Chapter XVI (2)

In the month of May, 1915, Chief of Police Orden Thompson, of Gassaway, West Virginia, while attempting to arrest Holly Griffith on a warrant charging him with passing bogus checks, was shot and fatally wounded by Griffith, and a bystander shot in the leg. As Griffith ran from the scene of the shooting, he turned and told the crowd that had gathered, “Don’t any of you men follow me.” He left Gassaway going toward Gilmer county.

A mob was soon formed of Braxton and Gilmer county citizens and the man hunt was on. The posse followed him through Braxton, Gilmer and Jackson counties, and at times were only one mile behind Griffith. Griffith showed cleverness in going to farmers and using the Citizens Telephone lines and several times turned the mob back by giving them the wrong information as to his own trail.

At one time in Gilmer county, the prosecuting attorney and other members of the posse who were driving in automobiles came upon a man near a little creek bank and almost surrounded him. This man was Griffith and he picked out the prosecuting attorney, who was talking to him at the time, and shot several times at the telephone pole behind which the prosecuting attorney was hiding, splinters flying in every direction. This posse claimed to be unarmed and Griffith escaped.

The next time he was seen was near Ravenswood in Jackson county by a posse there. He knew that he was surrounded and had no chance of escape. Griffith came down to the county road from the edge of the hill and displayed two automatics, a deputy sheriff’s badge and a pair of handcuffs, asking the posse if they were trying to apprehend Griffith. They told him they were and he replied: “I have seen him and will get in your car and assist you in finding him.” Griffith rode about three miles in this car. At this time his left hand was bandaged from a bullet wound inflicted while in the scuffle with Thompson at Gassaway. Griffith saw some other cars coming in the opposite direction and figured that he would be captured. He had the car he was riding in stopped and said he would go into the hill and search for him. When the two posses met they discovered that Griffith was the man they wanted and went into the hill and separated and tried to surround him. He evaded them by taking a boat and crossing the Ohio river near Ravenswood. He was shot in the head while in the boat, which was only a flesh wound and when he went up the bank on the other side his right shoe heel was shot off. He then went about three miles from Ravenswood into the country and got information from a farmer as to the telephone connections, etc., and talked with the posse over the telephone, telling them that Griffith had gone in another direction and threw them entirely off the trail. At this farm house he had them prepare a meal as he had not eaten in four days, being continually on the “go”.

_Serving three life sentences in Moundsville State Penitentiary and will be tried for the murder of Jeff Goff, a constable of Wirt County, West Virginia._]

Griffith then went to Parkersburg, where he stayed a few days and while there visited his wife. He went from Parkersburg to Wheeling, West Virginia. While in the act of boarding a B. & O. train bound for Pittsburgh an officer attempted to arrest him and he knocked the officer down, and I have been informed that the officer’s leg was broken in the scrap. Griffith then went to Pittsburgh, where he pawned one of his automatics and from Pittsburgh went to East Youngstown, Ohio, on a freight train.

I had secured information that he had sent his wife a post card from Pittsburgh and that he was on his way to Youngstown. I was at this time City Detective for the Police Department of Charleston. One day while searching the waste basket (this in the month of May, 1915) I found a letter addressed to the Chief of Police, asking him if he wanted a man by the name of Rose, for a crime, stating that he was under arrest for resisting an officer, carrying concealed weapons and hoboing at East Youngstown, Ohio. This letter was signed by the Town Marshal of East Youngstown, James Murray. Murray stated that he had blank checks from the Kanawha Valley Bank of Charleston, West Virginia, on his person when arrested and also that he had a flesh wound in his left hand. I asked permission of the Chief of Police to investigate this letter and advised him that it was my opinion from the information that I had secured before that it was Griffith who was apprehended at East Youngstown. I sent several telegrams and told them that we wanted Rose in this county for a forgery. As soon as I was satisfied that the man was Griffith I went to East Youngstown, Ohio. I arrived there and presented my warrant for S. F. Rose on a forgery charge and asked him if I could not speak privately with the prisoner. I was granted permission and was placed in a cell 6x10 feet with Rose. Rose (Griffith) informed me that he was not able to talk much as the authorities had been giving him a “sweating” for two days in order to get him to tell where he was from and what he was wanted for. They had kept him two days in this cell with a large Burnside stove, which is usually found in small school houses, going full blast. They gave him very little water and nothing to eat. Still Griffith refused and would not talk. I told Rose his right name and said, “Holly, I remember you distinctly. When you were in Charleston your chum was Grover Roush and you are the same man that visited a certain dive on Dryden street, and the same that gave Lawrence Beller a bad check for $100.00 for a motor boat.” I also told him that the scar that was on his left hand was caused by a bullet wound when he shot and fatally wounded the Chief of Police at Gassaway. He then opened up and said to me: “Clendenen, I thought several times of writing you a letter and telling you where I was so that you would come and get me and return me to either Wirt or Braxton county for a trial for the crimes that I have committed, and as you are ‘on to me’, and if you will agree to take me to the Clarksburg jail and leave me there until I am tried in either county, I will go back with you without requisition papers, but please go and get me something to eat as I am suffering from hunger.”

