MAKE SENSATIONAL CHARGES
I ——————
Boyle Accuses Harry Forker, Mrs.
Whitla’s Brother, of Murder, and
Says He Suggested the Kidnapping
to Pay Blackmail—Declares Whitla
Offered Him Protection If He Shield.
ed Forker.
Pittsburg, May 11. — Locked and
polted in separate cells, the man to
spend his life within the bleak and
grim walls of the western peniten-
tiary, the woman to remain at least
fifteen years and perhaps a quarter of
a century, Mr. and Mrs. James P.
Boyle, kidnappers of “Willie” Whitla,
began to suffer the maximum punish-
ment possible to impose for their of-
fense.
Boyle's only hope of freedom lies
in the remote possibility of a pardon.
Mrs. Boyle, convicted as “Mary Doe,”
the name given by the law to desig-
pate “an unidentified person,” was sen-
tenced to serve twenty-five years and
to pay a fine of $5000 and the costs of
prosecution. But since it has been
customary to “forget” the fines and
costs imposed upon a state prisoner, it
fs assumed that these penalties will
be waived and that the woman, should
she earn a legal reduction of her sen-
tence, will be released after fifteen
years.
Sensations followed each other thick
and fast. The severity of the sentence
appalled Mercer, where it was pro-
pounced, and surprised many else-
where, who had not anticipated the
extreme limit of the law. Then came
the sensational scene in the court-
room, when both prisoners collapsed
and had to be carried from the room.
Hardly had they reached their cells
when the word was given out tat
the woman had taken poison during
the night before and had narrowly es-
caped death at her own hand, and that
a razor had been found concealed in
Boyle's clothing. Before this thrill
had lost its force, Boyle gave out his
statement, implicating Harry Forker,
brother of Mrs. Whitla, in the kidnap-
ping case. In Mercer and Sharon the
story does not seem to be generally
credited, and as the district attorney
has no faith in it there is little likeli
hood of any formal action in the
matter.
Boyle's Accusation.
Boyle's statement follows:
The complete history of the kidnapping
of Willle Whitla, the origin of same and
what led up to it.
On the morning of —, between the
hours of —, Dan Reeble, Jr., was found
dead on the sidewalk in front of the
Mauser block, East Federal street, in
Youngstown, and over the prostrate form
was Mr. Harry Forker, of Sharon, Pa,
holding in his right hand a package of
letters that was gathered from the side-
.. walk near.the dead body of Mr. Reeble.
As he was ahout tn denart fram the
vicinity he was mtercepted by the writer
and &# man who has since passed to his
reward, Mr. Dan Shay. a saloonkeeper of
Oak street, Youngstown, Ohio.
In Mr. Forker's hurry to leave the
scene he failed to find two envelopes that
contained four letters. The same were
picked up by Mr. Shay and later taken
to his place of business on Oak street.
The writer and Mr. Shay examined and
read the contents of same, which proved
beyond a doubt the presence of Mr. Fork-
er there at that time,
Claims Blackmail Succeeded.
The letters were written by a lady,
two from a party in New York state and
the others from Cleveland, Ohio. At a
later date Mr. Forker was apprised of
the fact that the writer held these let-
ters In his possession and asked If he
could use the same. A letter was imme-
diately sent the writer by Mr. Forker,
stating that (Mr. Forker) would like to
have a person.l talk with the writer,
which meeting took place a day or so
after. Mr. Forker acknowledged he
would pay a sum of money for the pos-
session of sald letters. The amount not
being considered sufficient, was refused,
and from that day on and up until
March, 198, the writer, on the pretext of
exposing the letters and the coincidence
of Mr. Forker being discovered bending
over the prostrate form of Mr. Reeble,
had receievd at different times amounts
of money from Mr. Forker to remain
silent.
* About six months ago, when I returned
to Sharon with my wife, I met Mr. Fork-
er on East State street and informed him
that unless | received $5000 between then
and the time | intended to leave Sharon
I would hold the secret no longer.
He then Informed me that it was im-
possible for him to get that amount of
money, but some time in April, 198, he
was to come in possession of a certain
amount of money and would then turn
some over to me, which was satisfactory
at that time.
On my leaving Sharon, on March 12,
1009, I proceeded to Cleveland, Ohio, and
on the same evening I addressed to Mr.
