Evening Republican, Volume 20, Number 170, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 July 1916 — The Capture of Wess Watts [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

The Capture of Wess Watts

Stories of the Greatest Cases in the Career of Thomas Furlong, the Famous Railroad Detective, Told by Himself Copyright by W. G. Chapman

One of the worst men I ever arrested was Wess Watts, a notorious outlaw of Pennsylvania, thief, "yeggman,” 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 1875-76 I was chief special agent for the Allegheny Valley railroad. One morning I 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 I found the office of the company almost a wreck, the safe having been blown to pieces with dynamite, and its contents, including a fairly large sum of money and a number of Centennial Exposition and railroad tickets, stolen. After some work I came to the conclusion that the job had been done by the notorious Watts gang, which had originally consisted of eight members, and had long terrorized the citizens of Jefferson, Clarion, Forest and Elk counties. ——

Watts had gained immense reputation among the criminal element by 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 home and surrounded the house. The sheriff and one of his aides rapped on the door, which was opened by Watt’s mother, of whom the sheriff made the demand that Watts surrender. Before she could answer Watts appeared in the doorway with a Colt navy revolver in either hapd and two more in his belt. "Bill," he said to the sheriff, "I counted your men as they surrounded the house. There are eighteen of you, and I want to say to you that I have got twenty-four shots right here. I know all of you fellows, and you know as well as your men know that I never miss a-mark that I shoot at. Now, I am going to leave this place at once, and I will not bother Brookville again, unless you or any of your men attempt to stop me. If you do I will kill every man of you and will still have shots left” With that he brushed the sheriff aside, sprang forward, ran to a gate in 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 set out to put under arrest. There had never been any question as to his courage; he had been a gunsmith in Brookville and was known as the crack shot of that portion of Pennsylvania. One of his favorite tricks was to shoot an apple from his brother’s head at a distance of twenty ’“paces with either a gun or a revolver. My 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 roan's name was Lafayette Edwards; 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 a farm hand near Vermilion, HL The younger brother was duly located there by me. He bad established a good reputation, had joined the church and was Respected by all who knew him. I frankly told him the purpose of my journey and proposed that he return to Pennsylvania with me at my expense, promising that I would keep him quietly in a small town near Brookville, where he would not be known, until the remainder ,of . the wan it had been apprehended, and then pay his fare back to Hlinois. 'Tm a church member now,” an-

swered Horace, “and I will do all in my power to help you.” Telling his employer that the man was wanted as a witness In an Important case, I took Horace Edwards back to Pennsylvania, and with his aid speedily rounded up all the members of jthe gang with the exception of Wess Watts. Through the help of a sister of Mrs. Watts, who was in correspondence with her, I learned that Watts had last been heard from at Paducah, Ky. I went to Paducah and found Watts’ wife there, introducing myself to her as a friend of her husband’s.

“You get out of here!” shrieked the woman, “or I’ll throw a kettleful of hot water over you. I ain’t got no use for Wess nor none of his friends.” It appeared from the woman’s further explanations that her husband had deserted her and their clilld and had run off with another man’s wife. Thereupon I quickly dropped my disguise and explained to the woman the purpose of my visit. I learned from her that Wess and a man named Oliver Brooks had opened a gunsmith’s shop at Shawneetown, 111., and had their shingle out for repairing, but were In reality committing burglaries and thefts almost nightly in the Vicinity of that town.

Shawneetown is on the Ohio river some,fifty miles from Paducah. I started for this point under circumstances which will be described later, but was compelled to abandon my first plan. I now took a boat and arrived at Shawneetown very early in the morning. I had no difficulty in locating the gunsmith’s shop, and. having done so, seated myself upon an empty box outside a general merchandise shop across the way and awaited developments. I had been seated there for about an hour when I noticed a little cloud of smoke coming out of the stovepipe chimney in the gunshop shanty. A few minutes later the door was opened, and it became evident, that some one was sweeping, though who this person was I could not determine. Accordingly, feeling curious,- I got up to investigate.