I told Griffith not to do any talking until I could investigate the charges against him to see whether or not I could get the authorities to allow him to go back to West Virginia on charges of forgery. At this point, I want to state that I tried to get an officer from either Youngstown or East Youngstown to accompany me to Charleston with Griffith but without avail. My purpose in asking this was that a large reward had been offered for the arrest and detention of Griffith and I felt that the officer who had arrested him in Ohio should get his share of same, but could not afford to give them full details as they were holding him on two charges in Mahoning county, Ohio.

After several days’ deliberation, the prosecuting attorney of Mahoning county agreed for Griffith to return with me on a forgery charge and I brought him back, arriving in Charleston May 24, 1915. It has been stated by the press that Griffith attempted to assault me in a restaurant in Pittsburgh, but this is not true, as he was a model prisoner at all times while in my care. It was not necessary to handcuff him--this being one of our agreements when he agreed to return without the necessary papers.

By some mysterious manipulation of “police routine” Griffith was taken from Charleston to Sutton by another officer of the Charleston Police Department and the whole credit for his apprehension and arrest was given to another member of the department, which was unjust in every sense of the word. Neither of these officers were familiar with the crimes Griffith had committed and had not devoted one moment of their time in looking up data in regard to him which might have led to his apprehension.

When Griffith’s case was called for trial at the county seat of Braxton county I assisted Hon. James E. Cutlip, the prosecuting attorney of Braxton county, in the prosecution. While on the witness stand I related Griffith’s confession to me, which was as follows:

“I was born of poor parents near Clarksburg, West Virginia, and
have worked considerable of my time at hard labor and had very
little chance to secure an education owing to the financial
standing of my parents. I have only been married a short time,
living near Elizabeth in Wirt county. While dealing at a
country store in the neighborhood I gave a merchant a check for
merchandise which was turned down by the bank and a warrant was
issued for my arrest and placed in the hands of Jeff Goff, a
constable of Wirt county. Goff came to my house one night in the
winter of 1914 with a warrant for my arrest. He knocked at the
door and I asked him who was there. He stated his business and
said if I did not open the door at once he would kick it down,
which he did. My wife told him I would go without any trouble
and he began cursing and swearing. He shoved my wife to one side
and came at me in an angry way. I reached for my pistol and shot
Goff. He went outside through the door and some of his friends
came to his rescue and carried him home. There is no doubt in my
mind but what Goff was drunk on this night as I had never done
anything to him and was afraid that he would do me bodily harm.
I left my little cottage that night and walked several miles
and came to Charleston. I stayed around Charleston for a few
weeks in company with Grover Roush and assisted him in selling
liquor. I went to a house boat near the Kanawha river bridge
and contracted a deal for a motor boat with a man by the name
of Lawrence Beller, giving him a bum check for $100.00 for the
boat. I left in the boat and he became suspicious of the check
and was advised by one of the Charleston banks that it was bad.
Beller ’phoned to Lock Ten on the Kanawha river and got me on
the telephone there. He told me the check was bad and I told him
that if it was bad that there must be some mistake about it; but
this was not a fact--the check was a forgery. He told me he was
coming down to get his boat and I told him that if the check was
bad to come on and get it that it would be there.

“I left the boat and went to a little place called Robertsburg,
in Putnam county. I stayed there a few days and gained the
confidence of some old people at a farm house. When I left I
showed them my deputy sheriff’s badge, two pistols and handcuffs
and told them I was going in the country after a man who was
wanted for murder. I gave them a bad check for my board bill
and secured $28.00 in cash. I then went to Clarksburg and again
met my relatives and came from Clarksburg over the B. & O. to
Burnsville. I went from Burnsville to Sutton and deposited
a check for $500.00 on a Clarksburg bank, which check was a
forgery. I then passed several checks at Gassaway on the Home
National Bank of Sutton, drawing on the account. For these
checks Orden Thompson secured warrants and tried to apprehend
me. When he approached me with the warrants, which I learned
later were for bad checks, I thought it was a warrant for my
arrest in connection with the killing of Jeff Goff in Wirt
county. I resisted arrest and shot Thompson and in the scuffle
shot a bystander who was near. This occurred in a little store
at Gassaway. I was at one time with the mob while they were
looking for me and talked several times with the posse over the
telephone. This bunch seemed to be a bunch of cowards. I do
not believe I should be convicted for either murder, because
I think I acted in self-defense in each case. I admit I did
wrong in forging checks and trying to get by with it--it is
one of my mistakes. I can show you fence posts near my home in
Clarksburg filled with steel jacket and lead bullets fired from
the pistols which I carried. I did this in order to become a
sure shot and thought maybe sometime I might need my pistols to
defend myself.”

Holly Griffith made several desperate attempts to escape from the Moundsville State Penitentiary. At one time he was hidden in a shop in which he worked and had prepared a dummy made of a pair of trousers, an old coat and other clothing and put it in his cell in a position that would look like a person. The guard discovered this was a dummy by speaking to Griffith and when he found that Griffith was not in the cell, they made a search of the shops and found him concealed there.

