The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1910-03-30
AWFUL TRAGEDY
A Drunken Man Stays Two Men on a
Train Near Wilmington, Del.
KILLER SHOT TO DEATH

j. I'll. Bethea OF Dliioh' Dc
q Colored Porter and the Conduc-
Pullman Car and Is FL
nally Killed in Battle With the
Police.
An exciting battle in which three
men were killed took place on d
north bound Baltimore and Onio
railroad train Wednesday afternoon.
The fight began at Newark, Dell II
ended at Wilmington, Del.
Several persons were Ill
the deadly ARRAY which occurre1 at
the delaware avenue station at Will
mington following the arrival OF the
train at SIT o'clock. ,
The dead: o. E. Wellman, aseu
40, of Philadelphia, conductor OF tne
train Samuel Williams, aged 3d. ne
gro Pullman porter, whose home Is
said to have been in Jersey CITY
7 II. Bethea, aged 40, Dillon, 8. Y.
The injured: John o. Wiley ageo
40. a park guard of Wilmington
Ne, shot in the hand and leg; Mat
thew Haley, a citizen of Wl'mlns-
ton. shot in the leg. Others were
grazed by flying bullets. The toi
lowing graphic story of the a"i"'
tragedy was told by one OF the mens
bers of the train crew.
1--WE left washington at three
o'clock said the member Of the
crew, "but nothing peculiar IN the
actions of Rethea was observed I'M
til the train pulled out Of Baltimore.
We had scarcely reached the ou'-
skirts of the city, when Bethea, who
was occupying a chair in tho parior
car, threatened to chastise Williams
because Of no apparent reason QUEER
than he took exception to tho per-
ter being a negro.
"A short time later the porter
again had occasiGG. to pass throh3h
the car. He was busy opening a
ventilator. when Bethea arose and
lunged toward him. The porter har-
riedly left the car and reported ne
matter to Conductor Wellman. The
latter told Williams to remain "
of the car unless 1t was aosciutely
necessary for him to enter. Bethea
In the meantime had taken 4 scat
IN a coach.
when the train was b3~weea
Harve de GRANGE and Newark, tue
porter started through the coach q
noticing Bethea. The latter was ap-
parently dosing in his seat, brE Just
as the colored man passed him lie
nose and said: You - negro; III
shoot you full of holes"
Williams was less than four feet
from the enraged man and as Bethea
spoke Williams turned half aroul Il
in evident surprise. AS he did so
Bethea fired a shot into the porter's
heart. Williams fell back into a
seat, and as Conductor Wellman ap-
preached the murderer, Bethea fired
again. This last shot went through
Williams thigh and buried itself in
the woodwork in the side of the
car.
"By this time ~pandemonium reign
ed. There were about thirty persons
in the car and they made a mad
rush for both doors. Conductor
Wellman apparently didn't know that
Williams had been fatally shot, as
the negro was sitting upright in the
seat. AS Weilman spoke to Bethea
the latter turned livid with rage,
and placing his revolver almost on
the conductors chest, fired. Well
man dropped without moving an
inch and Bethea, flourishing his re-
volver, backed toward the toilet
room, entered and closed the dor.
I'm the meantime the train had
reached Newark, Del. No stop was
made but a message was thrown off
asking the railroad officials at Will
mington, II miles distant, to have
policemen on hand to arrest Beth
ca. None Of us knew at this time
that either Williams or Conductor
Wellman was dead. Before the train
reached Wilmington the door was
barred from the outside and a has
ty examination of both men showed
that life was extinct.
$50 bitter was the feeling against
the desperate mar among the pas
sengers that he could have been torn
limb from limb had they been able
to gain admittance to the toilet.
when Wilmington was reached
a score Of policemen and citizens
were waiting on the station platform.
The top of Bethea's head could be
seen above the window blind as he
was standing in the toilet. Captain
Kane of the Wilmington police force
vas the first man to step on our
train. He was followed by half Il
dozen other policemen. AS they alp
preached the toilet room Bethea
threatened to murder the whole
bunch, if they attempted to enter
the DOM The officers withdrew
from the car and held a consultation
This conference was interrupted by
several shots from the toilet win
dow. Bethea then drew back as thu
policemen returned the fire.