The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, August 3, 1903, Page 2

THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, MONDAY, AUGUST 3, 1903. WHEREABOUTS OF SEAVIS A MYSTERY Murder_ous Negro inn Many Lo- calities. e Food Ask'ed'F'rom an:El Dorado Farmer. ] —— | Bullets "Are -Sent| After Vicious Pair: 4.ngry Pursuers Will Continue a Lively Chase| Conunued From Page l Column 7. While lso found and none of the val- bles or money on the two bod- had been disturbed, showing at the convicts who murdered . |them had been afraid to move ans. | from their lair after the battle to . | 1ot the bodies of their victims. After the finding of the bodies the posses entered the lair of the convicts. There was no danger in approaching it, for if the con- victs were still in hiding the ap-| proach of the posses aided by the | flames must have driven the des- oes farther back on the hill. In the convicts’ camp the posses found three hats, one of which had a bullet hole through the brim: a can of water | and two or three empty cans. A few rounds of ammunition, | revolvers and the pair of field| lasses stolen from Diehl’s store | Pilot Hill last Monday were | SAW FEW PURSUERS. er three vests, of the field| ;;“«\w\ the manner ih which ambush of the soldiers took | pl proves conclusively that Convict Woods, the leader of the that broke from Folsom, in the party. On Monday last he stole the field glasses, and the guards who were the prisoners of the convicts heard Woods tell the rest of the desperadoes that | he would keep the glasses at all : ,11 1zards Voods discovery and ace gang as also told Guard Klen- zendorf that “If you fellows ever set the tin soldiers of militia after e will show them what real for we will ambush them and shoot them to pieces.” Search of the Hiil | a Fruitless One The flames swept through the| the hill, and where a certain portion of the manzanita | was not burned the posses hunted | to see if the convicts were there. At 10 o'clock this morning the hill had heen thoroughly gone over, | and with rage and despair the man-hunters were forced to the | conclusion that the quarry had es- caped. It is known that one of the con- victs escaped through the line kept by two armed guards about 2 vmion | o’clock this morning. The men :;;ll)t'llfllll it was a pig rustling | through the brush and the guards ®|did not fire in that direction, as at Arcola ‘mu might have hit some of the t of the way brush on KANSAS CILTIES AGAIN IN GRIP OF A FLOOD| Brockville the Union P 5 rs got out ‘ pursuers. the " ove the track | It is presumed on account g g Bt R 4 . ‘ 5 West from | . f the abandoning of certain e trip. ter, and much d dam- Hl‘ma\ by the convicts, such as the Hiah wate: | O glasses and ammunition and e rrar ! | portions of their clothes, that they { must have immediately left the k';w scene of the battle after the am- o thh and got away from the hill I’lm \ before help arriv red two hours 05 v Liber, ot st “.,.;‘”,','; No blood stains led from the thought the | cONvicts' lair, which was inspected “ g maelby the posses before the flames { swept over it. This leads the man- will resuilt Aug day. Rain r midnight the river Ea eek high as it was n unga Qr two | | { been seen, = Xégt/tze T~ A :fo,v — convicts were wounded in the bat- tle which followed the deadly am- bush. The posses left the hill about 10:30 o'clock this morning, gath- ered at the Grand Victory mine and departed for their homes, tired out and weary from loss ot sleep. There is no clew or trail to show which way the gang of convicts went after they had am- bushed the soldiers. The only thing now is for the posses to wait for word that the convicts have and once again they will take up the trail. An inquest was held on the bod- ies of Rutherford and Jones soon after they were recovered. Coro- ner C. P. Winchell summoned a jury from among the posses and brief evidence was heard. A ver- dict of willful murder was re- turned by the jury against “un- known convicts.” The bodies were then sent to Placerville. Guardsmen Tell Stories of Fight Williaa Burgess, an attarney of Placerville and one of the posse of militia who was ambushed, was interviewed here to-day. He said: “I was located on the left of the squad alongside William Ruther- ford. We were going up the hill through the manzanita brush, when I heard Jones cry out from our- extreme right thirty feet away, ‘Here they are, boys; get downd At that instanf a volley was fired at us from the brush right ahead fifteen to twenty feet away. 1 dropped to the ground and began firing in the direction SHERIFFS WHO HAVE BEEN TAKING A PROMINENT PART IN THE SEARCH FOR THE GANG OF CONVICTS WHO OVERPOWERED FOLSOM AUTHORITIES AND MADE THEIR ESCAPE, %3 whence the -convicts had fired on us. I remained in the same spot for nearly an hour, and being satisfied that the fallen men of our squad were not alive Rutherford and I worked our way down the hill.” A. J. Pell, one of the soldiers, known as Lon'Bell, said: “We struck the trail near the mine at 4 o'clock vesterday after- noon and followed it up the hill. For a quarter of a mile it was clear and