On January 6, 1921, Griffith succeeded in making a daring escape from the institution. He first set fire to several buildings and then proceeded to the power house in an attempt to destroy the lighting system. A fellow inmate interfered with Griffith in this attempt and Griffith immediately drew a knife and stabbed the fellow so severely that his death resulted. He also assaulted several other inmates and scaled the walls. In going over the wall he passed within fifteen feet of a guard who was so excited that he permitted Griffith to make his escape.

Griffith came down the Ohio river on foot and by freight train and stopped at a house on the Ohio side of the river where lived a family by the name of Roush. One of the sons, a young man, owned a motor boat which was for sale. Griffith induced him to run him to Portsmouth where he said he would draw money out of the bank and purchase the boat. After they had traveled a short distance Griffith shot the young man in the back of the head and then finished the job by beating him over the head with the butt of the gun, throwing him into the Ohio river. Griffith then proceeded alone to Portsmouth. Just as he was landing the motor boat several persons acquainted with young Roush inquired of Griffith where he was, to which Griffith replied that Roush had gotten off in the east end of town and would be down soon. Griffith then landed the boat on the Kentucky side of the river at a place called South Portsmouth, and was never seen again until he was captured.

Griffith was captured in Greenwood, South Carolina, by policeman C. T. Nelson and turned over to Newberry county officers for the robbery of the Post Office, Express Office and three stores at Silverstreet in that county on the night of January 24th. He confessed to all the robberies when arrested. A blank check has been the cause of Griffith’s arrest each time. When apprehended at East Youngstown, Ohio, a Kanawha Valley Bank check was found on his person and this information led up to his arrest. When caught at Greenwood, South Carolina, a blank check from a Moundsville bank was found on his person which led to his identity. The following is a facsimile of one of Griffith’s forged checks given in the City of Charleston, West Virginia, under the assumed name he used--“S. F. Rose”.

My information is that when Griffith was arrested he had upon his person four pistols, two razors and two pocket knives. No doubt this was one of Griffith’s clever tricks to get a short term in the Federal prison for the post office robbery in order to evade the officers who were on his trail to collect the $1000.00 reward which was offered for his apprehension. I understand that Griffith smiled and made a full confession of all his criminal actions to the authorities at the Newberry county jail. This was one of his polite ways in deceiving the public.

Griffith was returned on requisition papers to Moundsville, West Virginia, and tried in Marshall county for the murder of his fellow inmate. The jury returned a verdict of guilty and he was again sentenced to life imprisonment. After this trial Griffith was taken to Point Pleasant, the county seat of Mason county and tried on the charge of killing young Roush. The jury there also returned a verdict of guilty and he was again sentenced to life imprisonment, this making three life sentences he is now serving in the State penal institution.

At each of his trials Griffith in some way managed to either quote himself or have quoted to the jury the following from the Bible: “Do not take that which you cannot give.”

Griffith still stands charged with the murder of Jeff Goff in Wirt county in 1914, and it has been intimated that he will be tried for this crime, in an endeavor to hang him. He is the only man in the United States now serving three life sentences.

A Moonlight Tragedy.

At one A. M. on the morning of March 26, 1921, T. E. Martin, a Justice of the Peace for Loudon District, Kanawha County, West Virginia, together with Special Officers Pete Tyler, Lawson Tyler and George Jarrold, conducted a raid on the Davis Creek section, three miles from the City of Charleston. The party was in search of moonshiners, and during their progress from the mouth of the creek they discovered a large mash box containing about two hundred gallons of sour corn mash hidden in the underbrush in a small ravine above what is known as Jack Dodson’s farm.

The officers, on finding the mash, came to the conclusion that the ones interested in it would return soon and start their run. In carrying out their plans, the officers concealed themselves and awaited the return of the moonshiners. It later developed that the moonshiners had seen the officers approaching and had hidden in the thick underbrush. Two of the moonshiners rose from their hiding place and Pete Tyler discovered them, saying to Martin: “Tom, there are two men.” Martin immediately arose from the ground and promptly raised his shot gun to his shoulder with the command to “throw up your hands,” Pete Tyler rising at the same time. No sooner had these words been uttered by Martin than a volley from the hillside echoed through the still night and Martin and Tyler fell to the ground, Martin with a bullet wound in his neck and Tyler shot just below the left eye. After the volley Lawson Tyler and Jarrold fled from the scene, and reaching the nearest telephone notified members of the Charleston Police Department, who together with J. Walter Bee, Prohibition Officer; Clark Martin, a Constable for Charleston District, and other officers left immediately for the scene of the shooting.

On reaching the scene the injured men were placed in an ambulance and rushed to the Saint Francis Hospital in Charleston where four days later Martin died, Tyler recovering from his wound.