When I reached the spot the sweephad disappeared and there was nobody in the front room. I knocked at the door leading into the rear rodm and was 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 his resemblance to other members of his family it was evident that this was Watts himself. “Are you a gunsmith?” I inquired. “Well, I have a job for you. I have an old gun here, but I don’t know whether you can do anything with it or not.” I awkwardly drew from my pocket the .41 Colt double-action revolver which I had brought with me, holding it about the middle. Watts turned around in a leisurely manner to set dowp the broom. As he turned again and 1 extended his hand to take the weapon he found it pointed at his head. “Hands up!” I ordered. Watts hesitated for an instant. “Throw up your hands or I’ll blow your head off!" I continued, and Watts obeyed.

At that moment a man with a bushy head of red hair peered through the door leading into the rear room, but when he saw what was happening, he ducked his head and disappeared. Paying no attention to the second man, I commanded Watts to face about and step forward to the door, which he did, keeping his hands up. As he stepped down and out of the door I took a pair of handcuffs out of my left-hand coat pocket and snapped them on my prisoner’s wrists, which were held above his head. “Now you can drop your hands,” I said. I marched Watts to the door of the village hotel, Watts obeying all my commands in a mechanical manner and uttering fiotr a word. On arriving at the hotel I found the night clerk in charge asleep in a chair, and he seemed to be terrified at the sight of his visitors. He quickly recovered, however, and upon instructions, brought us something to eat. Watts managed to make a pretty good breakfast in spite of his "irons.” On arising from the table it occurred to me that my prisoner was not very well dressed for making a long journey. I had espied a large sized old fashioned linen duster and a big brimmed straw hat hanging on the wall of the hotel sitting room, which, after some dickering with the porter, I purchased for seventy-five cents and placed upon my prisoner. The addition of these garments made Watta more like the leader of a husking bee than the outlaw he really was. It was only six In the morning when we stepped aboard a train bound for East St. Louis. After We had been in the car for about half an hour

Watts, who was seated beside me on the left ..next to the window, turned round facing me and said: “Who are you and where are you taking me and what have you arrested me for?” I replied that I was a deputy sheriff from Vermilion and that I had arrested him on suspicion of having committed a burglary there a week before. “Why, I was "never in Vermilion in my life,” Watts answered. “You have made a big mistake.” “I guess I’m not very much mistaken,” I answered. “Some of our citizens saw the bufglars when they left the bank, and have identified you accurately. Of course, if they fail to Identify you on your arrival at Vermilion I will apologize to you and pay your expenses back to Shawneetown.”

“You say you are a deputy sheriff?” asked the prisoner. "Well, don’t deputy sheriffs have to give bond for the careful performance of their duties?’’ “Yes.” "Well, these people won’t Identify me,” Watts answered, “and I will make your bondsmen pay dearly for this outrage.” “We’ll see about this,” I replied. “I can’t be mistaken. I have been a deputy sheriff for the past two years and I have arrested two house thieves and they were convicted, so I cannot be mistaken.”

“Well, you are very badly mistaken now,” answered Watts, and with this ne stopped talking and seemed to be at his ease, as he knew that he could not be identified at Vermilion and felt sure that he would be released. In due time we arrived at East St. Louis, when I explained that I did not care to proceed to Vermilion that night as I had some business to attend to, and therefore I 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 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, Watts turned upon me with an oath.

“Where are you taking me?” he demanded. “You haven’t told me the truth.” “No,” I answered. "But I will do so now. I am taking you to Brookville, Pa.” “Why didn’t you tell me this in the first place?” Watts asked loudly. “My reason for not telling you in the first place,” I replied, “was that after I had located you, as I supposed, at Paducah, Ky., I reported the facts to the sheriff of Jefferson county and asked him to apply for the proper papers so that you might be taken back to Pennsylvania. The sheriff obtained the papers and insisted on bringing a posse of men to assist in your capture, to which I objected. I told him that I did not think it necessary for anybody to come after you but him and myself. He reluctantly consented to accompany hie. He had the papers and came as far as St. Louis. The weather was very warm, and when we arrived at St. Louis he

