CHAS. R. KURTZ Ed. and Prop.
THETRAGEDY AT WOODWARD
How Wm, R. Etlinger Kills Constable John Bar-
ner, and Wounds Several Others.
HE DEFIANTLY COMMITS SUICIDE
Turned his house into a barricaded arsenal--Plenty of dynamite and
Amunition--Hobbled his wife--Intended to poison the entire
Town with strychnine and arsenic--A diabolical plot averted--
Fhe story told by the wife--He loved his children and kissed
hem good bye--A correct account of the tragedy briefly told.
WM
erngon,
llefonte, and the news was
Bon spread in every section of the
Woodw
layat 1 p.m
coun
ty of the terrible a®air at ard
’
3
From that time on until Fri
the scenes Woodward
1
i
the most thrilling that are the
Lnown
annals of history for
butchery. The eutire
ized by this man whom that n
1:
1
i
cruel
county was terror
eighbor-
hood for years had feared aemon
and treacherous devil,
turned his residen
Aas a
and who had now
aded
into a barrie
arsenal, well supplied with rifles an
d large quantities of ingeni
tion an
constructed dynamite bombs Thus he
successfully held the sheriff and
deputies, a
at bay
hours.
ud hundreds of armed men
and defied arrest for almost 24
Adri
It was only until driven fro
his lair like a tiger by fire, that he trag
ically took his own life in the presence of
had
been trying all this time by firing thous.
several thousand spectators, who
ands of rifle shots into his retreat to
either kill a
Such a scene, transpiring in a peaceable
and highly
him or force surrender
civilized
| feared him
were |
i ed the home and never
character general
ly
its of his devil.
ishness, prior tt event
, have been
cts were low
r wife and child,
ge township,
ing that
life might be takes desert.
ared
It is known that he comin
ent wife to
blackmail citizens in th it
to return
lled his pres.
assist him in diny
plots to
community,
extort money from them. He often
clubbed and Leat he r, any
way
she would displeast one o
these contemptible a
of Woodward
and remonstrated
Ben
Benner 241
HEE Etlinger
with
of
about the
cruel
flew into a viole
treatment wife. Etlinger
accused him of
community, is so |
startling and tragic, that the people of |
Rhat community are still iu a highly ex-
cited condition. It has been the topic of
conversation everywhere
places and in every house in
cosnty, while all the great daily papers
from one end of the country to the other
pntain extended illustrated accounts of
this thrilling tragedy.
in all public |
|
Centre |
Almost every |
feader of this paper in Centre county is |
sonversant with the facts by this time
Yet it seems necessary, and will be ex
pected to give a brief account of what
occurred and the incidents that led to
this shocking affair
WM. ETLINGER, THE MURDERER
The central figure of this thrilling ep.
isode is a son of Solomon Etlinger, a
former resident of Woodward, Pa., and
a once well known citizen of this county
In 1886 Solomon Etlinger commited sui.
cide at Potters Mills, this county, by
shooting. He lingered for over a day
from his self-inflicted wound which fina).
ly proved fatal. At that time this same
son, William, was in the Centre county
jail for a crimisal offence and was taken
| MRS, ETLINUER.
| A photo taken Immediately §ftor she escaped,
interfering with thelr fomestic affairs
| and causing all the troubje between him.
self and wife. He followed this by giv.
ing the old gentleman a Severe beating
in the blacksmith shop Bear his house,
aud in the presence of veral men and
a constable, who then Hid a warrant in
his pocket for Etlinger sl rrest for a for.
mer crime. Etlinger, Dat this time,
struck his fatherdn.law A the head with
a club that laid the scalgbpen and rend.
ered the old gentlemd: unconscioas,
Knowing of Ktlinger's flolent temper,
and that he always ¢ ‘ried weapons,
i
to!
BELLEFONTE, PA. T
Woods
came went by night, and carried
ifle /
borhood feared |
his Winchester r withhim. T
iis apg
shedding of blood almost \
for the
day, by this
this manner
expert
several occasions caused terror
a an
defied
known to be
man who arrest in
He was
and
mn
in handling dynamite on
that
place by the
street to explode, and at one time knock -
throwing pieces out on
ed a horse down at the
in this manner
Wm. Et.
This is a brief des ription of
! Hdger and his vicious disposition, and
feared
Wm. Etlinger was
why that especially
him at this
community
time
married to his second wife and
| family consisted of two small children
girl aged 5 and a boy about 2
CONSTABLE JOHN RARNER
At the recent February election John
larner, of near Woodward, was a can
didate for constable. He asked to be |
| elected on the ground that he
serve the bench warrant on Etlinger and |
| would capture him or “die in the at. |
tempt.” On this fssue he was elected
| Last Monday 2nd he came to Bellefonte
and lifted his commission. He also
made sure to ascertain the limit of his
authority with this warrant. Knowing
that he could make a forcible entry, if
| necessary, he stated his determination of
would |
1
1
he neigh- |
roach and looked
| get a move
their
a
keeping his campaign pledge and went
home, to arrest a desperate man,
between whom for some tine there had
been the bitterest feelings. He kept hig
pledge to the letter, and ihe bloody trag.
edy followed in which both lives were
lost
THE TRAGRDY,
On Thursday, at about 2 p. m., con-
stable John Barner accompanied by C,
G. Motz and John Hosterman went to
Etlinger's house, it being known that he
was home. They found the front door
locked. This was broken open by sever.
al blows with a sledge hammier, The
doors on the inside room were bolted,
and the pane! of the door, leading to the
hallway and stairs, was next broken open,
They heard the family up stairs. Con.
