The citizen. (Frederick City, Md.) 1895-1923, 1910-03-25
COLD FLOODED MURDER.
Conductor and Porter Killed on
the Royal Blue-Fifty Shots
Fired From Behind
Barricade.

4 AO0 IOh D0ll1uu d
Barricade.
!. H. Bethea, a six-foot South Caro-
linian. who boarded the Royal Blue Linz
tied of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad,
at Baltimore, early in the afternoon of
March 23rd, murdered the conductor,
E. o. Wellman, and the colored porter,
Samuel Williams, of the Pullman car
Czarina, while the flyer was running
through Newark, Delaware. The ROYAL
Blue, with Bethea alone in the Czarina
with the two dead men, raced into Will
mington at the rate of 90 miles an hour
The police and a posse of citizens shot
the South Carolinian to death after an
hours fighting in the depot.
The Southernor attracted attention as
soon as he took his seat in the Czarina
at Baltimore. He was tall and raw
boned. He wore a broad-brimmed felt
hat, turned down collar and a flowing
neCktie. He spoke noisily to the porter
and called Tor drink of straight whisky
a minute or two after the train started.
They were - passengers in the Ca
rina besides Bethea, half a dozen of
them women and children. They glanced
up uneasily from time to time. The man
Ill WlQC-DIIIlIIS Ildl WAS Calling IOT
whiskey every few minutes.
The following is the story of an eye
witness:
One of the members of the crew of
the train in which Porter Williams and
Conductor Wellman were murdered in
cold blood gave graphic story Of the
tragedy. Bethea, who had been drink
ing from the time that the train left
Washington, was quarrelsome, and
he seemed to fly into a rage every time
that the colored porter approached him,
and the subsequent double murder was
the elimination of one of these violent
outbreaks.
1--WE left Washington at 3 O'clock"
said the member of the crew, but moth
ing peculiar in the actions of Bethea was
observed until the train pulled out of
Baltimore We had scarcely reached
the outskirts of the city, when Bethea
who was occupying a chair in the parlor
car threatened to chastise Williams, be-
cause OF no apparent reason other than
he took exception to the porter being a
negro.
"A short time later the porter again
had an occasion to pass through the
car. He was busy opening ventilator,
when Bethea arose and lunged towards
! him. The porter hurridly left the car
and reported the matter to Conductor
Wellman. The latter told Williams 10
remain out of the car unless it was abso-
lutely necessary for him to enter. Be-
thea in the meantime had taken seat in
a coach.
when the train was between Havre de
Grace and Newark the porter started
through the coach, not noticing Bethea.
The latter was apparently doing in his
seat, but just as the colored man passed
him he rose and said: You d niger,
I'll shoot you full of holes.
civilians was less than four feet from
the cnraged man and as Bethea spoke
Williams turned half round in evident sur
prise AS he did SO Bethea fired bullet
into the porter's heart. Williams fell back
into a seat, and us Conductor WelIman
approached the murderer fired again.
| This last shot wcN, through Williams
| thigh and buried lscil n the woodwork
in the side of the car.
by this time pandemonium reigned.
There were about 80 persons in the car
and they made rush for both doors.
Conductor Wellman apparently did not
know that Williams had been fatally shot,
as the negro was sitting upright i'll the
seat.
"As Wellman spoke to Bethea the latter
turned, livid with rage, and placing his
revolver almost opposite against the con-
ductor's chest, fired. Wellman dropped
without moving an inch and Bethea,
hourishng his revolver, backed toward
the toiletroom entered and closed the
door
'ln the meantime the train had reached
Newark, Del No stop was made. but a
message was thrown off asking the rail-
road officials at Wilmington, IL miles dis
tant, to have policemen on hand to arrest
Bethea. None of us knew at this time
that either Williams or Conductor Well
man wa dead Before the train reached
Wilmington the door was barred from
the outside and hasty examination OF
both men showed that life was EXTINCT
so bitter was the feeling agaius the
desperate man among the passengers that
he would have been torn limb from limb
had they been able to get at him.
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 Will
mington police force, was the first man
to step on our train. He was followed
by half a dozen other policemen. As
they approached the toilet room Bethea
threatened to murder the whole bunch
if they attempted to enter the room. The
officers withdrew from the car and held
a consultation. Their conference was
interrupted by several shots from the
toilet window Bethea then drew back
as the policemen returned the fire.
AT this juncture fire apparatus APP
pcared and stream was turned in the
broken window. Bethea kept on firing,
but we had all secured convenient posts
and waited developments. In few min.
ntes Bethea staggered from his arsenal.
He was still firing his revolver. As he
started to leave the car an officer shot him
in the face. and second later another
shot shattered his arm. Still struggling
to thrust his revolver from his injured
hand to the sound member, the man
dropped dead.
I'm the toilet.room we found nearly 50
empty cartridges, while the toilet window
was as full of holes as pepper box.
There was no way of identifying him
by baggage, as we could find none. In his
pocket was a memorandum book con-
tanning the name j. II. Bethea, Dillon,
S. c., aged 40 years. e
There were half a dozen wounds on
his body. He was shot in the arm, face,
shoulder, back and limbs.
81 never saw Sl1ch a scene in INV life