was very feverish and complained of being sick. He was afraid that he was taking typhoid fever and insisted on returning to Pennsylvania immediately, which he did.” "Why, he wasn’t sick at all—he was just afraid of me,” answered Watts. “He was afraid to meet me, for he knew if I saw him I would kill him. I stood off the sheriff and seventeen of his men, all armed, in Brookville once. Those fellows are all afraid of me. So you came down here to get me yourself? Well, you haven’t, any papers for my arrest, have you?” “No, I have nothing but you,” I answered. “Suppose I object to going any further with you?” “In that case I would simply have to have you locked up and wait till the papers arrive. They are all made out, therefore you can raise all the objections you like. I am a deputy sheriff, and I could have you locked up in Illinois, but I did not know what that red-headed fellow and your other associates in Shawneetown would do, and, not wanting to be bothered with them, I decided just to bring you right along.” “That fellow with the red hair is a coward,” said Watts. "If ever I get my eyes on him I’ll kill him on sight Did you'notice when you told me to throw up my hands that I hesitated for a second? Well. I was thinking

of just jumping forward and taking that gun away from you.” “Why didn’t you do it?” I asked. “I thought you’d shoot,” said Watts. “I guess you were right,” I answered with a nod. Suddenly Watts began to cry like a child., “Well, I am glad you got me,” he sobbed, “for I have never had an hour’s peace or rest since that night at Cathollcsburg, Ky. Now I am going to tell you all about myself and my companions' since I left Brookville.” On arriving at that place Wess Watts insisted on making a full confession in'the presence of the sheriff, the prosecuting attorney and myself. It ran as follows:

“Left Brookville, June 20, 1874, for Parkers Landing. Got a boat there and 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. The names of the parties on the boat were: Charles Peach, Oliver Brooks, James Watts, J. W. Watts, Sarah M. 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 Rose on board the boat, and from there down Jo Maysville there seemed to be some trouble between Oliver Brooks and James Watts, my father, about Fanny Rose, the girl above named. My father had been talking of turning state’s evidence, and. on Sunday, the 6th of September, 1874, he took an axe and cut a hole in the bottom of the boat. I 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 6th of September, 1874, Oliver Brooks shot James Watts, killing him almost Instantly, for threatening to turn state’s evidence, concerning what had been stolen, during our trip down the river by the male portion of the gang on the boat. James Watts stole nothing himself. He only lived a few minutes after Brooks shot him. I was on another boat about sixty yards above the one James Watts was on. I knew that Oliver Brooks was going to shoot my father and it made me very nervous. It made me sick and I laid down. I got up and started down to tell my father when I heard a gun shot, but having an idea of what had occurred I was very much frightened and was 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.

“I am here to tell the whole truth; and want to keep nothing back. My father stole nothing, but he did help conceal what the rest of us stole. “After he was shot and when I 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 suppose they were taking them in l to tie around his neck to sink him in the river, from what they said before the deed was committed. After they got everything fixed up I heard them putting my father into a skiff and rowing out into the river, and I heard them putting him overboard. They used sixty or eighty feet of half-inch rope to tie the stones to him, judging from the amount that was gone from the boat. After they took my father out into the river and threw him in, Oliver Brooks said he felt just as well as he did before he committed the deed, and better, too. After this there was no more conversation about it in my presence, as I would not listen to them nor permit them to talk to me about it I did not go into the room where he was killed. for five or six weeks. It Was my rifle that he shot him with and It was the best rifle I

ever saw or used, but after Brooks Used it to shoot- my father I never shot out of it or looked into the muzzle of -it but what I saw bjood, or thought I saw blood in it. Other persons saw blood in the muzzle of the gun after shooting it. I showed it to them without giving them any other Information. There was an understanding and mutual agreement between us that we were never to say anything about the killing of James Watts. We pushed the boat off that evening, after my father had been killed and thrown into the river, and went on down stream, following our usual avocation of stealing, etc., and we did not stop permanently until we got to Paducah, Ky. At Paducah all the males in our party were arrested on the Illinois side by Marshal Geary of Paducah, Frank Farland, Wood Morrow and Bill Green, on a charge of general larceny committed at Buddsvllle, Ky. We were tried, convicted and sent to the penitentiary at Frankfort, Ky. I got three years, Oliver Brooks got two years and nine months, Pete Alston got one year and six months and Charlie Peach got three years. Brooks got pardoned through his wife on the 14th of May or June, 1875, and I got pardoned on the 7th of July, 1875.