On delivering the men to the hospital a posse was formed under the command of J. Walter Bee and Clark Martin and left for Davis Creek with warrants for Jim Richards, Gilbert Hall, Jim Smith, Deward Huffman, Charles Aldridge, Arthur Hudson and Herman Hudson. These men were brought before G. D. Acree, a Justice of the Peace, charged with the shooting of Martin and Tyler. They were placed in the county jail and held without bond awaiting the outcome of Martin’s injuries. They were later charged with murder and released from custody under heavy bonds. After the preliminary examination Deward Huffman, Arthur Hudson and Herman Hudson were released from custody and Richards, Hall, Aldridge and Smith were held to await the action of the grand jury.

The author was absent from the city at the time of this murder on his farm at Rural Retreat, Virginia. I was advised by wire of the crime and immediately left for Charleston and on my arrival was given personal charge of the investigation. Having a very good idea of who the assassins were, I immediately began work on the case. My knowledge of who the guilty men were came from several trips I made with Squire Martin and other officers into this locality where Martin was killed.

At that time I had information that this mash belonged to Jim Richards and others.

The prisoners all employed the same counsel and were advised to do no talking. It was at all times impossible to get any statements from them relative to the shooting and their whereabouts on the night of the shooting.

In my investigation I saw that a mistake had been made by these men being apprehended before there was an investigation made as to the shooting, because as soon as they were apprehended their wives and relatives began arranging an alibi for each man, and Davis Creek being a moonshining neighborhood, and clannish, it was easy for this sort of evidence to be secured for the defense.

After the indictments were returned Richards would make frequent trips to Charleston declaring his innocence and talked as if insane upon the streets, remarking that he knew a lot about the murder but was not guilty and was afraid that his life would be taken because he had informed on the other prisoners.

One beautiful spring day before the trial the sheriff was notified that Jim Richards had been murdered and burned up in his log cabin home on Davis Creek. Deputy sheriffs were sent to the scene to make an investigation, bringing back with them what seemed to be the bones of Richards tied up in a piece of cloth. These bones were shown to the writer as soon as they returned. I saw immediately that they were not the bones of a human body. I immediately left for the scene of the fire and collected a number of small bones and turned them over to Dr. W. P. Black, County Coroner, who was assisting in conducting the investigation. We then held a consultation with the prosecuting attorney and the State Fire Marshal. The Fire Marshal immediately filed a complaint and had a warrant issued for the arrest of Venie Richards, the wife of Jim, for the burning of her residence. She refused to give any statement regarding the fire and murder, other than to remark:

“Jim and I were sitting in our little cabin on Davis Creek when
a rap came to the door and some one requested admittance. On
opening the door, thinking that it was some of our neighbors,
five masked men pushed their way through to where Jim was
standing and said, ‘Jim, we have come for you and are going to
put you out of the way.’ Jim saw that he was up against it and
said, ‘Well you have me,’ and picking up the old banjo, which
was a family relic, handed it to me and said: ‘Venie, you take
the old banjo and keep it, I may never see you anymore.’ I ran
from the house and as I started up the hillside I heard a pistol
shot and knew that poor Jim had been murdered. I turned and saw
the house was in flames and everything was silent. I never seen
poor Jim anymore.”

With these remarks she burst into tears.

She was placed in the county jail and could not arrange bond for her appearance. Doctor Black examined the bones that were found in the ruins of the home and discovered what were supposed to be human bones were really sheep bones which had been sawed with a meat saw in a butcher shop. The saw marks were very distinct. We gave Mrs. Richards every chance to make a true statement but she refused and the above story was repeated to everyone who interviewed her, even her close friends.

The search was then instituted for Jim Richards. Several Charleston citizens were on his bond as surety in the sum of six thousand dollars. A close watch was kept for mail that might come to Mrs. Richards and after a patient vigil, Henry A. Walker, Sheriff of Kanawha, discovered a telegram for Mrs. Richards from some man in Boone’s Mills, Virginia. After a careful investigation he located Richards in Rocky Mount, Virginia, and had him arrested, returning him to Charleston where a reward of two hundred dollars had been offered for his apprehension by his bondsmen, this reward going to J. P. Hodges, Sheriff of Franklin county, Virginia. The writer at this time was at the Ponce de Leon Hotel in Roanoke, Virginia, making an investigation as to the character of Jim Smith, etc., and while there met Sheriff Walker and others, in the lobby of the hotel. I remarked, “Well, boys, where is Jim?” and they told me he was in the county jail. My investigation was completed and we all returned from Roanoke to Charleston on the Virginian train. Several people from Princeton and other places on the Virginian Railway identified Richards as the man who had been riding the Virginian train between Deepwater and Roanoke and told us they believed he was crazy, as he had made several proposals of marriage to young girls, telling them that he had a fine farm in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia and that he was a single man at present and wanted a wife. He would carry with him on these trips a small Bible and quote scripture.

Richards made a complete confession coming from Roanoke to Charleston as to the arrangements made for getting the bones and burning his own residence, and offered as an excuse that a Voodoo Man from Virginia had worked some kind of a hoodoo on him until he did not have his own mind; that this man had sent word to him by a detective from Virginia telling him that if he burned his house and put the bones in the ashes that everything would be alright. He still denied any connection with the murder of Martin.

