
er his second shot Herbert started
across the front yard toward a fence
about $50 yards away. After climbing
| the fence be turned and saw another
man. carrying n rifle. Herbert fired,
and this man also fell The third man
nfterward proved TO be Taylor, who
apparently had crossed the yard and
climbed the fence on a parallel course
| with Marx. Herbert ran half 4 mile TO
Grftiths. the nearest neighbor.
Securing lantern, party hasien"d
back to the scene Of the shooting and
found that HefIlln and Stiff had crawl
ed into the front room. where both lay
on the 0oor unconscious One myste
rious feature Of the affair was that the
lamp which had been burning in the
back room had been removed to TIT
front room.
Marx secured horse and hurrct
away to the home Of DR.. Washington
five miles distant. and soon returned
with the physician. Taylor'> body wa.
not found until an hour later. Tpol
searching further about the premise!
bag Of straw. II larg" bundle of rag
| ard a bottle Of kerosene We're found
together with large braided whip
A quarter Of a mile down the road tw,
buggirs were found. in which were
can of TAR, Il rope twenty feet long AM
several rife cartridges. A man know
as Douglas was found in one of tn
huge.s IIr ran away and. tOgrthc
with man known rs George ThUmI
son. was caught later. Both declare
that they knew nothing Of the Dlat,"r-
both had bnen pressed into III" alfai
upcr the assurance that there was I
hr no shooting. An examination O
Taylor's ride sANra that the magi
zine contained thirteen undischaree
cartridges The 81, cior Of the ride WI,
| down. and a cartridge was found jan
Licd in the brcccl. preventing furih,
lis" Of the weapon.
"AIary remained that night in I'll
house in the custody of Mr.. Grifti,l
who had been irpntizod RS spcri:
constable Next morning an inDue'
was held over Taylors body. Thoml
son testified that he had u,dprsioo
the party intended TO "hastisc Mar:
- lie had been picked up on the roa,
and hr knew nolhing else about II
matter. DUHglaS told a simiiHr Stul
TO the Jury, on which were two rel
,krs Of oue Of the dead men. Colon
Washington told Marx he could mai
n statement TO the jury if hr desire
, and Marx did 50. A verdict OF justin
/ Bile shooting was at once rrturne
Marx was advised to leave the count
in the interests of peace. Ne was ia
:, on 10 I.esds'own. on the Eapr;,ha
, mock, and huardrd n boat for Frrut
: ickshurE, where W" me-, him.
"MHvy deeply dcrores 1e puhiic
gwen the Young lady in the ease al
who has siilr.~>'atcd tiat ne had nev
offered h"r an inS ulI.