Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1910-03-25
DESPERATE KILLS TWO.
Bloody Battle On Baltimore and Ohio
Train

Wilmington, Del, March 23.-An
exciting battle in which three men
were killed, took place on a north
bound Baltimore d Ohio railroad
tram this afternoon. The night began
at Newark, Del, and ended in this
city. several persons were wounded
in the deadly affray which occurred
at the Delaware avenue station here
following the arrival of the train at
5.l7 o'clock.
The dead: o. Z. Wellman, aged
40, of Philadelphia, conductor of the
train; Samuel Williams, aged So, ne
gro, Pullman porter, whose home is
said to have been in Jersey City; j.
II. Bethea, aged 40, Dillon, 5. c.
The injured: John .. Wylie, aged
40, u park guard of Wilmington,
Del, shot in the hand and leg;
Matthew Haley, a citizen of Whining
ton, shot in the leg. Others were
graZed by flying bullets.
The triple tragedy was the result
of an alteration between Bethea, who
was a passenger, and Williams, the
porter in the Pullman parlor car
Mercury.
The car was bound from Washing
ton to Jersey City.
Bethea, who had been drinking
heavily, shot the porter through the
heart, killing him instantly. When
Conductor Wellman saw the porter
fall he ran TO the scene to remon-
strate with the passenger, who still
held the smoking revolver in his
hand. Bethea fired q second shot In
to the negro's body. Then without
a word he shot Welman through the
heart. The conductor fell dead in his
tracks. When Bethea fired the con-
Al n
himself. The bullet struck his arm
and continuing, ploughed through
his body and lodged in his heart.
Before the passengers could inter-
fere the double murderer barricaded
himself in the lavatory of the Full
man car and threatened to kill the
first person who approached.
Meanwhile the train reached Will
mington. When it came into the sta
ton a hurry call was sent to the po-
lice station. A squad of patrolmen
headed by Police Captains Kane and
Evans and reinforced by park guards
and a posse of citizens and trainmen,
ran to the scene.
The police called upon Bethea to
surrender. AS an answer he opened
the door of the lavatory a short dis
tance and opened fire at the police
and the crowd with an automatic re-
volver. Chief of Police Black, who
also rushed to the railroad station,
lodged behind an express office on
the train floor just in time to escape
several bullets.
Bethea is believed to have had at
least 100 rounds of ammunition, for
he succeeded in holding the posse at
bay and also held up the train from
5.17 until 6.35. During this time
IL, hot ci1
until finally the windows of the car
were riddled. Travel over the Bal
timore & Ohio railroad was also tied
up When the battle had lasted
about an hour the police realized
that they would be unable to drive
the man from cover. A call was sent
to a local fire company nearby. The
firemen responded with their engine.
Attaching a high pressure hose to
a fire plug and with the firemen bar
ricaded behind trucks and boards, a
stream of water was played upon the
windows OF the lavatory.
Bethea fired a number of shots at
the firemen, but they were not in
jured. subsequently Bethea, drench-
ed with water, staggered to the plat
upon him to surrender. His reply
from his revolver.
Several of the policemen had arm
ed themselves with shotguns and
just as Eetnea fired the last shot, PO-
lice Captain Evans fired a load of
shot into his face. Notwithstanding
this injury he kept on blazing away.
Patrolman Boughman opened fire
with a pistol and struck Bethea in
the right arm. The desperate man
tried to fire again but Sergeant
Kelleher opened fire and also man
aged to spring upon Bethea. When
dead in the arms Of a patrolman.
Wiley, the park guard, and Haley
are not seriously injured. They were
both struck by stray bullets fired by
Bethea. A tragic incident OF the af-
porter, was shot he fell into seat
in the car. All through the battle
the dead porter sat with the ap-
pearance of one looking from the
window.
Bethea was well dressed. While it
was believed by some of the passen-
gers who fled when the train reached
Wilmington that the desperate was
insane, other passengers stated that
he appeared to be sane with the eX-
ception that he had been drinking.
There was more excitement in con-
nection with the battle at the rail-
road station than anything that has
occurred in this section since George
White, a negro, was burned at the
stake near here in June, 1908, for a
criminal assault upon the 17-year-old