The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1903-10-15
NO PRISON CAN HOLD WILFONG.
Neritable Criminal Genius Whose Brief
Career Has Been Strenuous.

French novelist and author of Les
Miserables, the greatest piece of fic-
ton ever written, were living to-day,
he would find in J. T. Wilfong, the
boy eX convict and confirmed GRIM
inal, a character whose criminal ca
reer would be an ineXhaustive field
for his fertile brain to exploit. His
criminal career, although of only two
years duration, has been that strenu-
GUS that his misdeeds during that
brief period would fill volume with
out the aid of fiction.
j. F. Wilfong is a native of Ran
dolph county, and is not yet twenty
years of age. He and his brother
Abel, who is two years younger, were
sentenced in the Circuit Court of Ran
dolph county to six years each in the
penitentiaryfor burglary on May 10th,
1902. They were received at the peni-
Tertiary at Monudsville on June 18th.
the same year. After serving less
than year of his sentence he was
granted a conditional pardon by Gov
White on March 10Th, 1903. The rea-
son given for granting the pardon
was on account of the prisoners i'm
paired health, although his brother,
who was the sicker man of the two
at the time, is still in the penitentiary
After leaving the penitentiary, moth
ing was heard of Wilfong for several
months, when the warden had his
suspicion aroused by letters received
by the convict, Abel, his brother, the
letters being signed G. E. Dawson.
What attracted the attention of the
warden was the fact that the initials
G. E. were the same as his own, while
Dawson was captain of the guards.
The queer combination, together with
the contents of the letter, satisfied
Warden HaddoX that the writer was
none other than ]. f. Wilfong. The
writer told of his love for woman
in Garrett county, Md. and of his
i'm patience to get rich quick, which
caused him to steal two horses for
which he was arrested and lodged in
the Garrett county Jail. Being lone
some without the presence of the OBJ
ject of his love, he testified falsely
against her and she too was arrested
and confined in the same Jail. They
found a letter that told of their escape
from the jail with the assistance of
the writer's sister. The writer was
later proven to have been J. T. Will
fOng. In his next letter to his brother
Wilfong stated that he was then at
Brooklyn, n. Y, and was serving in
the United States navy. He said that
after his escape from jail he went to
Pittsburg, where he enlisted in the
.. S. Infantry, from which he desert
ed few weeks later, going to Phila-
delphia and enlisting in the navy,
from where he was transferred to his
present headquarters. The letter was
as usual signed G. f. Dawson.
The warden took the matter up
with Governor White, with the result
that the Garrett county authorities
were notified of Wilfong's where
abOuts. The sheriff went to Brook
Ign to arrest WilfOng and bring him
back to Garrett county to stand trial
for horse stealing. He was informed
by the navy authorities at Brooklyn
that Wilfong had deserted from the
navy on the 21st of last August, just
two days before he arrived.
In. the little town of Rowlesburg,
Preston county, there is a merchant
named w. w. Shock, whose store
has for years been the prey of burg
lars. In order to protect himself
against this horde of vandals who
had victimized him on numerous occa-
sions, Mr.. Schock had installed in his
store complete burglar alarm sys-
TEN. So perfect was this system that
it was an impossibility for one to
enter the store after it had been closed
for the day without setting off the
alarm in Mr.. Shocks bed room. The
bed room was veritable arsenal,
containing all manner of fire arms
and hundreds of rounds of ammuni-
ton. On the.bed post hung a bullet
proof suit of armor. With this COM
bination for trapping and capturing
burglars it is said Mr.. Shock has sent
no less than half a dozen thieves to
the penitentiary.
One night about the irst of this
month Mr.. Shock was awakened sud
denly from his sleep by the furious
ringing of the burglar alarm bell.
He sprang from his bed, jumped into
his bullet proof suit of armor and
gathering up all the guns and pistols
he could carry, proceeded to-quietly
arouse the neighbors, to each of whom
he gave gun and pistol. A fair
sized posse was quickly collected, ali
armed to the teeth, and Mr.. Shock
throwing himself into command lead
the valiant company to the store,
around which a Gordon was thrown in
true military style. Several of the
party entered the store and those on