The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1904-05-18
He FOUGHT HARD.
Such is the Belief Of Young Wentz,
the philadelphian
WHOSE BODY Has BEEN FOUND
1t is Believed Now That the Dead
Eody Was Carried to the
Spot Where 1t Was Dis
covered.

A dispatch from Wise, Va, says il
IS now believed that Edward L.
Wentz, the rich .Philadelptian, whose
body was found near there and whose
disa ppearance last October called out
a reward Of 100000. was killed in a
fight with mountain moonshiners.
The body has been fully Identified
and there is every reason to believe
be died fighting for his life His cloth.
ing was intact, but the front teeth are
gone. His revolver with three shots
missing and his eyeglasses were found
about twenty feet away. The body lies
near the Blackwood road, about nile
north OF Kelly Cave.
The space adjacent to the body has
been ropei off and a guard placed
around it. The relatives are expected
there from Philadelphia Thursday,
when an inquest will be held.
MYSTERY IN THE DISCOVERY.
The principal mystery that puzzles
the Wise County officers is the finding
OF the body lying in full view on the
ground. The opinion is held that it
could not have been there unseen dur
ing the seven months since Wentz's
disappearance.
The body was found in clearing on
the hillside, face upward, ii good con-
dition, as though death had occurred
not many days ago. The clothes were
worn and misshapen, apparently by
the work Of the elements. It was found
by young village boy Who was spend
ing Sunday afternoon beating through
the hill country in search II a Strayed
COW.
The belief that Wentz was killed by
moonShiners after hard battle is
borne out by the fact that they had
threatened his life.
TROUBLE WITH MooNsHINERs.
Early in last October an illicit dis
tillery was discovered and broken up
by the revenue officers after battle
in which one Of the officers was kill
ed and in which the leader Of the clan
was mortally wounded. The distillery
raided was one of the largest and the
oldest in these mountains, and con-
nected with its operation was a large
proportion Of the inhabitants here
about. The responsibility for the
whole affair was placed by these men
on the shoulders Of Edward Wentz,
and be was warned repeatedly>by in-
habitants with whom be had made
friends that his life would not be
worth, a moments purchase if one OF
members Of the disturbed gang could
get a shot at him.
WARNING WAS UNHEEDED.
But Wentz had a great lover for the
mountains and the forests; also be had
been raised in Philadelphia, and it
was difficult for him to realize that
human life could be held as Of such
small value as these people, his noun
tain friends, would have him beliVed.
he tried to take the warning serious.
ly for time, and succeeded until the
afternoon of October IA, one Of the
early Fall davS in the mountains,
when all the country takes on new and
brilliant coloring.
He was last seen by an cid woman
near Kelly View. The chimney Of her
cottage had caught fire, aud he had
oismcunted to assist her.
That night, when be did not return,
his brother telephoned for his parents
and posses were sent out to beat up
the entire country in the vicinity.
REWARD OF Sl00, 900.
Rewards were offered by Dr.. and
Mrs. Wentz until finally they aggreg-
ated 100000. The mining and Ium
bering operations were suspended and
over one thousand miners and lumber
men were sent out to assist in the
search, and the spot where the body
was finally found Tuesday was gone
over again and again.
Shortly after the disappearance a
rough mountaineer rode into Big
Stone Gap with an offer to release
Wentz for ransom Of S25. 900. He
carried a letter purporting to be from
Wentz, but supposed to be forgery.
He was followed into the mountains
by detectives, who lost al track Of
him.
The search has never abated for one
moment since the disappearance.
Heir 70 Large Estate.
a dispatch from Walhalla to The
State says some interest has been
aroused here by an advertisement
which appeared in an Atlanta paper
inquiring for the heirs Of Johnathan
Tins, who moved to Texas or Arkansas