Belington progressive. [volume] (Belington, W. Va.) 1912-1927, 1920-01-08
RESIDENCE DYNAMTTED
High Explosive Planted on Front
Porch With Result That House
is Wrecked s

ELKINS, w. Va, Jan. 5, 1920.---
Constable Coleman Stalnaker, whose
efforts in behalf of the enforcement
of the prohibition laws, have been un-
firing, was the target at an early
hour Sunday morning of a, would be
assassin's bomb. About o'clock Sun
day morning the houses in the vicin-
ity of the Stalnaker home on First
street were rocked by an explosion
so severe that almost every window
in houses within 200 feet was brog-
en- The bomb or dynamite had evil
IDENTIFY been placed directly against
the front door of the house and the
porch was wrecked and all but six
windows in the entire builling were
broken, ceilings were torn from the
front rooms and all the furniture in
the two rooms nearest the bomb was
broken or damaged
Mr.. Stalnaker had gone home about
IL o'clock and after reading for some
time fell asleep on couch in the sit
ting room and did not awake until
about 2:30 About this time he
thinks he heard some one walking
along the side of the house probably
looking out a location for planting
the bomb. Going up stairs he went to
bed In rear room and had scarcely
fallen to sleep when the explosion oc-
cured. Thinking that coal gas had
accumulated and exploded he hurried
down stairs to find the stove unharm-
ed. Neighbors attracted by the con-
cussion soon discovered that the force
of the explosion had centered at the
front door, where it had blown hole
through the, porch floor, demolishing
stills and flooring and blowing the
front door to pieces. Pieces of fuse
were also found indicating that the
bomb had been set directly against
the front door and then lighted by
the assassin from the edge of the
porch ~
Almost all the windows were broken
in the Cain house occupied by the
Sisters as st. Brenden's Catholic
School, the home of w. J. Leanna, C.
s., Armentrout, Mrs. Louisa D. Tay-
Tor, |. w. Channel, James Parsons
and Thomas J. Aggleson, besides scat
tering damage in other houses in the
Sblock as far away as the Kopfe
/ Apartments at the corner of Kerens
avenue and Fifth streets.
Sheriff Sturart l.. Marstiller, JUS
tice M. M. Smith and other officers
were promptly notified of the outrage
and set to work in an effort to run
down the guilty party or parties. A
slight snow had fallen and the tracks
of three men were followed to theil
homes, but whether or not either OF
these is suspected was not divulgee
by the officers. The opinion is freely
expressed that the attempt on Mr.
Stalnaker's life resulted from the ar
rest and conviction of some one 0,
the numerous moonshiners or bootleg
gers, whose incarceration in jail ant
fines have come from the officers un
firing and daring efforts.
With the thermometer towering
just above the zero mark and the ga
pressure very low some of the occu
pants of the damaged homes wer
badly Inconvenience and suffered con
siderably from the cold. A force o
men, however, spent the day reglazin,
broken windows and by night most o
the houses had been made fairly com
Portable.
A fortunate feature of the distress
ing affair was the fact that Mr.. an
Mrs. Stalnaker's little son and daugh
ter were visiting their aunt, Mrs. F
NJ. Albright, at Thomas, otherwis
, one or both doubtless would have los
their lives or been badly injured a