The Bamberg herald. (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, March 30, 1922, Page 3, Image 3
Mrs. J. C. Mo
Cracker K
Ht
A walk through a park with companions
from a girls' boarding school; I
a meeting with an ardent admirer in
a park; a quick courtship and an en-J
gagement; unyielding objection to the
match by the girl's father; an elope- i
znent through a window from the
school; a hasty marriage and then?
well then, awakening to the fact
that her husband was a safe blower
by profession. Did they live happily
ever after? The husband, J. C. Moore,
was shot to death at Trenton last
Monday morning when he was in the
act of blowing open a safe and the
wife is a prisoner on the third floor
of the Richmond county jail.
Mrs. Moore, who didn't care to give
her maiden name when seen yester- j
~ * * - j
day in the county jail, is a aeciaea
blonde of sturdy type. She says she
Is 20 years old and even after having
undergone during the past two days,
close questioning at the hands of offi'cers
who have been endeavoring to
procure information from her, she
does not seem worn or exhausted.
She smokes incessantly, lighting one
cigarette after the other and inhaling
deeply almost all of the smoke. There
was no evidence of nervousness in her
behavior yesterday but she had been
given opportunity to rest during the
day.
^ Talks With Freedom.
Mrs. Moore makes no objection to
talking about her career with the man
who met death at Trenton while blowing
& safe.
"I thought I loved him at first,"
she said, "but I know now there can
toe no real love unless there is respect.
"You see, I was just a kid when I
met him. I was attending a boarding
school near Huntington, W. Va., several
years ago, and the authorities
would permit the girls to walk out
through a park.
"Once when we were in the park 1
met Mr. Moore. I was just a kid and
he seemed very fond of'me?he wap
a prince to me. He wanted me to
elope with him, but I told him to ask
my dad and he would give me to ihim.
"I was the youngest in the family
and I guess 1 was spoiled. Well, dad
*? "Vf/ir,i?o nfF tho nlapp
neany ran jh. vu. ?uv
when he asked for me?he was suspiscious
of him from the first. I was
d taken out of school and was kept at
home.
"After some time I persuaded father
to let me return to sdhool, and then
one, night I got out of the window and
went away with Mr. Moore. Since
that time we have been in every state
.in the union, I suppose. For a good
while I did not know what my hus,
hand did?see, I was young and ignorant.
V'He was a prince to me. in ever
spoke a cross word to me throughout
our acquaintance and while I-would
sometimes get mad all over and fly
v off, fhe^ always was kind and considerate.
Wanted to Leave Him.
"My husband was always kindness
itself, bqt I wanted to leave him. I
tried to make him jealotis?would let
him hear conversations over the telev.
* v i
phone so that he would get mad and
leave. But he was so kind and considerate
that I could not make up my
mind just to quit him.
"I really was the cause of his being
arrested and serving 'time in Georgia.
One morning when we were in
Columbus, Ga., he came into my room
and laid $38,000 in cash and bonds on
I my bed.
"1 tooK some or rue Donas to -Atlanta
with which to buy some clothes.
I was afraid to try to cash the $1,4)00
bonds so I tried my hand on one for
$500. It sold readily. I was all puffed
up over my success; see, I was young'
and ignorant. Then I tried to casih
more bonds, but these bonds had been
registered and between my visits
I there had been some investigation.
Word had reached the office to hold
me in conversation if I came back
to cash more bonds. So the clerk
- -- - i-i-j x _ a
ItaiKea to me?trieu iu uui?auu
wlhen I came down in the elevator it
seemed like the whole detective force
of Atlanta were after me. I squealed
then?there didn't seem to be anything
else to do.
"So my husband was sent to the
Georgia penitentiary on a 20 year sentence.
He served two years of it?
you see, they kept changing him from
cell to cell.so rapidly that he could
not get out. But he left the prison
after two years and come to me in
Augusta.
"My husband came to me there?
Ihe did not upbraid mc for squealing
on him?said there was nothing else
I could do, I being a woman. I urged
him to leave town, told him the officers
would surely be after him and
told him I would let him know how
things were. B^t I intended to be
ore, Wife of Sc
.illed at Trentoi
:r Life With th
somewhere else when he returned to
Augusta for me."
Without any more emotion than a
woman would display in showing how
a dress was made, Mrs. Moore told
of her husband's movements; of an
accident that happened to the car she
and he were riding in while in Columbia,
of his having to go to bed for
treatment while recovering from injuries
and of the low state of their
finances when he recovered.
v "He blew the Blythewood bank and
got $1,165 from there" she said. "At
Roberta, Ga., he lost his car?had
to leave in a hurry. From Augusta he
did the Blythewood robbery and then
we moved to Columbia.
"I had gotten him to promise that
he would quit after this season. See,
safe blowers do not work in the
summer?the winter is their season.