Thinking that our strongest case was against Richards we proceeded to try him at the next term of court on a charge of murder. He was tried and the jury, after a short deliberation, returned into court with a verdict of “Not Guilty”. The jury in rendering this verdict based their actions on the fact that the only eye witness who identified Richards as one of the men who did the shooting was himself shot in the eye, Pete Tyler, together with the fact that it was in the night time and the men were some forty feet away from Martin at the time of the shooting.

Gilbert Hall was next tried and acquitted and the cases against the others are still pending.

An odd incident occurred in connection with this case. During our search of the ruins and the discovery of the bones, a resident of that section of the district remarked: “Jim Richards is now in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia souring his mash.”

An Investigation I Feared.

In the spring of 1921 I received a telegram from a friend of mine in Carter County, Kentucky, asking me to report at Soldier, Kentucky, which is on the Lexington Division of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad out from Ashland, Kentucky. I communicated with my friend by letter and ascertained that there had been a murder committed near Soldier, Kentucky. After arranging a contract which was satisfactory I took a young lady operative and we together went to Soldier, Kentucky. We were met at the station by Albert Bailey and taken to the farm of I. N. Edens. After arriving there, Mr. Edens and his wife told us the following story:

“We only had two sons and both of them went to war. My youngest
son was shell-shocked and lived but a short time after his
return home. Our other boy lived on a nearby farm, a faithful
and true son to his parents and was loved by all who knew him.
It was customary for him about two evenings each week when the
weather was favorable to take a hunting trip by himself at
night, carrying with him a sixteen gauge shot gun, a carbide
light and his faithful hunting dog, Ned. One beautiful moonlight
night he left his home and went in the direction of the farm of
Kate Tolliver. On this farm is a large still house containing a
large copper still. This still had been running for a number of
years in Rowan County, Kentucky. Our boy failed to return from
his hunting trip at his usual time and about ten o’clock the
following day we started a search for him.

“Kate Tolliver had posted a sign on his land stating that no
one was allowed to hunt upon the premises. About 11:30 A. M.
the following day we found our boy in a dying condition near a
little mud hole about two hundreds yards from the still house
on Kate Tolliver’s farm. He only lived about twenty minutes
after we reached him. He told us that he was coming from the
top of the mountain towards the still house when a man, unknown
to him, sprang out in front of him and fired two shots from a
high powered rifle, both shots taking effect. He told us that
after being shot he had made it to this mud hole for a drink of
water, a distance of two hundred yards. The parties with me when
I found our boy had several different kinds of horns and shot
guns, and when we were near the scene one of the men would blow
into the barrel of a sixteen gauge shot gun and we could hear
the whines and bark of our boy’s dog. We discovered that the
only sound he would answer was that which came from a sixteen
gauge shot gun. By this means we located him.”

During my investigation in Rowan, Lewis and Carter Counties, a number of men approached me on horse back and asked permission to form a mob to go to the farm of Kate Tolliver and hang both him and Buck McKenzie. Generally speaking the public believed that young Edens was killed by Buck McKenzie at the instance of Kate Tolliver.

During my investigation I examined the thirty acre laurel patch in Carter County which was at one time a noted moonshine den. A notice was made on a small board with the following inscription: “This is as far as any officer is allowed to come.” My understanding is that none would venture beyond that sign.

The next day after the murder of young Edens, the prosecuting attorney, sheriff and other officers came from the county seat to the farm of Tolliver and burned his still house, but the night before Kate Tolliver, with a gray team of horses and a sled, had hauled the still away into Lewis County where it had been destroyed by the roadside. The posse tried several times to catch Tolliver at home, but when he would see them coming he would proceed to the hills and would not be seen again for several days. We never located McKenzie.

Kate Tolliver was a member of a noted family of criminals living in Rowan and Carter Counties, Kentucky, he having served a number of sentences for murder in the Kentucky state prison and at this time was on parole from a life sentence for murder. He was a member of the same family of which four were murdered by Logan and a number of other citizens about thirty years ago in Moorehead, Kentucky.

While completing my evidence ready for an indictment at Moorehead Kate Tolliver rode into the county seat of Rowan county in a drunken and disorderly manner. He was stopped by the Marshal and a pistol duel ensued in which Tolliver was shot to death by the Marshal. This finished my investigation, one that I feared more than any other I ever made in a criminal case.

DAN CUNNINGHAM

AND SOME STORIES FROM HIS SCRAP-BOOK

Dan Cunningham and His Slow Vengeance.

“Dan Cunningham, Huntsman of the Law,” was the title of a very interesting article in a current number of McClure’s Magazine which attracted considerable attention in this state about the year 1900. The author, Samuel Hopkins Adams, author also of the pamphlet putting forth a strong defense for Caleb Powers, goes on to show that a mission of revenge through the instrumentality of the law dominates the life of Cunningham.

