Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1901-03-08
|FIOAT|NG N 4 Sk|FF
B[NUMD[D WITH GOLD.
STRANGE STORY OF A COLORED
MAN, RESCUED FROM THE
RIVER At SIsTERsvILLE.
SET ADRIFT AT MoUNDsv1LE
By MEN WHO HELD HIM UP AND
ROBBED HIM, Is THE AC-
COUNT HE GIVES.

Special to the Register.
SISTERSVILLE, W. Va, March L.
This morning while a couple of men
named Beaver. who live on Water
street, We're atwork theywere attracted
to an object floating down the river
which looked like a skiff with a person
in it. When the object came nearer
it was discovered to be a boat and in
it was a negro. The fellow had neither
oars nor paddle and could not have
used them if he had. The Beavers
went out and got the fellow and skif,
towing them in to shore. When land
ed, the negro was SO stiff from cold
n exhaustion that he could hardly
stand ana it was some time before he
could tell how he came to be in the
condition in which he was found. At
ter he had been thawed out and had
received some nourishment, he stated
to the physician VINO brought him
around that while on his way from
his home in Belmont county, Ohio,
ear M~oundsville, to the latter place,
that he shad been held up by a negro
anu white man, both of whom he knew
but would not give their names. The
footpads relieved him of all the money
he had, a small amount of change,
then forcing him in the skiff, took him
out in the stream, wedged the boat in
a cake of ice and set him adrift with
u either oars of anything else by
which he might steer the boat. This
occurred last night about 8 o'clock and
the poor devil had loated until about
8 o'colck this morning. before he was
discovered. He was taken to the city
building here and after receiving the
attention of a physician for A couple
of hours, he was apparently all right
again, and this afternoon he was given
transportation to Moundsyille. The
negro was very sparely clothed and
it is a great wonder he was not frozen
stiff before he got this far.
Mrs. Mary Harris, a well known col
ored lady of this city, died yesterday
afternoon at the home of her adopted
daughter, Mrs. Ada Flowers, on Water
street, after an illness of some months
with disease incident to old age. In
tenment will be made at Marietta to-
morrow.
At their convention held in the city
building last evening the Democrats
Of this city held a very en-
th~usiastic meeting for the pur-
pose of nominating candidates for
city offices at the coming munich
pal election. The ticket, one of the
strongest and best that could have
been selected, follows: For Mayor,
Chas. W. Grier; Recorder, Jas. H. Pine,
Collector and Treasurer, w. F. Litten;
Assessor, Chas. B.. Mccoy; Auditors,
e. O.. Bower, l.. B.. Hill; .Councilmen:
First ward, Thomas Chestnut; Second
ward, G. B. Work; Third ward, Joseph
Kennedy; Fourth ward, NJ. A. Sy-
bert. The fight is 10Y on and for the
next two or three weeks politics will
be as warm around here as they have
ever been during a presidential year.
This afternoon an oil well on the
hill opposite the city on the Ohio side,
belonging to ]. T. Jones, caught fire
in some unknown IN and the rig,
boiler house, tanks, engine house, ETC..
were entirely destroyed. The loss will
approximate $500.