The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-02-15

10 walk, was carried back to the train.
He was placed in the express car and
examined for wounds. and it was-soon
discovered that he was shamming. He
had not been shot, but had severed
some small blood vessels in his wrist
while struggling in the barbed wire.
and had smeared his face and clothing
with blood from these wouds. He then
pretended to be drunk, but there was no
smell of liquor on his breath.
Thinking that the wounded man could
be located later and not wishing to
delay the train any longer we stepped
aboard and soon arrived in Sedalia. Be-
ing personally acquainted with Eli Stub
blefield. and being sure that he was the
man whom | mad wounded, | at once sent
Manning and Detective John Jackson of
the sedalia police department out to his
brothers house, where Eli made his home.
in the hope that they would intercept
him there and arrest him. Then, with
Frank Barnett, I returned on an engine
from Sedalia to the scene of the at
tempted holdup. Picking up the trail
of the wounded man from his tracks.
and the blood in the snow. we followed
it out to the main road and on toward
Sedalia-
A house occupied by a negro family |
was soon reached, and making in /
quiries there, we learned that just after
the sound of the shooting had been
heard a tall, SLENDER middle aged man
had stopped in front of the house and
yelled to the occupants He stated that
he had been hurt, and that he would give
them $40 If they would hitch up ana
drive him to Sedala. They told him that
it would be impossible to procure horse
at that time of night, and he departed
for Sedalia, holding his right arm, and
leaving trail of blood along his tracks.
Having thus satisfied ourselves as toI
Stubblefield's objective, Barnett and |
- ao1 10 nf1r
engine, and were soon in Sedalia once
more: Within two or three hours our
conjecture that Stubblefield was on his
way to the town proved correct for the
wounded man, who turned out to be Stub
blefield. as had been expected, was CAP
tured near his house by Manning and
the Sedalia police officer who We're watt 4
ing for him. in accordance with their in
structions Stubbefield was taken to the
county Jail. where West had already been
incarcerated, and a physician was called
to dress his wound. 1t was found that
the bullet from my weapon had passed
through Vests right arm, breaking the1'
bones at the elbow. The wound soon
healed, but Stubblefed never had the
use of the arm again. 1t always hung
limp at his side.
West had a double reputation in Sc
dalia. He had been at one time superin-
tendent of a Sunday school. and stood
we'll i'm the estimation of the business
people of the town. He was also known,
among another class of citizens, as
poker player of parts. Eariy next morn
ing West was released from jail on
bond signed by two wealthy and prom
inent Sedalia business men, but later In
the day, on learning all the facts in the
case among which was this. that two
six-shooters had been found on West
when he was searched. the bondsmen
surrendered him to the sheriff and he
was again locked up, remaining in prison
until his trial =ai
Adams, the informant, who appears to
have played a perfectly reputable part N
the proceedings stated to me on the fol-
lowing day that al the last moment the@
other four failroad men who had prom
ised to Join in the robbery mad weak
ened. and backed out Stubblefield and
West We're. therefore the only two whom
he had taken out in his rig. He had
driven to the scene of the ATTEMPTED
holdup and waited there until the train
arrived but as soon as he was convinced
that West and Stubblefield meant busi-
ness and the firing actually began. he
did not wait to carry his part of the bar
gain to completion, but hastily drova
back to Sedalia.
The other men who had promised to'I
participate In the affair were all ex-
railway men. with the exception Of one.
who was a butcher They were not triel
in connection with the CRIME, although
their names were well known. In due
course both West and Stbblefield We're
tried and convicted of the attempted
long period of time.
Copyright, 1914 by International Press
BureauD
(Next week: The Big Cotton SWIM
dle.'D