The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1901-02-27
THE MYSTERIOUS
NAN AT CHESTER
He Made Mysterious Knocks, Which,
When Repeated by Guards, Would
Arouse Him When Asleep.
Especial Dispatch TO The Times.

CHESTER. Va, Feb. 26-The account
given in your issue OF this date relating 10
the man claiming to be Gus. B. Ford, who
was found in the public school-house here
on Sunday afternoon, was inaccurate in
some details. One of the school trustees,
and the first person upon the scene, makes
the following statement:
Living near the Scl1ool-house and he
ing informed by some children that the
doors Of the house were open and that Il
| man was in the house. with much blood on
the floor. | Immediately went up to see
about it / found the man sitting in a
chair near the stove, With no tire-his head
bowed over on his hand with much blood
on the floor and on the benches and sides
or the house. When 1 accosted him, he
spoke intellisently at once and asked me
tC make him Il fire, saving he was nearly
dead.
He said a man, whom he prosessed not
to know. who had stopped with him in the
house the night previous had robbed him.
and when L asked the meaning of the blood
about the house, said that he supposed
the man had done the work with some
metal knucks which We're lying on the
1oor-thc knucks, however which We're
made of babbit or lead, We're not at all
bloody. There was an axe lying on the
floor near the heaviest bleeding, which was
bloody mostly on the head. a very little
blood being on the blade. The further
finding of three skeleton keys, a jimmy
and a file, With the gashes on the throat
and over the head and eye and the blood
the wall and sides of the house seems
to plainly indicate that the two were
pals, either here to burSiHrizc or to di-
vide spoils of a previous robbery and that
they quarrellcd and fought over some diff
ference between them.
Spots of blood in an adjoining ROOM in
exit from the house, may indicate that the
man who got away also got injured in the
fight. The man Gus. s. Ford has been
perfectly conscious from the time he was
found and talks very readily and inteli-
gently, and is sharp enough not to give
his partner away and tells conflicting
things, so as to misiead lie shows wit
and sasacity in replying to the officers of
the law. and says nothing to criminate
himself He had on his person n diamond
ring, d pair of old gold sleeve buttons set
with pearls, and has marks of past scars
and every evidence of being a tough.
lie said to one of the Richmond dctec
tives who asked him how he got the old
scars on his person, that AN ice wagon ex-
podcd and he got burnt and he said to
another man last night that he has been
through HI III his life time.
fof= tne past Two nigntS he has made
certain distinct raps on tho side OF the
house inside-three raps, a pause and two
raps. which when repeated by the guard,
While he was seemingly asleep, would
arouse him and he would make like re-
sponse. This caused some to search the
belfry and attic, supposing that possibly
his pal or others might be concealed
there, but they found nothing. He NAV
have done this simply to guy or alarm, his
watchers. All this evidently shows that
he Is not SO bad off, as badly as he is cut.
as he seemingly appears, and he will
doubtless be soon at his trade ngain.
HE was taken by the magistrate and
guard to Chesterfield jail this snorninx,
and. being an expert. may not stay there
lo4x.