then we lost it. While we were hunting through the dense manzanita brush the con- victs suddenly opened fire on us from about twenty feet and three of our men fell. I fired ten shots in the direction whence they had fired on us. The convicts fired continuously at us for about three minutes. [ have no accurate idea as to how many shots were fired.” It has been established that the band of convicts contained the bloodthirsty and murderous negro, Seavis. D. W. Gipe, the watch- man at the Grand Victory mi‘c, said to-day that he saw a negro among the men who bought eggs and bread from him yesterday afternoon at 2 o'clock. When shown a picture of Seavis the watchman immediately identified it as that of the negro he saw vesterday. There were four in the party. Two came and bought eggs and bread and the other two were standing off at somedistance. The two men who were in the dis- tance stood on a pile of mining debris. One was a negro and he wore a cap. Gipe could not iden- S eI Horror Caused by the Crimes of Desperadoes Continued From Page 1, Column 1. shot when the hillside was in flames to-day, is likely to bear out | the theory that one of the des- | peradoes has been added to those | who must eventually pay alty of their crimes. This evening Deputy Cook and Attorney W. C. left with a poss Sherifi Burgess | community. for the Pacmc‘ streets have been thronged \\nlu | % pected battle that was to be fought at Grand Victory nune be- tween the band of muorderous convicts who had escaped from Folsom Prison and the law offi- cers and those who had volun- teered to wipe the desperadoes out of existence and to avenge the murder of the two brave men who last night gave up their lives in upholding law and order. The telephone office and tele- graph office here were early sur- rounded by eager seekers for news, and every item that came in over the wires spread like wild- fire through the excited commu- nity. Hour after hour news from the Grand Victory mine was eagerly awaited and discussed, and as the minutes slipped by and no news of the expected fight had been received the hopes of every one commenced-to sink. Suddenly down the road was seen a cloud of dust and a group of| armed and mounted men came into view. “What is-the news? What is the mews?” was the eager cry that went up from hundreds of voices. “We have lost them. They slipped from our fingers right after the battle,” was the answer of the manhunters. This depressing information was discussed with eagerness on {all sides and the general opinion of the community was that no the pen- | steps should be left undone to capture or kill the murderers who are now terrorizing the whole During the day the House, which is twenty miles|people, not only those who reside above Placerville on the Lake Ta- hoe road. is to head off the convicts in case thed go to that region. The three convicts who were seen in the canyon a short distance | in Placerville, but many who have The object of the pus.~c‘ come in from a distance. Rutherford will be buried next Tuesday by the Fraternal Broth- | erhood Lodge and by the Na- tional Guard of Placerviile and from the Seven-mile House have | the interment will take place at the | not been located. The posse that went out after them could not find them.and when they followed the trail the approach of darkness stopped the work. Bosquit says that he will have bloodhounds here to-morrow with a man who understands the use of them and the first foot trail that is| It will be taken | up again in the morning. Sheriff | Union Cemetery. Stringer Tragedy a Pure Accident The friends of Stringer. live at Hanks Exchange, will take | charge of his remains, but they have not made any arrangements Coroner who as yet for his funeral. found of any of the convicts the | Winchell will communicate in the bloodhounds will be set to follow out. morning with the wife ol Jones, who lives in San Francisco. Itis Corofier Winchell has made all] likely that his funeral will be un-| arrangements for holding the in~ quest on the bodies of the three who met an untimely death yes- terday. This of course is a mere matter of formality, as the verdict must be “Willful murder at the hands of unknown convicts.” Wild Excitement In Placerville der the auspices of the National Guard. Deputy Sheriff Bosquit, who was in charge of t":e posse that left Placerville yesterday aft- ernoon to follow the trails of the reported convicts, says that he ar- rived on the ground about the same time as the posse of militia did. The two posses had gone in different directions from Placer- This community has been in a|ville to the Grand Victory mine state of wild excitement for the last thirty-six hours. At da¥- break this morning those who had waited through the night were joined by every man, wo- man and child who remained in Placerville last night and who had sought their homes at an early hour this morning. Reports of all kinds are coming in from all tify any other photographs of the | directions, but every one waits thirteen escaped convicts. and approached the hill on differ- -ent sides. When the Bosquit posse heard the sound of firing they were pre- pared to give the convicts a warm reception, and Bosquit saysthat but for the fact that he was requested to bring his posse around on the road to assist the militiz they would have had the convicts cor- nered. William Blake, one of the anxiously for the news of the ex-| men who shot at Stringer, says | thought the hearing will ¢ Camp of Convicts at the H111- Summlt Detritus of Meal Found by the_»-. Searchers. .