Show the hie capture antul K of wess n watts w at stories stones of the greatest casos cases in the career of thomas furlong the famous railroad detective told by himself CopY copyright by W G 0 chapman J A 1 one of the worst men 4 I 1 ever arrested was wess watts a notorious outlaw of pennsylvania thief reported murderer of hta his own father and universally feared by all who knew hla his name mame in the manner described in the following record during the years 1875 76 1 I was chief special agent lor for the allegheny valley railroad one morning iwas I 1 was called to Brool iville pa to investigate the burglary of the companas comp anys office at that point during the preceding night on arriving in the little town I 1 found the office of the company almost a wreck the sate safe having been blown to pieces with dynamite and its contents including a fairly large sum of 0 money and a number of centennial exposition and railroad tickets stolen after some work borki I 1 came to the conclusion that the job had bad been done by the notorious watts watta gang which had originally consisted of eight members and had long terrorized the citizens of Jeffer jefferson edn clarion forest and elk counties watts had gained immense reputation among the criminal element by nn an achievement of earlier date he was wanted on a charge of criminal assault and the sheriff and a posse of seventeen men armed with rifles shotguns and pistols went to his horns homo and surrounded th the house ahouse the sheriff and one of his aides rapped on the door which was opened by watts mother of whom the sheriff made the demand that watts surrender before she could answer watts appeared in the doo doorway with a colt navy navy le volver in either elther hand liand and two more in his belt bill lie be said to lo the sheriff 1 I counted your men as they surrounded alio house there are eighteen off of iou you and I 1 want to say to you that f I 1 have got twenty tour four shots right here I 1 know all of you fellows and you know aswell as well as your men khoky kno that I 1 never miss a mark that I 1 shoot at now I 1 am going to leave this place at once and I 1 will not bother brook ville again unless you or any of your men attempt to stop me isyou if you do I 1 will kill every man of you and will still have shots left with that he brushed the sheriff aside aalde sprang forward ran to a gat gate e in front of the house opened it crossed the road leaped a high rail fence and disappeared into the timber while not a shot was fired to stop him such was the man whom I 1 set out i to put under arrest the there re had never been auy atty question as to his courage he had bad been a gunsmith in brookville Broo kville and was known as the crack shot of that portion of pennsylvania one of his bis favorite tricks was to shoot an apple from his brothers head bead at a distance of twenty paces with either a gun or a revolver ay my iy first act was to visit the western penitentiary at allegheny city where a former member of the watts gang who had been captured was serving a ten years sentence this mans name name was lafayette edwards he had bad a younger brother named horace who had bad also been connected with the gang but bad changed hla his manner of living pr from om lafayette having promised to take no achon against his brother I 1 learned that horace was employed as a farm band near vermilion the younger brother was duly located there by me ile he had established a good reputation had joined thee the church burch and was respected by all who knew him I 1 frankly told him the purpose of ka 7 journey and proposed that he return to pennsylvania with me at my expense promising that I 1 would keep him quietly in a small town near Broo brookville kville where he be would not be known until the remainder of the apprehended and then pachis pay his fare back to illinois 11 im r church member now an horace and I 1 will do all la in rny my power 0 io o help you telling hla his employer that the man was wanted as a witness in an important case cage I 1 took horace edwards back to pennsylvania and with his big aid speedily rounded up all the members of the gang with the exception of wess wesa watts through the help of a sister ot of mrs watts who was in correspondence with her I 1 learned that watts had last been heard from at paducah ky I 1 went to P paducah and found watts wife there introducing myself to her as a friend of her husbands you get out of here shrieked the woman or ill throw a kettleful kettle tul of hot water over you I 1 aint got no use tor for wess nor none of his friends it appeared ared irom from the womans comans further explanations that her husband had deserted her and their child and had run off with another mans wife thereupon I 1 quickly dropped my disguise guise e and explained to the woman the purpose ot of my visit I 1 learned from her that wess and a man named oli ver brooks had opened a gunsmiths gun smiths shop al at ill and had their shingle out tor repairing but were in reality committing burglaries and thefts almost nightly in the vicinity of that town shawneetown Shawnee sha town Is on the ohio river some fifty miles from paducah I 1 started for this point under circumstances which will he be described later but was compelled to abandon my first farst plan