Forker, 244% East State street, Sharon, a
letter which read as follows:
“Mr. Harry Forker: Dear 8ir—I have
decided not to wait any longer in regard
to the money proposition, and if I don't
hear from you soon there will be some
exposing. Sincerely yours,
“J. J. BAILEY, Cleveland, Ohlo,”
Letter Without Signature,
On March 16, 1909, I recelved an answer
to the same, which read:
“Friend Bailey—You know that the cir-
cumstances and the promise I made you
when you left here, but if you are really
desperately in need of money as you pro-
fess to be, I will outline a little plan
which, with your co-operation, can be
very successfully carried out, viz.: the
abduction of J. P. Whitla's son. I can
arrange to have the boy brought to War-
ren, Ohlo, due there at 11.18, with es-
cort.”
(There is no signature to the letter.)
I left Cleveland at 815 a. m. and ar-
rived at Warren at 10.06 a. m., then pro-
ceeded to Niles. Ohio, by street car, I
boarded an Erle train and arrived at
Warren at 11.18 a. m., but failing to see
the boy and his escort, I got off at War-
ren and remained in the vicinity of the
depot,
About ten minutes later boy and escort
arrived, and I was then informed that
they drove from Sharon to Warren. I
Informed party to take boy up along
Pittsburg & Western track, leave him
there and that I would attend to the
rest of it, and which he proceeded to do.
After making inquiries as to the nex:
train to Cleveland, I brought the boy to
Niles, Ohio, irom there to Ashtabula and
then to Cleveland. On March 22 1 re-
ceivea a etter trom Mr. Forker stating
that some one had informed Mr. Whitla
that they had recognized his boy om
March 18 in Niles, Ohio, and that James
Boyle, of Sharon, was with him: also
that Mr. Whitia was afraid to divuige
the information for fear the boy might
come to some harm and telling me to
be careful and be on the alert, and that
when 1 received the money to imme-
diately surrender those Youngtown let.
ters, to send same to him, Mr. Forker,
at Sharon, and on Tuesday, Appril 23, to
return half of the ransom money to him,
Mr. Forker, and he would turn over the
sume to the party who took Willle Whitla
to Warren,
Says He Was Promised Protection,
Upon learning that my name was men-
tioned in connection with the case, [
made it a point to meet Mr. Whitla per-
sonally in Cleveland at Fifty-third street
and St. Clair avenue; showed him the
letter that passed between Mr. Forker
and myself: also the Youngstown letters,
and Mr. Whitla promised that if I would
substantiate the truth of the Youngs-
town letters he would see there would be
no prosecution.
1 then surrendered through Mr. Whitla
all the letters that were in my possession,
and the world knows the resuit. I was
arrested, and convicted, and deprived by
my own counsel of teliing my story on
the stand. |! informed my wife the boy
was brought in order to escape being
quarantined in the pest house and we
were to be handsomely rewarded for tak-
ing care of him.
This unfortunate woman was duped
from start to finish in regard to the boy,
and I was duped from the moment 1 left
the letters go into Mr. Whitla's posses-
sion. As my counsel afterwards inform-
ed me, 1 had nothing to show or to
prove, and that it was a matter of ve-
racity—their word against mine. I had
given up every scintilla I had, and now
1 am settled for. This story is as true
as there is a God above us.
$58,000 FOR LOSS OF LEGS
Woman Awarded Heavy Damages
Agcinst Long Island Railroad.
New York, May 11. — Fifty-eight
thousand dollars for the loss of both
legs was the verdict awarded in the
supreme court to Miss Addie Hunt, a
trained nurse, against the Long Island
Railroad company. Miss Hunt was in-
jured while boarding a train at Great
Neck, L. I. The train started sud-
denly and she was thrown under the
wheels.
ROOSEVELT BAGS BULL RHINO
Beast Was Charging Former President,
Who Fired With Deadly Effect.
Nairobi. British Bast Africa, May 11.
—A bulky bull rhinoceros is the latest
prize wrested from the junkle by Col-
onel Roosevelt. The rhinoceros was
charging Mr. Roosevelt when the hun-
ter fired. The distance was fourteen
paces, and the animal fell dead. To
date fifteen varieties of game have
been bagged.
