The Tomahawk., 1916-07-20

One of the worst men I ever ar
rested was Wess Watts, a notorious
outlaw of Pennsylvania, thief, "yegg-
man." reported murderer of his own
father, and universally feared by all
who knew his name, in the manner
described in the following record.
During the years 1856 1 was chief
special agent for the Allegheny Val
ley railroad. One morning l was called
to Brookville, Pa, to investigate the
burglary of the company's office at
that point during the preceding night.
On arriving in the little town found
the office of the company almost a
wreck, the safe having been blown to
pieces with dynamite, and it's con-
tents, including fairly large sum aof
money and a number OF Centennial
Exposition and railroad tickets, stol-
en-. After some work I came to the
conclusion that the job had been done
by the notorious Watts gang, which
Il had originally consisted of eight mem
bers, and had long terrorized the c1ti-
zens of Jefferson, Clarion, Forest and
Elk counties.
Watts had gained immense reputa-
ton among the criminal element by
an achievement of earlier date. He
was wanted on a charge of criminal
assault, and the sheriff and posse or
seventeen men, armed with rifles,
shotguns and pistols, went to his home
and surrounded the house. The sher-
if and one of his aides raped on the
door, which was opened by Watts
mother, of whom the sheriff made the
demand that Watts surrender.
Before she could answer Watts ap-
peared in the doorway with a Colt
navy revolver in either hand and two
more in his belt.
s'Bill," he said to the sheriff, Il
counted your men as they surrounded
the house. There are eighteen OF
you, and I want to say to you that /
have got twenty-four shots right here.
I know all of you fellows, and you
know as we'll as your men know that
l never miss a mark that l shoot at.
Now, I am going to leave this place
at once, and 1 will not bother Brook
Vile again, unless you or any of your
men attempt to stop me. If you do l
will kill every man of you and will
still have shots left"
With that he brushed the sheriff
aside, sprang forward, ran to gate
in front of the house, opened it,
crossed the road, leaped high rail
fence and disappeared into the tim
Der, while not shot was fired to
stop him.
Such was the man whom I set out
to put under arrest. There had never
been any question as to his courage;
he had been gunsmith in Brookvllle
and was known as the crack shot OF
that portion of Pennsylvania. One OF
his favorite tricks was to shoot an
apple from his brothers head at dis
lance of twenty PAGES with either a
gun or a revolver.
MY first act was to visit the West
ern penitentiary at Allegheny City,
where a former member of the
Watts gang, who had been captured,
was serving ten years sentence.
This mans name was Lafayette Ed
wards; he had a younger brother
named Horace, who had also been
connected with the gang, but had
changed his manner of living. From
Lafayette, having promised to take no
action against his brother, I learned
that Horace was employed as farm
hand near Vermilion, Ill. The young
er brother was duly located there by
me. He had established a good repu-
tation, had Joined the church and was
+ respected by all who knew him.
frankly told him the purpose of my
journey and proposed that he return
to Pennsylvania with me at my ex-
pense, promising that I would keep
him quietly in small town near
Brookville, where he would not be
known, until the remainder of the
gang had been apprehended, and then
pay his fare back to Illinois.
I'm a church member now" an