I 1 now took a boat and arrived at shawneetown Shawnee town lown very early in th the morning I 1 had bad no di difficulty in locating the gun gunsmiths smiths aitho shop and having done so seated myself upon an empty box outside a general ixer merchandise shop across tho the way and awaited developments I 1 had been seated there tor for about an hour when I 1 noticed a little cloud of smoke c coming 0 in out of the stovepipe chimney in the shanty A few minutes later the door was opened and it became evident that some one ava was S sweeping though who this person was I 1 could not determine accordingly feeling curious I 1 got up to investigate when I 1 reached the spot the sweeper had disappeared and there was waa nobody in the front room I 1 knocked at af the door leading into the rear room and was waa answered by a man who came out carrying the broom he was clad in blue overalls a knit undershirt and a pair of rubbers from bis big resemblance to other members of his family it was evident that this was watts himself are you a gunsmith I 1 inquired well 1 I have a job for you I 1 have an old gun here but I 1 dont know whether you oam can do anything with it or not I 1 awkwardly drew from my pocket the 41 colt double action revolver which I 1 had brought with me holding it about the watts turned around in a leisurely manner to set down the broom As he turned again and extended his big hand to take the weapon he be found it pointed at his big head hands up I 1 ordered watts hesitated tor for an instant throw up your hands or ill blow your head off I 1 continued and watts obeyed at that moment a man with a bushy head of red hair peered through the I 1 door leading into the rear room but when he saw what was happening he ducked his head bead and disappeared paying no attention to the second man I 1 commanded watts to face about and step forward to the door which he did las epin ghis hla hands bands up As he ho stepped down and out of the door I 1 took a pair of handcuffs out of my lefthand left hand coat pocket and snapped them on my prisoners wrists which were held above his head 1 now you can drop your hands I 1 said eald I 1 marched watts to the door of the village hotel watts obeying all my commands in a mechanical ins mannor jiner and uttering not a word on arriving at the hotel I 1 found the awit clerk in charge asleep in a chair and be he seemed to be terrified at the sight of OC his visitors he quickly recovered howey however erand and upon instructions brought us something to eat watts managed to make a pretty good breakfast in spite othis of hla irons rona on arising from the table it occurred to me that my prisoner wag vas not very well dressed for making a long journey r had espied a large sized old fashioned tash toned linen duster and a big brimmed straw hat hanging banging on the wall of the tha hotel sitting room which after some dickering with the porter I 1 purchased for seventy five cents and placed upon my prisoner the addition of these garments made watts more like the leader of a busking beethan bee than the outlaw be really was it was waa only six in the morning when we stepped aboard a train bound for east st la louis ats after we had bad been la in the car for about halt half an hour watts who was seated beside me on the lefts left next to the window turned round facing me and sald eald who are you and where are you taking me and what have you arrested mo me for I 1 replied that iwas I 1 was a deputy oher iff from vermilion and that I 1 had bad arrested him on suspicion of having committed a burglary there a week before why I 1 was never in vermilion in my life watts watte answered you have made a big mistake 1 I guess im not very much mistaken I 1 answered some of our citizens saw the burglars when they left the bank and have identified you accurately cura tely of course it they fall to tb identity identify you on your arrival at vermillon I 1 will apologize to you and pay ay your expenses back to shawnee town own you say sa y you are a deputy sheriff ff asked the prisoner well dont deputy sheriffs have to give bond for the careful performance of their duties yes well these thesa leopla wont identity identify me watts wattis answered and I 1 will in make ake your bondsmen pay dearly for this outrage well see about this thia 1 replied 1 I cant bo be mistaken I 1 have been a deputy sheriff tor for the past two years and I 1 have arrested two house thieves and they were convicted so eo I 1 cannot be mistaken well you are very badly mistaken now answered watts and with this ne stopped talking and seemed to be at ai his ease as he knew that he be could not tie be identified at vermilion and felt sure that he would bo be released in due time we arrived at east st louis when I 1 explained that I 1 did not caro care to proceed to vermilion that night as I 1 had bad some business to attend to and therefore I 1 proposed that we stay over night in the city and take the first train out to vermilion in the morning watts appeared perfectly satisfied accordingly I 1 brought him across the river and took him to the four courts turning him over to major mcdonough chief of police who was an old friend of mine the next morning we took an early train for indianapolis just as the wabash river which separates illinois from indiana was