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fAmos Wallace*after 0 o’clock last Monday Sheriff John A. Bwitzer -was notified by telephono that a delib-erate murder had just ieen eom-m ted at Bridgewater, and the re qtiest^was made that he hurry out to that place on the train which passes hero at (1:55 p. m. Almost before Mr. Switzer, who vas confined to his room by illness, had time to communicate' with any of his deputies he was called a second time to his plione and informed by John W. Miller, a substantial farmer living near Bridgewater, that Amos (or Arthur) Wallace, a tali mulatto in the employ of the North River Electric Light Com-pany, had onl^ a few minutes before shot John Hoskins', colored, emptying the contents of a double-barreled shot gun in his thigh, and that, after the shooting, which occurred about tlirde hundred yards north of the Chesapeake Western depot at Bridgewater, Hoskins’ assailant fled across the hill and was last seen going in the direction of ttteraphleytown, •Immediately, on receiving this information Sheriff Switzer dispatched Deputy Sheriff E. J.Carickhoff and the latter’s brother Ashby to the, scene, the two men arming themselves heavily and going out on tin? westboundC. W. train.% aJohn,Hoskins, the negro 'who was shot, was at work yesterday for J. A, Riddle, half a mile distant from the Bridgewater depot. When he quit at night he started .to walk to .the house of David Strother, ai colored resident • of Bridgewater, (in whose home he was a boarder. In reaching a point 300 yards north of the depot he was accosted by Wallace, who was armed with a double barreled shot-gun and stood awaiting Hps-kins’ approach. The two men, according to the statement of severalparties who could see them from the depot platform, stood talking together for some time, after which Hoskins started to walk away. He had only gone a step or two, however, when he halted and turning toward Wallace got down upon his knees. After remaining in this posture for a few seconds he sprang up and started to run run away, when Wallace, raising his gun and pointing it at him, pulled the trigger and sent a load of shot into Hoskins’ thigh. Hos-k 11s fell to the grpund and Wallace, gun in hand, fled in a northerly direction.Several parties down about the depot, hurried .to the wounded man’s assistance and carried himto his room to David Strother’s.• * ►The man was bleeding profusely and was becoming so weak that those about him were of the opinion that he could only live a short time. Dr. Beidlcr, however, who responded promptly to a summons, quickly administered restoratives and wrapped the man in warm blankets, thereby tiding him over the first great shock. Later he dressed the wound and expressed the opinion that there was no reason why Hoskins should not recover. •r’The cause of the -shooting-issaid to have grown out of a Sunday game of crap. . Wallace, so Hoskins’ friends assert, claimedthat Hosldns had cheated him ont*of-80 cents during a game the day before. They give Wallace a bad name, saying that only last year he shot a man in Pennsylvania and that he is a dangerous anddesperate character.1 ► •Caught Near Herring’s Hill,' -In little more than an hour after Deputy {Sheriff Carickhoff left Harrisonburg Wallace was his prisoner and by 9:30 o’clock the negFo was locked behind the bars in the county jail. The capture was effected in a field just to the right of the Warm Springs pike at a point nearly opposite thefoot of Herring’s hill.Carickhoff on leaving Harrisonburg rode to Bridgewater in the engine • cab, but saw nothing of Wallace on the* way, although lie kept a sharp lookout. Reaching ! Bridgewater,^ he quickly organized ,a party, composed' of Messrs. Hale, Kagey, Dixon and others, of that place, and after sending them out to form a picket line on the west of the woods lying between the railroad and the pike, he took several additional men and mounting a han'd-ear pulled back down the railroad a mile and a half. There he left the car and sent.his men to picket the northern and western sides of the woods. Then coming up the pike alone, be spied a negro armed with a gym walking in the field to his right. Springing across the fence and advancing, the (ldputy sheriff walked right up on the man and demanded his surrender. Wallace, for Wallace it proved to be, surrendered immediately and turned over his gun, remarking to Carickhoff that he wTas willing to behandcuffed if the officer so desired., • •The deputy sheriff, did not handcuff him, however, and assu red ■him he would not dp so long ashe made no show of resistance.* %He then led him on up the hill to point where, Ashby Car-ickhoff was stationed with a surry, the deputy sheriff before leaving Harrisonburg having instructed his brother to procure a surry and drive out toward Bridgewater anp take a position at some convenient point. After placinhim in the surry he sent wor to the picket that they couldcome in and he then drove to* , \the county jail with, the prisoner,Claims Self-Defense.evening he met up with Hoskins and they again talked over the matter. Hoskins, he says, is a “dangerous nigger” and is given to carrying a gun, and that after they had conversed some time Hpskins attempted to draw a pistol from his pocket. Hoskins desisted for a, moment, but laterstarted to draw again, when' he then threw up. his own gun and shot him in the leg in self defense.He said he did not know to what»extent Hoksins was hurt, but that, he yelled very loudly, crying out repeatedly, “Oh, Amos! Oh, Amos!”Wallace denies that he ever'shot.a man'in Pennsylvania, but says that he has always been peaceably disposed and that the other negro is a rowdy, dangerous fellow. The prisoner is 21 years of age and is a married man.When captured Wallace had both barrels of his gun heavily loaded. The weapon is in possession of Carickhoff.3lt;(jlt;ilt;111111jii1lt;ijIlt;When seen shortly afterward by a Daily News reporter Wallace stated that he and Hoskins had some, words last Sufiday ^over a money matter and that while, he, | Wallace was put hunting; last
Newspaper Details
Harrisonburg Rockingham Register
Harrisonburg, Virginia, US
Tue, Jun 07, 1904
Page 3
Full Page
Clipped by
Anonymous
VA, USA 08 Jun 2022
Other Publications Near Harrisonburg, Virginia
Harrisonburg Republican
Harrisonburg Old Commonwealth
Harrisonburg Evening News
Harrisonburg Daily Independent
Daily News-Record
