Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 21, Number 95, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 August 1900 — KILLS FRIEND TO WED. [ARTICLE]

KILLS FRIEND TO WED.

Cowardly Murderer of Express Messenger Lane Is Caught. What promised to I* the greatest murder mystery in the history of the Adams Express Company was solved unexpectedly, when Charles It. H. Ferrell, an exemploye, confessed to having murdered Charles Lane, a messenger, and robbed an express car on the Panhandle, near Milford Center, Ohio. Love for his sweetheart and an ambition to provide her with the necessary funds to purchase an elaborate wedding outfit prompted Ferrell to shoot down his old friend and companion in cold blood and rob the safe of his former employers. Ferrell was arrested while sitting in a doorway with his sweetheart, Miss Lillian Costello, a well-known young woman, at her home in a fashionable part of Cohimbus, Ohio. Ferrell was to have been married soon to Miss Costello. lie had been discharged from the employment of the Adams Express Company three months ago and had not been able to secure employment. The slayer confessed that the motive of the robbery was to secure money, of which he felt in great need on account of h» approaching marriage. The money secured. he had given to Miss Costello to keep for him. saying that it was money he had saved from his earnings. The Pennsylvania express, leaving Cincinnati at 8 p. m. Thursday, was robbed before the train reached Columbus, and Express Messenger Lane was found dead in hia car when the train reached the Ohio capital city. Complaints continue to conic from Africa of the systematic and prodigal destruction of great giimeJt A correspon'dent writes to London from Beira, in Portuguese East Africa to say that unless some prompt action is taken the district through which the I’mbali Railroad passes will soon be denuded of the animate life which abounded upon it a little white ago. More than 6,000,000 persons in India are still receiving government aid, but the condition is slightly improved by the tains in some sections.