Norwich bulletin., 1916-04-24

Charles w. Stevens died Saturday i morning at his home, 1S1 Mechanic street, Pawcatuck, after an illness of many years. He was born in the town of Westerly, near Bradford, nearly six ty-one years ago, and when a youth joined the regular army earning the rank of first sergeant. After his dis charge fro mthe army, and a short | time afterward he became a member of !, the New York police force, servingi mostly in the Sixth precinct. By req son of his intelligence and gigantic | stature he was assigned to the Broad | way squad on duty in the vicinity of | City Hall square, and he became a | notable figure of that busy section | MT. Stevens was six feet, four tinches l in height, not in the least portly, and 1 in his prime he weighed in at three | hundred pounds. During his service | on the New York police force he al- | ways spent his vacation in Westerly | and vicinity and when he was volun- l tafily placed on the retired pension list, som ten years since, he purchased a house and lot in Pawcatuck for his permanent residence, near the home of his half-sister. Mrs. Albert Burdick. He leaves his widow.
 MT. Stevens was a past master of Masonic lodge in New York city but at the time of his death he was a mem Der of Pawcatuck lodge. Burial will be in Hopkinton cemetery.
 Next Wednesday a special grand | jury will be convened a West King ston court house called in by the att torney general on the basis of testi- mony taken before Coroner Everett A. Kingsley in Westerly, in secret session. | The coroner says he has not completed his investigation, some more testimony being necessary to complete the record. Attorney Fred Otis third Assistant att 1 torney general, assisted at the coro- ner's inquest, and the assembling of a l grand jury is made upon his repre- l sentation to the attorney general based | upon the testimony. It is understood | that evidence will be introduced to | the grand jury to secure an indictment | against Engineer Mansfield, and per | hapS Flagman Coombs, as being re- | sponsible for the deaths in the Brad | ford wreck last Monday night. The jurors will be residents of Washington l county and those drawn from Vest 1 erly are George w. Woodward, James ! H. Bishop, Peleg B. Briggs, John E. Gallagher and Thomas F. Saunders. | There is reason to believe that Ser
 geant Scott, of the One Hundred and | Forty Sixth company, Coast Artillery corps, stationed at Fort Wright, Fish 1 CTS Island, was burned to death in the Bradford wreck last Monday night. He had been on furlough and also of ficial business to Boston and was due to arrive on the local train that was
 run down by the Gilt Edge express. The serbeant bore an excellent army record and was always prompt in re- turning after pass or furlough and his failure to return created much uneasi-
 ness among his comrades. Captain Christy sent a sergeant to Westerly to
 make special inquiry of Medical Exam
 finer Scanlon as to the bodies found in
 the wreck. The remains of four were
 found and these was identified beyond
 question by articles near what was left
 of the bodies, all being almost com
 pletely burned.
 As the time neared for pubIishina Sergeant Scott as being absent without
 leave and public notice being sent out
 charging him with desertion and re-
 ward offered for his arrest and return,
 Station Agent Smith, of Westerly,
 learned that there was proof that Ser geant Scott was on the train and prob
 ably burned to death. It was first
 learned that one of the injured now in
 Braford, Miss Lucy Smith, of Newport,
 declared that there was a soldier in
 civilian clothes on the train in the rear car. Later MT. Smith discovered that
 some charred papers picked up at
 possession of Sergeant Scott He
 further learned that these charred
 Bradford on the night of the disast-
 Wright and were undoubtedly in the
 papers were in possession of C. B.
 Kelley, superintendent of the Western Union Telegraph office Boston.
 These facts were placed before
 Chief of Police Thomas E. Brown, and
 John R. Wilcox. sheriff of Washington county. The Boston police heads were communicated with and request made ! that formal and legal demand be serv- ed upon MT. Kelsey for he delivery of the papers which he picked up as a
 souvenir, and without thought that
 they would tend to prove that Sergeant
 Scott was in the railroad wreck, and saved his excellent record from being
 smirched with the charge of desertion.
 On the night of the disaster Medical
 Examiner Scanlon and many willing as-
 sistants, were unable to find but the
 trunks of four human beings, and these
 have been identified as Miss Janet Me
 Gregor Clark, Thomas Boardman, Will
 jam A. Barber and Howard A. Parte- | To. These were found in a mass of
 burned material and it is possible that
 the body of Sergeant Scott may have
 been almost completely burned, and perhaps unobserved by the diligent
 searchers in the mass of burned mate
 rial, went to the workmen who were
 clearing the wreckage and buried in