"After we had moved/to Columbia
my husband did ,the Little Mountain
job and then tried Blackstock; but
lost out there.
"Then he worked Gilbert. At Gil
bert he only got *i;>?ne Diew tne
wrong safe and did not have time to
blow bhe other before he had to get
away. The last job was at White
Oak. Here he got about $5,000 in
bonds, which were burned. He got
about $200 in money, of which $12.50
was in gold.
Goes to Trenton.
| "For the Trenton job, he got his
dynamite in Brookland. He brought
it home and boiled it and told me ihe
was going in the country. He went
to Trenton to get the bank. What
happened at Trenton is well known.
"He always had bonfidence in me
and kept nothing fiom me."
When asked what disposal was
made of bonds and stamps, Mrg.
Moore said, "New cards would be
gotten for the war saving stamps
j and they would be put on these new
j cards. If the bonds were reg
191C1CU tUCJ n vuiu w vtvwA vj
If not registered, they would be disposed
of with considerable ease.
"Once after we had' been away
I from Columbus we returned and
found the house we had occupied had
been burned down. Deep holes were
dug all about the place where people
had been looking for buried money?
they had gotten it, too.
"Are my people living? Well, after
I had run away from school, my father
was very bitter and forbade any
communication with me. I heard
from a sister occasionally, and once
she wrote me that father had had a
stroke of paralysis and was calling
for me. I went to see ihim and he
asked me to stay at home. I tolc'l
him that if he were sick I would
"* a. _ ? l_ i? 1 1 4.1
giaaiy come 10 see aim out mai m*
place was with my husband and that
if he could not come to the home
with me, why I would not come either.
So I am just going to see how
things here turn out and do not care
to give my maiden name."
Mrs. Moore said her husband usu^
ally worked alone though she said he
had accomplices on certain jobs
which were large. He was a man of
little education, she said, though he
had traveled over the United States.
She said he was 42 years of age.
Xever Killed Anyone.
"My husband never killed any one
in his work as a safe blower," said
Mrs. J. C. Moore at the Richland
county jail Friday. Mrs. Moore is the
widow of J. C. Moore who was shot to
death at Trenton last Monday night
when he was in the act of blowing
open a safe with nitroglycerine. She
has told of numerous robberies in
wihich he was concerned and ot her
work in selling some of the bonds
which were tasen rrom saies in ainerent
parts of the country. She has
told of the "jobs" at White Oak, at
Little Mountain, at Blythewood ana
at various points in Georgia. There
had been some talk that he might
have been involved in a robbery in
Georgia which the night watchman
was killed.
"He never killed any one," she repeated.
"I told him often that if a
man's life came in between him and
the money or the bonds to let the
money and the bonds go. I told him I
thought it was the worst thing a ma
could do?to take a life.
"I was often curious to know how
he felt about religion," said this 20
years old woman who was married
to a man more than twice her age.
"I used to tellihim that I wished he
would live straight and that I could
lead a Christian life. He would laugh
and say, 'The idea of your being a
Christian.'- He didn't believe in God.
I used to ask him if he was not
afraid of being killed. He would
say that he was not afraid to die.
"Mr. Moore was not a jolly man?
"he was rather gloomy and was not
ife
% Tells of
e Slain Robber
talkative. He would tell me things
but he was not the kind to strike
up acquaintances and exchange confidences.
Told of His Youth.
"Once I remember he told me how
he came to take up safe blowing as a
profession. When he was a young
ohap he got in with two other boys
and they went about broke. They,
vent into an Italian settlement In a
city and began looking for money.
The Italians ail uvea m a lenemeui
and they kept their trunks in one
room and stored their savings in
these trunks. These three young
men, one of whom was J. C. Moore,
entered tihe house a"d broke open
the trunks with a broad axe and secured
between $2,000 and $3,000.
"The Italians soon came swarming
out after then and caught up with
the three in a freight yard. They
were about to be .hung when a freight
train passed. Mr. Moore broke away
from the crowd that had him and
ran right under the moving freight
train and got out on the other side
end escaped into some woods. He
told me the other two boys were
hanged. I do not know in what city
this occurred."
\fr? \fnnrp has vnired few regrets
over her stirring past "but yesterdayshe
said, "They say your father always
knows best. My father tried to
keep me from marrying Mr. Moore,
and if I had listened?well maybe
things would have been different. But
Mr. Moore was always very kind to
me, with never a cross word and
while we were not millionaires, I
always had whatever I wanted.
"I used to try to get him to stop
this business of safe blowing. He
was always lucky at cards, and for
amusement would often play, and
nearly always Von. I tried to get him
to q,uit safe blowing and take up
gambling; I know gambling is not
the best life, hut it's better than sa!fe
blowing. But he always said he
didn't like to gamble and so he kept
at his old business.
