The Savannah morning news., 1901-12-09
MARX WAS JUSTIFIED
VIRGINIA WHITECAPPERS GOT
WHAT THEY DESERVED.
HIS STORY TOLD IN FULL.
ASsAILANTS HAD COME PREPARED
TO DO DIRTY WORK.

Down Man in Mask-Then Shot
Taylor while He Was Crossing
the Yard-CoronOr's Jury Decided
Shooting Was Justiaable.
New York Dec. S.-Herbert Marx,
who on Tuesday night last, shot and
| killed William Taylor and William
Heffiin and seriously wounded James
| @. Stiff, at his fathers plantation
-asousa, near OAK Grose. Va, reached his
home in Brooklyn, this evening. He left
| Oak Grove Immediately after his ex-
oneration by the coroner's jury.
A. E. Blackmar, of the law firm of
Baldwin and Blackmar, gave out the
following statement of the affair:
"Wednesday morning l received a
| telegram asking me to come to Vir-
ginia at once and stating that Herbert
| Marx was in trouble. 1 started at once,
accompanied by Herbert's brother,
Ernest We reached Fredericksburg on
Thursday and found that Herbert had
come up the Rappahannock on a
steamer. We found him on board the
boat and took him to the hotel After
hearing his story of the shooting we
! decided that it was best for him to go
to Washington and call on Representa-
| tive Jones of his home district and
| give him full account of the matter.
| This he did and placed himself in the
care of Mr.. Jones.
Fired Bullets Through House.
Ernest Marx and myself drove to
Oak Grove and called upon the com
monwealth attorney, Col. Robert ].
Washington. After a conference with
| Col. Washington we decided to thor
oughly inspect the premises where the
shooting occurred. We found that
| Taylor evidently had fired two rife
| shots through the house 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 Herbert secured
his revolver, threw open the door and
confronted a man wearing a mask He
called upon tie man TO speak and say
| whether the affair was joke. RE-
ceiving no answer, he fired The man.
who afterwards proved to be Stiff, fell
on the porch. Stiff is said to have stat
ed that he was shot by his own par
ty, but Herbert says that he shot him
Hefflin fell next and after his second
| shot Herbert started across the front
yard toward a fence $50 yards away
| After climbing the fence he turned and
saw another man carrying a rifle Her
! bert fired and this man also fell. The
third man afterward proved to be Tay-
lor, who apparently had crossed the
yard and climbed the fence on a paral-
| lei course with Marx.
Herbert ran half a mile to Grif-
| fth's. the nearest neighbor Securing
a lantern, party FASTENED back to
the scene of the shooting and found
that Heff1in and Stiff had crawled into
| the front room, where both lay on the
| floor unconscious One mysterious fea-
ture of the affair was that the lamp,
which has been burning in the back
room, had been removed to the front
room.
Intentions Plainly shown.
Marx secured horse and hurried
away to the home of DIR. Washington,
five miles distant, and soon returned
with the physician. Taylor's body was
not found until an hour later. Upon
searching further about the premises
a bag of straw, large bundle Of rags
and a bottle of kerosene were found,
| together with a large braided whip. A
! quarter of a mile down the road two
| buggies were found, in which were
can of tar, rope twenty feet long and
several rife cartridges. a man known
| as Douglas was found in one of the
| buggies He ran away and, together
with a man known as George Thomp-
son. was caught later Both said that
they knew nothing of the matter, and
! that they had been pressed into the
| affair uDon the assurance that there
was to be no shooting.
| IAN examination of Taylor's rifle
| showed that the magazine contained
| thirteen undischarged cartridges The
ejector of the rife was down and
| cartridge was found jammed In the
breech, preventing further use of the
weapon.
| Intended to Chnstise Him.
Marx remained that night in the
house, in the custody Of Mr.. Griffith,
who had been deputized as special con-
stable, Next morning an inquest was
held over Taylor's body. Thompson
testified that he had understood the
party intended to chastise Marx He
had been picked up on the road and he
knew nothing else about the matter.
Douglas told similar story to the
jury, on which were two relatives OF
| one of the dead men. Col Washington
told Marx he could make a statement
to the jury II he desired and Marx
did so. A verdict OF justlfable shoot
ing was at once returned. Marx was
advised TO leave the county. He was
taken to Leestown on the Rappahan-
mock and boarded a boat for Fred
ericksburg, where we met him.
"On Monday night, the night pre-
ceding the shooting. Marx believes the
first attempt was made to enter the
house. He was awakened by an un-
known man raspnE on one Of his win
dows. Fe opened the window and the
man asked for information as to the
road TO Oak Grove, saying he was
travelling salesman. Marx told him
how TO reach the place. but the man
insisted on being shown. Marx re-
fused to come out Of the house. how
ever. and a moment afterwards heard
the man in conversation with another
person. This put him on his guard, and
he is fully convinced that the call on
Tuesday night was made by the same
persons.
Marx deeply deplores the publicity
given the young lady In the case. and
who has since stated that he had never
offered her an insult"
/, -s-o-$