While Cunningham was teaching school in Jackson County, West Virginia, in 1877, his brother, Nathan Cunningham, was waylaid and murdered by what the author called a “consolidated band”, a great secret organization engaged in murder and moonshining. After endeavoring to secure the conviction of Wade Counts, Joe Kiser and others of the band and failing on account of the fear of the officials to molest the band, Cunningham left Jackson County.

For ten years he taught school in Roane County, Putnam and Kanawha Counties. School teaching was all he knew and he had to make a living while learning certain things the normal school does not teach--such as rifle and revolver shooting, wood-craft, mountain training and tricks of the moonshiner. For Dan Cunningham was seeking a job under the United States Government as a local revenue officer. The law that this breed had established and defended at the risk of their lives had failed him. He would try Uncle Sam’s Law. He shrewdly suspected that the band would be moonshining. The band, gaining prestige from the successful murder of Nathan Cunningham, had by terrorizing and political weight, strengthened their hold on the county until in 1887, they dominated it completely. They were thoroughly organized on a clan principle with a “legal adviser” and a “spiritual adviser”. Murders of the most brutal kind were laid to the band’s account. Robbery, arson and other crimes were credited to its various members. Nobody dared to testify against them; the death rate among their enemies was too high. Their distilling industries and their land grabbing were making them prosperous; it was fair weather for the clan.

Being successful in procuring an appointment as Deputy United States Marshal for the southern District of West Virginia, Cunningham returned to Jackson County, raided several stills, secured the conviction of two of the Kiser family and one Counts and broke up the band, which emigrated to Roane County. Cunningham followed them up and here comes in the incident as related by Mr. Adams which will arouse some discussion upon the part of those familiar with the subject--the murder of Reverend T. P. Ryan, the father of J. L. and M. W. Ryan and T. P. Ryan, well known attorneys of Fayette County. The affair is related as follows by Mr. Adams:

“In the District of Harper in Roane County, West Virginia, lived the Reverend T. P. Ryan, generally known as Father Ryan. He was a man of clean and up-right life, a hater of crime and disorder and a fearless preacher, therefore, the unerring instinct of the clan saw an enemy. He was shot to death through the window of his own house and before the murder was committed the Skeens and Counts settlements, twelve miles distant, knew all about it. Long before the news could have reached their settlement, the gang were armed and enroute to the spot, to accuse and arrest the Duff boys and a man by the name of Coon, all of whom had been associated with Cunningham in raiding the Jackson County illicit stills. After a mock trial, in secret session, they shot George Duff to death, hanged Coon, and cut Robert Duff’s throat in the presence of his wife. As soon as he learned of this Cunningham started for Roane County. Here was his chance to secure a conviction for murder against the slayers of his brother. He collected the evidence, even to the proceedings and the pass word at the meeting which sentenced the victims, and was about to present them when to his amazement he learned that a warrant had been sworn out charging him with the murder of Father Ryan. To be taken then meant the same death that had been meted out to his friends. For the first and only time in his life, Dan Cunningham evaded the law. He made good his escape while the clan was gathering. The prosecuting attorney, who had married the niece of the consolidated gang, sent word that if the United States Marshal would agree to keep away from Roane County the case would be nollied. The answer was prompt, Cunningham would be there when the case came up for trial and he would bring protection against lynching, but not against any due process of law. The case was called. Witnesses had been subpoenaed to swear that they saw Cunningham fire the shot. Some fled, some were silent; no one testified, the jury returned a verdict of acquittal without leaving their seats. Now came Cunningham’s inning. With his evidence of the murder of Duff and Coon, he went to the prosecuting attorney. That official refused to proceed against the murderers. The inquest, he said, had decided that the victims came to their death at the hands of parties unknown. “Very well,” said Cunningham, “this is another Jackson County. I will await for them to commit a Federal crime.” The Federal crimes were committed--post office robberies, moonshining and counterfeiting. One by one Cunningham got his men. Once he met on a lonely roadway one of the elder Kisers who had borne a part in the slaying of Nathan, his brother. By way of precaution Cunningham covered him with his revolver. Kiser fell to his knees and began to pray. “Get up,” said the Marshal, “if I wanted to kill you and your like, couldn’t I have done it a hundred times? Go on and do not turn around.” Gossip was then circulated about the countryside that Dan Cunningham was witched against bullets and poison. Both had been tried by the band and both had failed. The bullet fired, fired with a close and steady aim from ambush by the crack shot of the clan which sleeps with its rifle, cut through the breast of his coat, barely burning the skin; the arsenic skillfully prepared in an apple by the “yarb witch” of the band he tried on a hen and watched the hen die, and he went out and arrested two young hopefuls of the Skean family for petit larceny.

By repeated arrests and minor convictions he broke up the consolidated band in Roane County as he had in Jackson County. They split, a few remaining in their dens, but too weakened and cowed to be any longer a menace to their district. One faction went down into Tennessee and effected a location there. Several times he went to the county seat of Roane County to present his evidence against the murderers of the Duff boys. Always with the same negative result. The entry in his diary of one of these failures is followed by this note:

“Some day there will be another prosecuting attorney in Roane
County and I will apprehend and bring to justice my brother’s
murderers.”

