The Dillon herald. [volume] (Dillon, S.C.) 1894-????, 1911-10-12
White Man Charged
With Heinous Crime
Planned Wreck to Collect the Insurance ON
Children s Lives
AGENT FOR PATENT ANVIL is ALLEGED To
HAVE PLANNED THE CRIME. sHADOWED DETEC-
TVEs MANY DIPERuED


recent attempt to wreck the C. &
N. w. Railway northbound train at
Crowder's Creek trestle:.
Gastonia, N. c., Oct. 6. - De-
tective Thomas Loving, of Madi-
son, who was employed by the Off
cials of the Carolina & Northwest
ern Railway Company Immediately
after the dastardly attempt was
wreck northboIrnd passenger train
No. 10, at the oCrowder's Creek
trestle, to ferret out the attempt
ed crime and, if possible, run down
the criminals, was in Gastonia yes
terday. In fact, he lis making his
headquarters here and expects to
remain in Gastonia permanently.
detective Lowing was not very
much inclined to talk but gave the
newspaper man a few facts regard
Ing. the progress of the case, with
. holding names for obvious reasonns
According to the detective, Milas
Partlow, the negro ,on whom suspi-
cion has rested from the start and
who Is still at large, had an &C
accomplice, a white man, who spent
some days, perhaps weeks, in this
section selling a patent awl. It is
highly probable, from the evidence
In hand, that this white man, whose
name is known 10 the detective and
the officers, was the one who
planned the crime and used Partlow
as tool 1t was probably his plan
TO rob the passengers after the
wreck or perhaps he was to get
some of the insurance Partlow was
counting on receiving when his two
children, aged IA and 16, were kill
ed in the wreck. Tt is fact, states
Mr.. Loving, that Partlow had a pol
Icy for 81 900 on each of his chill
dren in the Metropolitan Life In
surance Company, having taken pol
icies out from the 'Ohafltte branch
of that company.
Evidence has accumulated against
both Of these men and the offic-
ers are confident they can convict
them. One reputable New York
county citizen testifies that on the
morning of the wreck, he saw Part
low, about a m. going in tn
direction of the trestle. :Partlow
was in buggy and his two children
were walking. These were the ones
that were on the train.
1t Is further learned that Messrs.
stewart & Jones, contractors, grad
Ing the road-bed here for the Pied
mont G Northern Railway Com
pany, had a spike bar stolen away
from their camps on the 18th, two
days prior to the wreck. The one
found in Partlow's crib has been
already positively identified by
them as theirs. In Partlow's crib
was also found a track bolt wrench
and locomotive engineers wrench.
Two other York county citizens,
who were in route to Glover just at
sunrise on the day of the wreck
with some cotton to be ginned,
state that they saw Partlow and
white man sitting on the end of the
trestle. They recognized both men.
TWO other York county citizens
state that Partlow talked to them
which the wreck was attempted
Partlow told them he had heard of
the wreck, told them that he had
two children on the train and ask
ed them what they thought he could
have gotten from the railroad COM
PAW in the event the children had
heen killed. They told him they
did not think he coull recover any
thing for the reason that the train
was wrecked by some person not
connected with the railroad and
that nothing could be recovered in
the way of damages unless he
could prove that 1.-The accident was
due to negligence on the part of the
railroad employees" Partlow told
them that he had $1,000 insurance
or each of them and remarked that
he would have gotten that much
anyway.
Detective Loving, in investigating
the case, also found a Lady who
Is a trained nurse in Charlotte
hospital, who testified that Partlow
had often asked her what was a
proper dose of morphine and how
much 1t would take to kill a person.
. She told him she did not know. The
lady originally came from this
neighborhood and Partlow worked
for her father for some time
Both Detective Loving and Sher-
IF Mclean, of this county, and the
local police have been working hard
on this case and seem to have good
hopes Of catching and convicting
these two men. 1t Is known that
the Monday following the wreck
Partlow and this white man were
were seen in private conversation at
Rock Hill, s. c. They are both
spotted in South Carolina and their
arrest is expected at any time. The
Officers also have locked up at New
ton a negro, Sam Watson, on sus-
picion. He was Reen in the neigh
borhood of Crowder's Creek trestle
the morning of the wreck, but de-
'clares he knew nothing about the
attempt to wreck the train.