MURDERER CONFESSES

Continued from: TRAMPS GATHERED FOR INVESTIGATION

SIOUX CITY JOURNAL July 22, 1902.

SLAYER OF MILWAUKEE BRAKEMAN CONFESSES TO OFFICERS.

July 22. Preliminary Hearing Set for Tuesday Next Before Mayor Carey. Numley was Not Admitted to Bail.

William Numley has confessed to the killing of Fred Powell. He has been identified by others who saw him near the scene of his crime and he now lies in the county jail awaiting preliminary hearing which is set for Tuesday morning next. Numley, after his capture at first denied his guilt, although he at once admitted that he was present at the time and that he knew the brakeman had been hurt. Under the severe cross-examination to which he was submitted yesterday by Superintendent Beardsley and Sheriff Bell, he finally wilted and told the story of the crime. Other evidence goes to corroborate his confession and the officers are sure that they have the guilty man. The story as told by Numley is as follows:

In the early hours of Sunday morning he with a number of other tramps attempted to board a north bound freight out of Arion. The brakeman, Powell, ordered them off and fired his revolver along side of the car. Numley was already climbing the ladder and Powell came toward him and demanded money if he wished to ride. Numley says that Powell stepped on his hand and that this together with the demand for money angered him and that he drew his knife and struck out in the dark at Powell, striking twice.

Photo Illustrative only

Numley knew that he had hit his man but did not think he had inflicted a serious injury as the brakeman climbed back to the top of the car and called out that he, “Would get him yet.” Numley says he then dropped off of the car and went back to Arion. He met a man named Pfeffer and told him that he had had a scrap with a brakeman and had given him a cut to remember him by. Pfeffer stated that Numley added “and I wish I had killed him.” Numley further states that he next walked to Dow City and hung around that place until in the morning when he overheard a conversation about the killing of a Milwaukee brakeman by a negro the night before.

Main Street - Dow City, Iowa

This is the first, he claims, that he knew of the death of his victim or that he was badly hurt. It is said that several people saw him at Dow City on Sunday morning and that an officer was advised to arrest him but that he refused to do so without a warrant. In the meantime Numley made his escape. He recrossed the Boyer on the railroad bridges hoping to throw off pursuit and finally hid in the tall weeds close to the river bank. It was here that he was captured by two of the searching party and taken to Dow City. Numley seems to have nothing to offer in defense except that the brakeman treated him roughly and that he did not know or intend the wound to be serious. The knife with which the deed was done was a large jack knife with a blade fully three inches long and as sharp as a razor. How he could have taken the knife from his pocket, opened the blade and struck the fatal blows with his left hand while, as he states, Powell was standing on his right hand, is a mystery. The knife blade does not open easily and it could hardly have been opened with one hand.

The officers who had Numley under a fire of questions nearly all day yesterday and at night were satisfied with what they had accomplished. The Sherlock Holmes employed by the Milwaukee was a Sphinx only to be looked at and admired from a distance, but the facts of the confession soon became known and much interest was displayed in the preliminary hearing which was called before Mayor Carey this morning.

Last night the prisoner desired to secure counsel and at his request R. Shaw Van appeared as his counsel. The prisoner was arraigned in the court room, a large number of spectators being present. By agreement the hearing was postponed until next Tuesday morning.

John T. Carey, Mayor of Arion

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Denison Bulletin – July 31, 1902

HELD UNDER BIG BOND

Numley to Answer to Grand Jury in Murder Case

Offered But Litte Defense and Testimony Was Strong Against Him

The preliminary hearing of William Numley, the negro accused of the murder of the brakeman, Fred Powell, near Arion last week, occurred Tuesday morning at nine o'clock before Justice McLennan and Numley was held to the grand jury under $15,000 bond. The size of the bond cut no figure, as Numley apparently could not put up fifteen dollars.

The testimony at the hearing developed nothing new in the case. Pfeffer, the merry-go-round man who was the first person to see and speak to Numley after the murder, was placed on the stand and told what he knew, and his testimony will go far toward sinching the case against the negro. The short negro pal of Numley, giving his name as McLean, also testified and he is to be held over to the next term of court as a witness.

There is little doubt but that the negro will be convicted, and it is interesting to hear the various opinions expressed as to the penalty likely to be pronounced on him. Some think he should hang without ceremony, others think he should be given a life sentence in the pen and others would let him off easier.

Since 1897 the Iowa statutes provide for capital punishment, and there are several persons in the state now awaiting execution. In case the negro is sentenced by the jury to be hanged he will have to go to the penitentiary for one year, after which time he would be hung at the penitentiary by the sheriff of the county where the crime was committed.

Numley is taking his chances very unconcernedly, except that he seems rather nervous about strangers coming into the jail. He evidently mistrusts a white community and remembers some of the short trials given his race in other states where fire instead of ropes were use to choke the life current.

To be continued:

NUMLEY ESCAPES FROM JAIL