There came a time when the event lay in Cunningham’s hand in Parkersburg, West Virginia. He found lying senseless on the railroad track the official who stood between him and his twenty year deferred vengeance. There was a train in hearing, he had only to walk away. He had, twenty years before, held his hand from the vengeance of murder, so now he forewent his reckoning rather than have a life on his conscience. He dragged the stupefied man from the track and left him lying. If the official reads this, it will be his first knowledge of who saved his life.

Another Case from Cunningham’s Scrap-Book.

“In the year of 1904, a most horrible and cruel murder was committed in Putnam County, West Virginia. Never in the history of this county did a crime so incense the residents of this section as did the foul assassination of Thomas N. Starks, on the night of February 15, 1904. At the time the Charleston Daily Mail reported in full all the horrible details and from time to time recorded the progress of the officers who were investigating the case.

Thomas N. Starks, one of the most respected citizens of the county, was discovered by his daughter, Miss Minerva Starks, who had returned from a visit to neighbors, lying on the floor of his room in his home, bathed in blood from a wound in his temple that had been done by a charge from a shot gun entering his brain. Friends were summoned and medical attention was rendered the wounded man, but with no avail.

The shooting must have occurred about ten-thirty. Thomas Starks, who for eighty-three years had lived without strife and turmoil, died of the assassin’s wounds.

The defense was represented by Attorney Stevens, of Winfield, West Virginia, and E. L. Stone, of Jackson County.

Adam B. Littlepage, of Charleston, West Virginia, opened the case in a statement of the theory of the prosecution. He detailed the surroundings of the murder, and finally announced that the state was in possession of evidence such as he did not doubt would convict the prisoner, Charles Hawkins, of the fearful crime.

E. L. Stone responded for the defense and stated that the defense would prove their client not guilty to the satisfaction of the court and jury. J. L. Stevens made an additional statement for the defense, to which Mr. Littlepage responded briefly.

The hearing of the evidence commenced in the afternoon. Miss Minerva Starks, the daughter of the murdered man, herself a white-haired old lady, was the first witness called by the state. She stated that on the night of February 15th, she left her father’s house just before dark and went about a quarter of a mile to the house of a neighbor named Schultz. Here she remained about three quarters of an hour. When she returned home she saw her father lying on his side in the room usually occupied by him and his face covered with blood. She picked him up and dragged him in the room and then ran for help. She stated that her father frequently kept money at home, sometimes in large sums. He had a boot jack with a hidden receptacle under it where he frequently hid money. The boot jack was exhibited by the state. The cross examination brought out very little except that Mat Bright had been in her father’s employ some months prior to his death and that they had had some little differences, the old man having accused Bright of stealing some potatoes from his potato hole. Bright’s innocence was afterwards proven and her father had apologized to Bright. Bright was somewhat familiar with the arrangement of the house and the habits of her father. The next witness called was Doctor A. Y. Martin, who gave a professional opinion regarding the wound, its location and the angle at which the charge was fired. Doctor Meyer, the other physician who attended the murdered man, testified to practically the same thing. C. L. Bowyer testified the condition under which he found Starks when he got there just before the arrival of the Doctor. C. A. Howell, the jailer of the county and a deputy sheriff, one of the first to reach the spot from Winfield on the night of the murder, testified regarding the location of furniture in the room when he arrived. He also told of the range of the charge from the shot gun and stated that the chimney of the lamp on the table beside Mr. Starks was also shattered by the charge. J. P. Smith and his wife were both placed on the stand and stated that about nine o’clock on the night of the murder, they heard two men run by their house, which is near the bridge over Big Hurricane. J. Francis, who resides near the same bridge, corroborated their statements.

Marion Adkins and Raymond Adkins, both of whom were at this time in the Kanawha County jail on a charge of stealing a cow on Cabin Creek several weeks before, were brought to Winfield to testify in the trial.

These men on the night of the 15th of February were on their way to Parkersburg, making across Putnam County on foot from the C. & O. to the K. & M., and saw Hawkins and Bright within a mile of the Starks home.

This is considered a very important link in the chain of circumstances against these men.

The most important witness in the case on trial is none other than Mat Bright, who is under indictment for the same crime.

A month or two ago, his confession in the Kanawho County jail led to the arrest of Charles Hawkins. It was Bright’s evidence before the grand jury at a special term, called for the purpose of investigating this murder, that indicted both Hawkins and himself.

The testimony of Bright, who will go on the stand Wednesday, will be one of the most sensational ever heard.

His statements to the officers have been borne out by the other facts secured, and when he faces the jury Wednesday and details to them how Hawkins and he planned the entire crime, and how it was executed, and the disposal of the pitiful returns that resulted from the crime, the effect will be little less than terrible.

Early Tuesday morning, a party consisting of Bright, one of the Adkins, Detective H. C. Smith, T. G. Cochran and Dan W. Cunningham and several newspaper representatives visited the scene of the murder. The Starks farm is a small one located about one and a half miles below Winfield, on the Kanawha River Turnpike.

