The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1905-08-02


Kilmer's Swamp-Root. and the ad'
dress, BinghSmton, n. Y, on every
bottle.
His whereabouts are unknown, and he
appears to have led the officers many
a merry goose chase. His persistency
in refusing to be found out establishes
strongly belief in his guilt. He was
said to have been the oldest man in
the clique, and the presumption is
that either he or Burch struck the
fatal blow that sent Strickland to
eternity.
Is this Man Wanted?
Archie Nixon, a young white man,
under twenty-five years of age, was
one of the persons who boosted OF
having seen the incendiaries at work,
and on the afternoon of Saturday,
Nav 18th Detective Wattenberg walk
ed TO the door of the tonsJrial parlor
of Berry Gunter, a colored barber az
the corner of Johnson and Salisbury
streets and motioned Nixon, who was
sitting in the room, to come out
Nixon told so many different tales that
he was not put under arrest, as the
final conclusion of that day was
reached that he was not connected
with and knew nothing of the crime.
But it has developed that the one
armed Waterman at the Seaboard
yard saw Nixon lying on the ground
near the tool box from which the
tools with which the safe was crack
ed, the afternoon before the fire, and
there were other suspicious circum-
stances connected with him at the
Seaboard shops that afternoon. Too,
on the day previous to the fire, he was
in Gunter's barber shop and brandish-
ed pistol in the manner of a terrible
desperate, and said he was going to
do something that night. and leave
town next day. Then he soon after
wards went to his boarding house, and
borrowed fifteen cents from the pro-
prietor, telling him that he would
pay his bill i'm full the following day,
which he did. He afterwards ac-
counted for having his money in sew
eral ways, but none satisfactorily and
In every account he was proved to
have made incorrect statements After
being released by the detectives on
May 18th, Nixon went to the Seaboard
yards and told his pals that he had
frightened the entire detective force.
and left them in great fear, (the de-
tectiveS) and other absurd stories,
when the fact was that he had trem-
bled in his boots when going through
the process. Nixon boosted of being
q railroad detective for the Seaboard,
and went in that capacity for a con-
siderable time. He has been seen in
this city only once since the date of
the fire. and this was the day he was
questioned by the officers. AS soon
) the detectives turned him loose, and
..e had yelled himself in a braggadocio
way before his associates, he took a
southbound freight and has not been
heard from since.
There have been score or more OF
clues hunted to their sources which
We're valueless. Every man, it seemed
who bore the slightest suspicion of the
officers and question, readily and quite
politely confessed to having seen ii
all, except the murder. John Warren
white man of this city, was one OF
those "who was on the Maine when
she went down" His expressions
were SO ridiculous that he was never
regarded as being of capable sense.
Undoubtedly the detective found a new
phenomenon i'm crimnality in this
State. The willingness of men to
swear themselves into trouble; where
as, it is without exception elsewhere
that the common course has been for
men to swear by beginning and end
and the intermin that they were inno-
cent, to get out of trouble.
Conference Last Night.
Last night in the office of the State
Insurance Commissioner there was
held a counsel of the men interested
in the work of detection. These were
Commissioner Young, Assistant Com
missioner Scott, Detective Wattenberg
Chief Deputy Sheriff Walters. Justice
A. H. Yearly, and Mr.. Chas. ". Ben
nett, of Philadelphia, of general coun-
sci for the Standard Oil Company. II
was stated yesterday that Mr.. Bennett
was not interested in the proceedings
but was only a travelling man. 1t was
also stated that he was contractor
for the Standard Oil Company, and
was here only to superintend the con-
struction of the new oil warehouse
But it is certain that Mr.. Bennett has
been interested in every step that the
authorities have taken in the matter
OF detection and arrests, and has beer
i'll Raleigh several times during the
past few weeks, and for several days
has held daily cor ferences with the
authorities and the local attorneys fol
the Standard OF; Company.
Detective Wattenberg is associated
in his work with the State Insurance
Department and not directly With tbs
Standard Oil Company.