The Fairmont West Virginian. (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1904-1914, 1909-02-09
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Cook Confess
eWrote The
Letter

WHEELING. Feb. 9-Tae author
ship Of the black hand letter to Mrs.
Thomas B. Sweeney, OF Highland
Park, which promised at first to be
a mystery OF the most battling nature'.
was discovered about 1890 o'clock
yesterday. when Mrs. A. L. Walker,
nee Mary Hines. the cook at the swee-
ney residence, walked Into Mrs. Swee.
ney's room and In a most sensational
manner recited now she had written
the letter. and gave complete con-
fession Of the case from beginning to
end. Others OF the household walked
into the room while the broken heart.
ed and sobbing woman was recittRg
the details Of her act, which she aft
erward reduced to writing at the sug-
gestion Of others and which was taken
into custody by Prosecuting Attorney
Bernard Handlan. -,ls
The most pathetic circumstances
surround the case. Not more taau
seven weeks ago Mrs. Walker lost her
husband In Denver, Colo, leaving her
with two small children, the oldest
Of whom Is little more than two and
half years old, while the baby Is
llopelessly Ill with tuberculosis. In
the Bel1aire railroad wreck, 1t Will be
remembered. two Of her brothers
were l:Illed, wsllle still! another, the
only remaining brother, was killed
on the B. and o. railroad. In the face
OF all the trouble and the seemingly
cruel fate which has pursued the fam.
lily, the discovery Of the. daughters
guilt in the black hand case. has al
most prostrated the aged mother vita
grief. ii
5 Held In High Esteem.
After taking all phases Of the case
into consideration, Sheriff Clemans de-
cided several days ago that Mrs.
Walker was the guilty party. The
Sweeney family, by whom Mrs. Wall;-
er was held in higa regard, were very
reluctant to believe her guilty, al
though at the close the evidence all
pointed that way.
The confession yesterday might
have been delayed several days had It
not been for a conversation which
took place between Mrs. Walker and
the colored man, Henry Joyner. Tae
house girl. Edna, being eliminated
from the case, 1t had narrowed down
to Henry and Mrs. Walker.
Mrs. Walker Said to Henry: "They
don't suspicion Edna any MORE"
NO he returned; It's between you
and me now, and the best thing the
guilty party could do'is to go and con.
fess.' IN Z,
Five minutes later; Mrs. Walker, or
Marie. as she. was known at the home,
entered the room where Mrs. Sweeney
was sitting and said: Mrs. Sweeney,
come She got no further, for at
tnat time Mrs. Sweeney interposed:
Marie. We know who did It,"
Marie could stand no more, and
then aud there collapsed. She broke
down and wept bitterly for a fewEmin-
utes. and between sobs she related
to Mrs. Sweeney how she had placed
the note under the mat demanding
the FIVE hundred dollars and that she
was sorry she, had given. her 50 much
trouble. The writing Of the note, she
said. was inspired by reading an arti-
Gle in Eyeybody's Magazine about
tho black hand.
Mrs. Walker evidently did not want
the Ave hundred dollars. but merely
wanted a reward Of about twenty-five
dollars from Mrs. sweeny for saving
herself and children from black hands,
which was substantiated by the tao
tics she used. X
On Thursday when the letter was re.
celved, she saw that Mrs. Sweeney
was greatly agltated over the affair.
and said to her, "Let me take the
bundle down, to pryor's station and
make It a bogus package" She kept
on insisting that Mrs, Sweeney allow
her to take the bundle Of bogus mon.
ey down and aide It at pryor's station,
where It was demanded to be left.
The Letter. a
The following Is a copy Of the
letter found under the door mat on
Thursday morning: s
""Mrs. T. Sweeney 5i
III you don't put $50 in a PAPER
and put 1t in Pryors station By 3
tonight we will kldnap your two boys.
Do not dare to tell any one and come