The Glenwood post., 1910-03-05
|BuITON TELLS OF
ERbAuGh'S CRUELTY


wellman, u federal prisoner in the
Denver county jail, the claim that his
other forms Of cruelty inflicted upon
him by Charles o. Erbaugh, another
prisoner and the judge of the "kanga-
roo COURT at the jail the Denver
Times of last Monday quotes Orrin b.
Button of New Castle in way that
puts Erbaugh in Il very bad light.
The Times story is as follows:
After forty-eight hours investiga
ton into the death of Frederick Well
man, the federal prisoner who died at
the county hospital on January 3, in
dications are that Charles o. Erbaugh.
the judge of the ''kangoroo court of
the jail, will have to stand trial on a
charge of murder. While United States
District Attorney Tom Ward will not
declare whether or not he will fle in
formation against Erbaugh. he admit
= ted that he has confidence in Orrin d.
, Button. the former postmaster of New
Castle, who was a prisoner in the Jail
at the time Wellman was alleged to
have been beaten and starved to death
by Erbaugh.
Button has already gone on record as
corroborating the statements of Joseph
Luccih, the Italian who has brought
the charges against Erbaugh. He is at
present in the grading camp of the
Antlers Orchard Development company,
eleven miles north of Silt, town near
Glenwood Springs. To Times cor
respondent Mr.. Button said that the
story told by Luccih is true in practi
cally every detail, with the exception
of the length of time Wellman was
kept without food.
District Attorney Ward has written
to Mr.. Button and he says he, will do
nothing further in the matter until he
hears from him officially. If his state
ment then turns out to be similar to
that he made to the Timmes correspond
ent, charges will be filed against Err
btugh.
Certain it is that District Attorney
Ward will leave no stone unturned tn
fasten the alleged murder on Erbaugh
if the latter is guilty. That he is dc
termined to go down the line against
him is demonstrated by lengthy con-
ference he had this morning with Dis
trict Attorney Elliott.
While the government officials are
probing the case, Sheriff Nisbet, who is
. in charge of the Jail, is keeping quiet,
confident that Erbaugh was not re
sponsible for the death of Wellmar.
Mr.. Nisbet is playing waiting game,
preferring to let the government get
through with its investigation before
he takes hand. He declared this
morning that he had no fear of any
investigation that the government is
making. confident that it will be shown
in the end that Wellman died natural
death and was not killed.
While former Postmaster Button will
not say that Wellman was killed, he
does say he was treated very roughly
and inhumanely by the judge of the
kangaroo court" Although Well
man was very sick man when he was
placed in the Jail, Mr.. Button insists
that Erbaugh put him to work washing
his clothing. That night Wellman was
noisy and Erbaugh sought to quiet him
by throwing water on him. The water
-,
been chilled to the bone, according to
Mr.. Button.
The following day Wellman was
again noisy and Mr.. Button is sure that
after Erbaugh told Wellman to remain
in his cell, and when he failed to obey
the order, Erbaugh pushed him back
into the cell and kicked him. Mr. But
ton was down in the corridor at the
,,me, but he was told by other prison
/ ers that Erbaugh was quite free with
his kicks on the body of Wellman.
when l arrived at Wellman cell
] found him lying at the far end, ap
parently unconscious, said Mr.. But
ton. "He remained in this condition
for some time. When he finally did get
up, Erbaugh had fixed the lock of his
cell so that he could not get out.
"When Erbaugh locked him up Well
man tried for long time to push away
the pin that kept his, cell locked. He
was very noisy-in fact, he continued
howling and yelling until the county
physician came and quieted him.
The next day Wellman seemed to be
quiet all day long and the night of the
following day he died.
When shown a copy of Luccih S
statement, Mr.. Button declared that it