- When Posses: Arrive.. Special Dispatch to The Call, LACERVILLE, Aug the detachment of militi ambushed the undergrowth was particularly thick and the spot is almost at the top of the hil Several fallen logs In the brush made progress the manhunters mest So dense is the brush that it sible to see more twenty feet than outlaws had made their’ camp at )t where the ambush took place g8« and the embers of a were s that the conviets ha m hat point. The hatl moved their ve nd were lying around It is presumed that they sighted the mi latter were only a short ¢ The the Bread ape tia when the tance away Two of the convicts m have ed themselves béhind tr and The station taken b could not be located. The posse of militia had trail of the convicts on their a the hill and proceeded to work the to the top of it. When within twenty of the outlaws’ lair W. J. Jones of v‘i posse cried out to his comrades, “Here they are, boys,” but at the very instant that his voice gave warning the v poured a deadly volley of lead r the midst of the pursuers FALL AT THE FIRST FIRE. Jones, Gill and Festus Rutherford fel at the first fire. The other n th pursuing party quickly returne The battleMasted about ten md leys being fired by the soldiers a convicts. All of the militiamen with the exc tion of Will Rutherford were Iying on ground. Rutherford remainéd " stz throughout the fight. Gill, who hiad b wounded, worked his way around to his comrades and was assisted la base of the hill, where he was placed in a bed at the mine house. The survivors of the, engagement mained in their position for about thr quarters of an hour, never leaving the spot. They heard rustling in the manza- nita brush, but could not tell what caused it. The six men proached the lair of the -murderers in skirmish ordes. They were strung out, over a line forty feet long: Two of the soldiers approached the lair on its left, and four worked up to it onits right. There was a distance of twenty feet be- tween the two small squads of soldlers. The two men who were killed and the one wounded were in the squad that was en the right of the lair discovered tha, of ~watches of the night for the dawn so comrades and the long ana anxio the manhunters p: they could a wipe out the e The unfortunate death of Philip Spring- er, a memper of one of the posses, took place on a small trail at the base of the side of the hill w the battle had been fought William ke, another of the posse, was with two ¢ Springer ahea alled on Spring turned and fire in the darkness. He to halt, but Springer his rifle, evidently think- The thought came to Blake that Springer was one of the hunted men, and he fired. Springer fell dead, shot through the and stomach. This occurred at a before midnight, and it caused great ex- citement among the posses guarding the hill —_———— ' THIRD TRIAL OF POWERS Prisoner Expects Freedom, But Pro- secution Hopes for Death Sentence. GEORGETOWN, Ky., Aug. 2—The third trial of former Secretary of State Caleb Powers as acce: before the fact to the murder of Governor William Goebel will begin here to-morrow before Judga Robbins at a special term of the S Circuit Court. All of the other tria Powers, Howard and Youtsey now serving life sentences for conspiracy that resulted in the of Goebel as he entered the State H grounds at Frankfort three years ago | January, were before Judge Car this circuit. Both sides much additional evide ory who clatm and this month. Powers has been canvi sentenced for life both times. Wh ers is now expecting freedom, the cution claims that its new evidence may first degree mur: harged with ha dlso awalls a ne result in a verdict o James Howard, wha is ing done the shooting trial. B M who was afe v m-nmmz three A by rested on Jewelers, member of the macher & Ce him last week submit them to his wife alled to return. - text that for a cholce, and wh .-ri—-h—!-ri-h‘fl—i—‘l-l—l‘i‘i—i—i—l-‘i-i—%. that no blame can be attached to him. He was simply doing his duty, and when he and the two men with him sighted Stringer thev called upon him to hdlt. ’['hér(‘ seems to be some little dis crepancy the various ments made. It has been alleged that Stringer turned and fired at Blake and his men. Blake says to-night that he is not quite sure whether Stringer fired at them or some one who to Stringer. There seems ‘o be no disposition on the part of any one to blame Blake for the untimely taking off of Stringer. : in state- was close Outlaws ArevGo"n‘e_' the militia had’ap- THERING OF AVENGERS. Word of the battle had rapidly reached surrounding points, and hundreds of armed men hurried to th st. Through .- other men when he - ing the men were some of the conviets. ' FOR THE GOEBEL MURDER -