reached batts V turned upon me ma alth an oath where are you taking me he demanded you told me the truth no I 1 answered but I 1 will do so now I 1 am taking you to Broo brookville kville pa ll 11 why you tell me this in the first place watts asked loudly my reason for not telling you la in the first place I 1 replied was that after I 1 had located you as I 1 supposed at paducah ky I 1 reported the facts facto to the sheriff of jefferson county and asked him to apply for the tha proper papers so that you might be ta taken ken back to pennsylvania the sheriff obtained the papers and insisted on bringing a posse of men to assist in your capture to which I 1 objected I 1 told him that I 1 did not think it necessary for anybody to come after yo you U but him and myself ile he reluctantly consented to accompany me he had the papers and came as far as st louis the weather was very warm and when we arrived at st louis lie he WESS WATTS was very feverish and complained of being sick he was afraid that he was taking typhoid fever and insisted on an returning to pennsylvania immediately dia tely which he did why he sick at all he was just afraid of me answered watts he was afraid to meet me for or he be knew it I 1 siw saw him I 1 would kill him I 1 stood off the sheriff and seventeen of his bis men all armed in Broo brookville kville once those fellows are all afraid of me so you came down here to get me yourself well you any papers for my arrest have you no INTO I 1 chave have nothing but you I 1 an suppose I 1 object to going any further with you in that case I 1 ft we wild nid simply have bave to have you locked up and wait till the papers jar arrive rive they are ae all made out ther therefore core you can raise all tho the objections u like I 1 am a dep deputy uty sheriff and I 1 could have you locked up in illinois buti but I 1 did not know what that redheaded red headed beaded fellow and your other associates in Shawnee shawneetown town would do and not wanting to be bd bothered with them I 1 decided just to bring you right along that fellow with the red hair is a coward said watts if ever I 1 got get my eyes on him ill kill himon him on sight eight did you notice when YO you u told me to throw up tny my afi ahrnds that I 1 hesitated for or a see second oad well I 1 was thinking UZI UP YOUR HANDS OR ILL SLOW YOUR HEAD OFF of just jumping forward and taking that gun away from you why you do it I 1 asked 1 I thought shoot said watts watta 1 I guess you were right I 1 answered with a nod suddenly watts began to cry like hire a child well I 1 am glad you got me he sobbed for I 1 have never had an hours peace or rest since that night at ky now I 1 am going goine to tell you all about myself and my companions since I 1 left brook ville on arriving at that place wesa watts insisted on making a full con in the presence of thip th sh sheriff ariff the prosecuting attorney and myself it ran as follows left brookville Broo kville june 20 1874 for arkers akers landing got a boat there end went down the river my father james watts traded a gun for the boat we built a shanty on the boat as we proceeded down the river th the e names of the parties on the boat were charles peach oliver brooks james jame s watts J W watts sarah 11 watts and myrta watts there was no difficulty on the boat until we arrived at a point near ironton ohio we got a woman by the name of fanny F anny rose on board the boat and from there down to maysville there seemed tc be some trouble between oliver brooks and james watts my iny father about fanny rose the girl above named my father had been talking of turning states evidence and on sunday the ath of september 1874 he took an axe and cut a hole bole in the bottom of the boat I 1 remonstrated with him and he was going to strike me with the axe the water began filling the boat which necessitated our landing on the night of the ath of september 1874 1974 oliver brooks shot james watts killing him almost instantly for threatening to I 1 turn states evidence concerning what had been stolen during our trip down the river by the male portion of the gang on the boat james jamea watts stole nothing himself he only lived a few minutes after brooks shot him I 1 was 0 on n another boat about sixty yards above the one james jamea watts was on I 1 knew that oliver brooks was going to shoot my father and it made me very nervous it made me sick and I 1 laid down I 1 got up and started down to tell my father when I 1 heard a gun shot but having an idea of what had occurred I 1 was very much frightened and w was as very weak through fear and did not go into the shanty on the boat where james watts and oliver brooks were during this sunday afternoon oliver brooks and james watts had some difficulty and brooks told us all except james watts that he would shoot james watts 1 I nm am here to tell the whole truth and want to keep nothing back my bly father stole nothing but bui he be did help belp conceal what the rest of us stole after he was shot and when I 1 came up either brooks and peach or brooks and alston were gathering up stones on the bank and carrying them into the shanty on the boat where my father was lying and I 1 suppose they were taking them in to tie around his neck to sink him in the river from what they said before the deed was |