Four Men Blown to Atoms.
Columbus, Kan., May 11.—The mix-
ing room of the Laflin-Rand powder
mills at Turck station, near here, blew
up, killing four men. Their bodies
were blown to bits.
BOAT WAS OVERCROWDED
When Craft Shipped Water Occupants
Stood Up In Fright, Causing It to
Rock and During a Wild Scramble
Upset—Crowd on Shore Unable to
Help Them.
Nine persons, who were out boating
4 in the Susquehanna river at Port
Griffith, near Wilkes-Barre, Pa., were
drowned by the upsetting of the boat.
They are William Andrews, of Port
Griffith; Theodore and Thomas An-
drews, k Marianosky, Adam Stru-
kus, Frank Ganofsky, Mrs. Frank
Ganofsky and their two small boys,
John and Michael, all of Providence,
near Scranton. None of the bodies
have been recovered.
William Andrews was entertaining
a number of relatives from Providence,
Lackawanna county, and after dinner
took them out for a boat ride. They
crowded into a small boat, five men
with Andrews, his sister-in-law and
two little nephews, and started out.
People on shore, who had warned
him about going out in the over
crowded boat, saw him struggle with
the oars when he realized that the
boat was getting beyond control, and
then the accident happened quickly.
The boat was low in the stern, with
the several people seated in it. Ap-
parently one of the men there moved
forward to help Andrews with the
oars, the movement causing the boat
to rock. It shipped some water at the
stern.
Those seated there stood up to avold
the water, the boat rocked more and
shipped a quantity of water. There
followed a wild scramble of the now
next moment the boat upset, and with
shrill shrieks for help all the occu-
pants were thrown into the water.
Whether any of them could swim
was not known. Some swimmers say
they would not care to be caught in
the current, and none of the many on
shore who witnessed the accident
could do anything to rescue those who
were struggling in the water, no other
boats being available in time, and the
heartrending tragedy was enacted
quickly. The nine were swept away by
the water. Some of them grasped
each other and went down quickly. A
couple clune to the boat for a few sec.
onds, but others who hung on to them
dragged them off, and in less than
three minutes nothing remained in
sight except the boat, floating bottom
up some distance down the river.
"Diphtheria Closes Taft's School.
Owing to an epidemic of diphtheria
at Taft's Preparatory school at Water-
town, Conn., it has been decided to
eloge the school for two weeks. Sev-
eral cases of this disease have devel
sved In the past few weeks.
thoroughly frightened people, and the
THE ONLY CIRCUS DAY
Bellefonte, Wed., May 26th
WHERE MAGNITUDE MIGHTY
MERIT |S MARVELOUS ANC
&
AN UNPRECEDENTED CREATION
CROWDED WITH SUMPTUOUS AND BEWILDERING DISPLAYS
HIPPODRAMATIC EVENTS OF EXHILERATING FASCINATION-NERO'S MOST SANGUINE ANTICIPATIONS OUTRIVALLED
Suberb Affiliation of Arenie, Zoological, Military, Spectacular and Educational 20th Century Features.
- Fe aR gg Lt)
A050
STIRLING’S Inimitable Drove of Ed.
ucated Pigs.
THE GREAT HEUMAN FAMILY
of Bicyclists.
THE SIX DELAMEADS in Classic Sta=
Equestrian
The World-Famed ALPINE FAMILY’S
Thrilling, Invisible Wire Accomplishments
BROTHERS ORLEFF, Peerless Mid-Alr Groupings.
Artists whose Exhibition Astonished THE VOYS W Kennel of
the Universe. a Educated Bull
High School Menage Horses introduced by Educators of every
RMS ——- ENOBLING FEAST OF
4| ORIENTAL WONDERS
=" A Ch oe
( NL NAF IMPOSING
(Cae Cie STREET
{1 i PARADE
i En
Dens of Ferocious Beasts made
phat Cons, Lins Tar, Tar
Animals of .
Thrilling Free Exhibition on Grounds
Show
On return of parade and again at 6:30 P. M.
MLLE. DE 2121'S
Death Courting Flight through Space.
.©| TWO PERFORMANCES DAILY 32.
Doors open 1 br. earlier. Under Waterproof Tents
TABLE SEATS (rs
FOR 10, PEOPLI