The house is a comfortable two-story dwelling with a one-story extension in the rear. It was in the room in the extension that the aged farmer was murdered.

Bright explained in detail how, on the night of February 14th, Hawkins made one of his numerous visits to Bright’s home, and that there they planned to kill and rob Thomas N. Starks on the following night.

It was agreed to meet at Hickory Post Office during the following day. Bright was seen on the road with something done up in a paper flour sack which was at the time supposed to have been a banjo, but was in reality the shotgun taken apart with which on that night Hawkins did the killing.

According to the statement of Bright the pair of plotters met at the appointed place and proceeded across the hill to the Starks farm. Bright waited up in a small hollow while Hawkins took the gun and proceeded up the small knoll to the house. Bright heard the report of the gun and the hurried footsteps of the murderer. Hawkins and Bright proceeded down the road and across the bridge of Big Hurricane.

Finally Hawkins divided the spoils, giving Bright a revolver and overcoat and $2.50 in money, claiming he only secured $5.00. The County jail here, an antiquated and rather vulnerable looking building, is now occupied by Charles Hawkins and Mat Bright, who are under indictment for murder, and by the two Adkins boys, who are here as witnesses. The Sheriff has the place heavily guarded at all times and especially so after midnight. Last evening there was considerable gossip that a mob was organizing and the jail would be broken into and the prisoners hanged; however, this did not materialize, though a rather ugly looking crowd had assembled near the scene of the murder. On Tuesday afternoon there was still some talk of lynching the men and a proposition was discussed of slipping the two men under indictment out of town and taking them to Charleston for the night.

The sheriff considered this inadvisable and the project was abandoned.

One of the prettiest places in the Kanawha Valley marks the home of Thomas N. Starks. Just back of his house a beautiful green knoll stands out from the surrounding slopes; here, amid the waving grass and under shady trees, is the grave of the murdered man.

A Typical West Virginia Mountain Abode.

The picture opposite is the first house of what is now, and was then Maben, West Virginia. Maben now is a flourishing little town on the Virginian Railway and the center of a large lumber industry--the Ritter Lumber Company.

In the picture may be seen a pioneer of West Virginia and his wife, who were postmaster and postmistress, respectively, for the town of Maben. The next in the picture is that of myself, D. W. Cunningham. To the right of me is Charles E. Wright, former Special Agent of the Department of Justice, Washington, D. C. To the extreme right is a man under arrest for counterfeiting, who was apprehended by myself and Mr. Wright.

For many years this place was a resting place for officers of the law, as in those days the only mode of transportation was by wagon and foot along narrow trails. The old folks shown would prepare meals for the hungry that passed along the trail.

From a close observation you can see that the man on the extreme right is concealing his hands in his lap, not wanting to disclose the fact that his hands are securely fastened together by handcuffs.

A Horrible Crime.

About fifteen years ago, in the peaceful, quiet little town of Barboursville, in Cabell County, West Virginia, nine miles south of the City of Huntington, lived a man by the name of Baker, eighty-four years of age, who ran a small confectionery store, in the rear of which was his living quarters.

One summer evening, while the old gentleman was asleep on his cot, some unknown person entered his little store and home and using the pick shown in the picture herewith, killed him in the most brutal manner, robbery being the motive.

The assassin used the pick with such force that he drove it clear through the head several times.

I accompanied the prosecuting attorney of Cabell County to the awful scene, and we found Mr. Baker as shown in the photograph, and after an investigation located the pick. This pick was taken from the tool house of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad Company about one-half mile south of Barboursville, but we failed to apprehend the man that committed this terrible crime. Several suspects were arrested only to be released from custody after a severe examination. The best clue ever obtained was to the effect that a colored man from some point in Kentucky had been absent from the construction camp a short distance away on the Sunday night of the crime and that he did not show up until the next evening. We tried in every way to locate this man in the State of Kentucky and elsewhere but failed, and to this date the assassin is still at large.

Confessions of An Amateur Yegg.

During the early teens the counties of Lincoln, Raleigh, Boone, Kanawha, Nicholas, Clay, Pocahontas and Webster were terrorized by a series of store and postoffice robberies and safe blowing. Lincoln county alone had in the neighborhood of forty robberies within two weeks.

The writer was employed by the different merchants in the localities where the robberies occurred to make an investigation. I went from Charleston to Racine, in Boone county, where the general store had been robbed. From this store I was able to obtain some soap with finger prints on it which I kept and followed up this point. The postoffice and general store at Enon, in Nicholas county, was robbed and the iron safe, which was a four way combination affair, was hauled about three hundred yards from the store building and residence of the postmaster by his own sled and horse and blown open with nitroglycerin. The charge was too heavy and blew papers and other documents in the safe several hundred feet away. The robbers obtained nothing but a small amount of money and one ring which had been sent by registered mail to a party at Enon.

While at Racine on my third trip, I accidentally came across some information in a little store by over-hearing a conversation about a young man, whose name I do not care to mention, who had been ordering shoes from Sears, Roebuck & Company and sending them stamps of large denominations to pay for same.