Connecticut western news., 1908-12-24
GENERAL BELIEF IN
 W|AGNER'S GUILT

WnoHLiI U uulLI WAS ARRESTED NEAR SHARON Thought to Have Stolen Horse Belong
 ina to Nelson Dean of Falls Village
 Story in The News Fastened Sus-
 picion Upon Him.
 Harvey Wagner and Edward Wilbur, of Sharon, were arrested Friday, near Sharon, by deputy sheriff I. P. Hornbeck and constable A A. Roth, of Falls Will lage on warrants charging them with having stolen horse belonging to Sheldon Dean, of Huntsville, on the night uf December 14th. The story of the theft was told in last weeks NEWS.
 The suspects were taken to Falls Village and confined i'll the steel cage Friday night. Saturday morning they were brought before justice Miles Blod- gett and put to plea The plea of each was mot guilty" The prisoners waived then prlvnese of obtaining counsel and requested that the trial proceed Ut once.
 Saeldon Dean, owner of the stolen horse, was the first witness called and reciGe,d the facts of it's disappearance substantially ns were told Ill THE NEWS. He ad.led, however, that the tracks he saw ill the snow in the morning were those of only one man.
 Constable Roth told of following the wagon tracks to the South Canaan church corner where the trail was lost ill the melting snow. Wednesday he went to Waterbury, hoping to find the horse ill sales stable but was unsuccess- full That evening he was informed that a horse answering the description of the stolen animal was found i'll front of a saloon i'll Torrington but that it was soon ridden away and was last heard of ill the vicinity of Litchfield. On Friday morning he received telephone mes- sage frola John E. Smith, of Sharon, saying that he believed the horse was in the possession of man named Wagner, whose father is in Mir. Smiths employ and who resides i'll his tenant house. Mr. Roth went there and found two horses in the barn but neither belonged to Mir. Dean. On Roth's return to Falls Village, deputy sheriff Hornbeck, after learning the details, decided thatWagner and Wilbur should be arrested OH sus picion, accordingly, on the complaint of grand juror Edward Howe, of Falls Will lage, the warrants were issued and the arrests were made as stated above. MT. Roth was informed that Wagner and Wilbur had gone to Torrington to trade horses and as he was making prepara- tions to intercept them, they appeared, driving toward home. Edward Potter, 8 man i'll the employ of MT. Smith. in- Horned MT. Roth that he saw Wagner on Tuesday morning, leading horse an swering the description of MT. Deans. Edward Belden, of South Canaan, says that during Monday night, December IA. he saw team pass his residence and behind the team horse was being led. Because of the darkness he could not see who was in the wagon.
 Deputy sheriff Isaac F. Hornbeck told of telephoning the facts of the theft to THE NEWS and to various sheriffs, also of notify ying constable Peck, of Sharon, to hold Wagner and Wilbur until Messrs Hornbeck and Roth could get there to make the arrest. Wagner told MT. Hornbeck that he obtained his first horse in Torrlngton, that he had traded several times during the few day preceding the arrest. He refused to tell who he pur- chased the horse from in Torrington, stating that it would "come out in the trial" e
 Constable Roth, recalled, said Wagner told him he met man in the road on Canaan mountain and traded one horse for two He remarked to MT. Roth that he had not been in the town of Canaan before III three years, not "since Lew Rhoades took him through" ....
 John B. Smith, of Sharon, told of Wagner bringing a strange horse to the home of his (Wagner's) father, who re- sides in Mr. Smiths tenant house. MT. Smiths daughter read in THE NEWS, the story of the stealing of MT. Deans horse and as MT. Smith thought there might be some connection between the two facts, he telephoned constabled Roth. Later Mr. Smith saw Wagner with two horses. one bay and one sorrel. He re- marked that he did not take sufficient notice of the first horse to tell whether it corresponed with the description of AIT. Deans horse or not, He said he would have been able to give an accurate description had it been an automobile. After Wagner came home from prison, where he served 8 three-year sentence for horse stealing, he remained about home three or four days and then disap- peared and was gone three or four days.