“Brooks and his wife got Peach pardoned. Brook’s wife, as I understand it, had illicit relations with the son of the governor of Kentucky and through the Influence of the son on his father Peach was pardoned. My wife got Governor King to write Governor Leslis, then acting governor of Kentucky, and through his intercession I was pardoned. After Brooks was pardoned he stayed until Peach and I got out. As soon as I got out I started for or back to Paducah, Ky., and left Brooks and Peach in Frankfort. 1 1 left there on the 7th day of July, 1875, and have never seen any of them since. Up to the time I left Brookville I was in the habit of going out with a gang composed of (Here follow the names.) “I make this confession of my own free will and without the expectation of any reward or through any fear. I make it because this thing has been lying on my mind like a lead weight and I concluded I would tell the whole thing just as it occurred. My wife and I had a conversation at one time in regard to the affair and we thought of going to the officers and telling all about It, but for some reason we did not do it. This was when we were in Paducah.”

Watts made the above statement with a view to shielding himself as much' as possible. He himself killed his father, it was believed, and Mrs. Brooks so testified.

The Watts trial aroused a great deal of interest and people flocked from far and near to see the famous bandit When the trial was called, however, the sheriff appeared without his prisoner and Informed the judge that he had been unable to induce Watts to leave his cell, and that Watts had said he would kill any person who attempted to take him into court The jail was an old-fashioned stone one, and the doors leading into the cells were only about two and onehalf feet wide and four feet high, therefore a person above four feet in height was obliged to stoop on entering or leaving. There was an oldfashioned wooden bedstead in each cell and Watts had torn his bedstead to pieces that morning and had taken off one of its legs, which was about three feet long and four inches square and of heavy hardwood. He was a powerful man and had declared his intention of killing any person attempting to enter his cell. He defied the sheriff or any of his officers to enter. After the judge had listened to the sheriff’s report he summoned me to him. "Mr. Furlong,*’ he said, “you arrested this man In 1 Illinois and brought him to Brookville. Now I deputise

you to go to the jal! ana »>■* tn Wess Watts, the prisoner, to this bar as soon as possible.” 1 I found the-prisoner standing in the center of his cell armed with his big club. I tried in vain to Induce him to accompany me to the courtroom. Finally I turned to the sheriff. “How long will ft take you to heat a few gallons ot water to a boll?” I asked in a low tone. l There was a quantity of boiling water on hand In the kitchen. A tin wash-boiler was secured and about five gallons were put Into It. The boiler of water was carried to the door of Watts' cell. A big, hurley deputy sheriff named Clover Smith was armed with an axe handle and placed at one side of the cell door, while I stood at the other, and, dipping up a dipper full of the boiling water I threw the contents at Watts, striking him on the breast. Two more dippers full followed, and with a yell Watts sprang for the door. He was obliged to stoop to make his exit, and as he did Smith felled him unconscious with the axe handle. In a few minutes he was restored to consciousness and remained perfectly tractable. Watts showed no further signs of obduracy from that moment until he was landed safely In the state prison at Allegheny for a long term. It may be added that on the morning when I arrested Watts at Shawneetown I had no intention of arresting him, as the sheriff had retained the papers when he pretended to be taken 111 at St. Louis. The terrible reputation of the man rendered him almost secure except against a multitude. My curiosity to see the notorious bandit drew me to the shop and, seeing that Watts was unarmed, it occurred to me that a more favorable opportunity to arrest him would never occur. Acting upon this in> pulse I secured him.

WESS WATTS.

“THROW UP YOUR HANDS, OR I’LL BLOW YOUR HEAD OFF."