Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1902-02-06

was dying, tie asked for n priest and
Father Welsh was summoned. Before
talking privately to the priest, Ed
spoke to the detectives.
"I have been accused of a great
many serious crimes, he said. 81
admit that | could have committed
many: the opportunities for them pre-
sented themselves. | want to say now
that | did not kill Detective Fitz-
gerald, nor did shoot Thomas Kahney,
nor was my brother implicated in the
affair. Mrs. Soffel aided us in getting
out of the county Jail. She gave up
every thing for us and 7 was hound to
back her. / did not shoot her.
"Oh, father" he exclaimed to the
priest. "bless me and tell me that my
sins are forgiven. ..
Although | have been pictured to
you as desperate man." Biddle con
tinued, ~ still have some heart and
gratitude for the woman who helped us
to escape. She merely did it out of
good feeling for us. | persuaded her
to do it. ! told her | was guiltless of
the crime for which | was about tn be
executed and she was impressed and
yielded to my suggestion. planned it
all. "
Looking up, he saw several re-
porters and recognized some of them
as the men who had reported the trial
or murder.
"You blackguards, =" he said, "you
are the cause OF the bitter feeling that
has been engendered against us. You
created the public sentiment against
us. Are you sorry? You are not. You
are too hcartless. -
At this point Ed Biddle showed
signs of COLLAPSE and made q feeble
effort to signal 10 Father Walsh. Then
he rolled over on his face and sighed.
Asked il he wanted any word taken to
his brother, he shook his head, and
feebly said "No. "
Last night Mrs. Soffel confessed that
she had aided the Biddles to escape.
She said that she had given them the
cut their way out of their cells, be-
cause she was persuaded that they were
innocent of the murder for which they
were to be hanged.
Where the Biddles and Mrs Soffel
spent Thursday has not yet been
learned At 8 o'clock Thursday night
two men and woman stopped at the
door of the Heating road house, on
from Pittsburg
The woman stayed outside and the
two men went into the barroom. They
odered several glasses of beer and paid
for them, each keeping his eyes on the
few men in the barroom and holding
one hand on his overcoat pocket. Once
they whispered to each other, but the
| harkeeper could not hear what they
said.
After sitting near the stove for n
halfhour they Joined the woman out
side and all three trudged YEARLY up
the road. The barkeeper had heard
nothing Of the escape Of the brothers
from the Jail, but when he saw their
photographs in the papers yesterday he
recognized them as pictures of the
men whose visit is described.
There is nothing to indicate that
Mrs Soffel lacked in love and affection
toward her children. She was ap-
parently very fond Of them, and did
all in her power to make them happy
| and contented. She seemed to take
| pleasure in caring for them and spent
much of her time in their company.
| Her family life had always been happy,
| She and her husband never had any
| trouble so far MS is known. The
warden trusted her implicitly and took
| her advice upon many personal mat
tiers, showing that the hest of feeling
| existed between them.
Peter Sotfel resigned the wardenship
of the Jail yesterday afternoon. His
| farewell talk to the reporters was
| Tathetic. He broke down completely
| once, hut wher he recovered self.
| control he said: ''ln one way. ! would
| like to stay here if the whole three
| are captured and live. | would like tc
see them brought back here and placed
| under my care. ! say. oh, but | wish
| that could happen. ] tell you the re
venge that | would take would he
| sweet y
Butler. Pa, Feb 2. Scarcely less
sensational than the flight from Jail OF
John and Edward Biddlp, with the as
sistance of Warden Sofel's wife, theil
pursuit and capture, after a bloody
battle, and their dramatic death, is
| the statement made by Father Daniel
| Walsh, pastor of st. Paul's Roman
| Catholic Church, in his sermon yester.
! day.
The Biddle brothers died Saturday
| evening, the end coming 10 Edward
nearly four hours after his brother had
breathed his last.
| Father Walsh, in his sermon, said,
referring To Detective McGovern's con,
| duct "The Biddlc boys were shot like
| dogs. and some one should be held re
| sponsible for the inhuman treatment uI
/ shooting the men as they lay unarmec
| on the ground, utterly helpless and un
able to make the slightest defence ol
| resistance. The Biddle boys have con
fcssed to me, and their confession shal
never be revealed According to theii
confessions, | must judge them limo
cent. They told me that they did moi
shoot Kahney. and Ed said that he was
not the slayer of Detective Fitzgerald.
The men said they had been wrongly
accused of many crimes. They had 4
sense of fear, and were in full posses
sion of the fact that death was close al
hand, and were prepared to pass to the
great beyond. They gave me statements
without solicitation, and do not think
they died with lies on their lips. The
only point that they Stunned in theiI
confession was as to the name of the
family which harbored them on the
day after their escape. They evaded
this point, and | pressed it, but they
evaded me all the more. "
The Rev. S. A. Mountz of the Eng.
lish Lutheran Church, who also visited
the boys as they lay dying, declared in
his sermon as to their innocence; 81
cannot definitely decide. If we are to
believe the story of the Allegheny
county authorities, the men were guilty
but if we believe the men, they are in.
nocent. ="
The Rev. Mr.. Mountz also asserted
that the conduct of Detective McGov-
ern at the Jail was scandalous. The
Rev. Emanuel Cronenwet of the Ger.
man Lutheran Church declared that
Mrs. Soffel's conduct in leaving home
and family for a gang Of desperadoes