HURSDAY, MARCH 12, 1896.
wanted 1
he fired two
ured
fihe t
the t
into Creo Miller
the bal
that section o own Late
shot 8 house uecar by
1 came 0 the head of
very close t
the mother.in-law of merchant Robert
Wolf. Etlinger warned other citizens to
He also wired several
On.
{ loads into the school house close by w hile
an
ETLINGER'S CHILDREN
As they came from the burning house
in session, but no one was injured,
By this time the entire community was
aroused and up in arms. Guards were
stationed about the house ready to shoot
the murderer if he attempted to escape.
His appearance at a window would be
followed by a volley of rifles and muskets,
During this engagement John Musser,
located at a stable, got a flesh wound in |
Mrs. Etlinger is said to have |
the neck.
appeared at the window and fired shots.
This condition of affairs continued until
night and from all directions people |
came by the hundreds.
SHERIFF CONDO ARRIVES
Early in the afternoon a messenger |
hastened to Coburn, and the telegram
sent to Bellefonte at about 4 o'clock. The
sheriff and a lot of deputies by special
train left here at 6 p. m., arrived at Co.
burn at 7, and at Woodward soon after
8p. m. He found the community de.
moralized with fear, and the town in the
vicinity of Etlinger's house deserted.
Several hundred armed men surrounded
ing. This was done to prevent the
the
decided
the
morning.
man
4
from attempting to ¢ to
It
and keep the prisoner
this
soon used up all the
cape moun
tams close by wa to try
mn house, i
The
at Wood
manner, until men
ammunition
ward. A fresh supply from Millheim
S00 Al,
Harry Jackson started for Bel
was exhausted, Carman and
lefoute by
special train from Cobourn d tring the
night. They got a
Was a 14)
hous:
rinto the
When
and there was
mao
ning
¢
{ Cae
A 11
1 Axes
breathless silence
> occasion was broken when Etling
er opened fire from an upstairs window
A ball
gomery's head, Sheriff Condo felt the flasl
This s
fooll
went close by Policeman Mont
of another close to his face
ed them that their move was
and too dangerous They
treated. One point
it was d
ehinitely
prisoner had not escaped
After this, firing on the house
Missles rained down
newed with vigor
m it thick and fast. The windows were
all broken, the doors and weather board
ing shattered and splintered with fiyin
A
shop across the street
to fire ar
now was located, and from which he
of his firing through the
came very
shooting several parties. In
stance he sent a rifle ball that
the ear of a man in the shop
equally close calls are narrated
4
missles crowd in the blacksmith
were in position
Etlinges
did
small
inte the cel where
most
cellar windows, and near
one in.
grazed
Other
DRIVEN OUT BY FIRR.
After another consultation it was de
cided that it would be necessary to burn
the building to get the prisoner, unless
| he should kill his family and himself and |
be burned up, which was very improb
able. To carry this into effect, a detach
ment of expert riflemen were stationed
{in the woods, back of the barn. They
were located so as to be able 0 cover |
every window in that end of the house. |
At a given signal a constant fire of rifles |
| was opened on the rear windows to pre- i
| vent Etlinger from attempting to shoot |
in that direction, At the same time the |
| hero of the day appeared in the person of |
| James Cornelly. Carryng a pail of tur-
pentive and cotton waste he made his |
way from the woods down to the bam,
From there, a distance of seventy feet,
he made to the out-house or work shop,
that stood about twenty fest from the
the building and kept up a constant fir. | residence, unharmed. He broke in a
RURAL NOTES
A SPECIALTY,
olion
teri
rion
a good
riflemen, made safc his retreat.
hort time 11 "
a0 me the } L AS MVEIOPL ain
Dwing to ; a calm day
i were Ow In communicating
he house Par black
Bop, fearing : nagnt
mad turated
aver
Two
tom those 1
10 CO as No one
lhe noise of the rifles
*xcited mob drowned
d in
Qa 1
ith
this posi
tion about five minute rifle balls
dropping about her
Suddenly she drew her feet from the
wing compelled to
to
cellarway, Etlinger |
seck safety, and she started run
along the side of the house. At this mo
ment there was another and
as she ran away and fell, three revoly
suspense,
er shots followed her in quick succession
from the
who now seemed determined
by husband,
to kill his
this critical
planingmill
cellarway, her
deserting him in
moment the
and was taken in charge by several men
wife for
She reached
| Weak and exhausted, she was carried to
her fathers house. She was thinly clad
and on her right ankle a steel hobble
was still dangling that had ben placed
there by her husband. Heretofore the
crowd considered Mrs. Etlinger an
equally guilty participant, but the sight
of the crue! hobbles that lacerated her
limbs changed their bitterness to tender
sympathy for the poor woman,
THE DESPERADO SURRENDERS,
The next and most tragic event of the
day followed. Messrs, Ira Gramley, of
Aaronsburg, Sam Miller, Sheriff Condo
and Al. Garman, all of Bellefonte, were
located at the planing mill building, and
[Continued on 4th page.)