"I guess it doesn't matter about
using my picture," she said, when
reference was made to a photograph.
"I've had so much notoriety already
that when I go out from this jaii
every one will say, 'There goes that
safe blower's wife,' so I guess a little
more publicity won't matter one way
or the other.
PmmieA^ Mar hi ne.
"When Mr. Moore went on the
Trenton job, he and I were planning
to buy an automobile. He had promised
me a red roadster?we were going
to see it when he came back from
Trenton. But he never came back."
Mrs. Moore was more nervous yesterday
than she had been during the
day previous and showed much more
feeling .when talking over the five
years of her life with the professional
safe cracker.
She said yesterday that she did
not know Portland Ned. For some
time after Moore was shot and killed
it was suspected in some quarters
that he was Portland Ned, the convict,
who it will be recalled, escaped
from the governor's office at the state
capitol some years ago. Portland
Ned now, however, is serving a term
in the Atlanta penitentiary and, is
evidently not the same man as J. C.
Moore. When asked yesterday if
she had a pfhotograph of Moore, Mrs.
Moore said she did not?that he
would never have a photograph taken
of any kind.
It is likely that Moore was known
under other names to law officers
over the country and in investigations
now under way other facts with regard
to his life may come out.?The
r State.
KILLS HIMSELF IN ASYLUM.
%
George Ashe, of York County, Uses
Rope and Belt.
I Columbia, March 22.?George
I Ashe, a young man about thirty years
j of age from York, committed suicide
I at the state hospital for the insane
- *- ? "?A ^ ?V*/% ftrtoAr/lino' t r\ T
I 13.SL Qlglli. Aaiic, avwiuiuQ >. w u
j Blakely Scott, coroner for Richland
I county, tied his belt and a window
cord together, threw a noose around
I his neck and hanged himself from a
; ceiling radiator heating pipe. He
, was discovered suspended early this
morning in his room by a hospital
attendant.
I Coroner Scott said that Ashe has
j made several unsuccessful attempts
to commit suicide and has been an
inmate in the hospital because of this
particular mania perviously. Recently,
said the coroner, he found that
he was becoming melancholy and
asked to be taken back into the hospital
for his own protection.
Renew your subsoription today.
The Beard M<
ANNOUNCES THAT IT WILL BE
1st, IN THE BUILDING FORMERLY
BOTTLING CO., ON BROAD STREET
FIRST-CUSS AUTOMOBILE REFAII
ALL WORK FULLY GUARANTEED
IENCED EXPERT MECHANICS.
DAY AND NIC
Jiow Fireston
the Cost of
stw *
30 x 3 Fabric $
30 x 3H "
30 x ZH Cord
32 x 4 ' "
33 x 4H "
H v < U
HOW the coat of building quality t
level in history was explained by]
^ to the stockholders at the annual
1. AH inventories and commitments
2. Increased manufacturing efficien
overhead 58%.
3. Selling costs reduced 38%.
Mr. Firestone stated, "This reductio:
advantageous buying facilities, and the ?
100% stockholding organization.
"Due credit must be given to Firestc
a smaller margin of profit. This bring
owner."
The saving through first cost plus t
Firestone economy and is daily adding nr
Most Mile
| II V4
- Requi
T EAD 1
8 . It's tl
1 termi
Granitoid its
P1 p . . life. Kurf<
Floor Paint gallon. G
Put it on today?
Walk on it to- pure <
morrow. Seines ? p
like enamel. rure '
Kurfees Flat Tinted
Tint with P
A soft velvety ,
| I finish of unsur- | More pure le
passed beauty for 8 face protectin
walls and ceilings 1 of service. T
II i? i ? S than the ordi
quires to pai
titles for yoi
Kurfees makes a Paint for ex
Kur-Fa-Cite Enamels Aula and Wagon
Varnish Stain Auto, Truck, Carriage. Saves
for floors. Tractor, Paints and inrepa
furniture and Furniture, Enamels* All replace
woodwork. Woodwork, colors.
G. O. SIMMONS
BAMBERG, S. 0.
s
otor Company M
OPEN FOR BUSINESS ON APRIL OT
f OCCUPIED BY THE BAMBERG W
\ BAMBERG. JH
I SHOP AND BATTERY SERVICE I
. PROMPT SERVICE BY EXPERI
H T SERVICBpl
if r* i j ' \''0ai
e nas neaucea m
Tire Service f?
fakS1 J^a Reduction ^
18.75 $ 9.85 47% , JH
yw i
39.50 11.65 48% J
35.75 17.50 51% jfl
56.55 ' 32.40 43%
67.00 42.85 I 36% , ' m
81.50 I 52.15 I 36% ,
Ires has been brought down to the lowest v 1
H. S. Firestone, President of the Company, J
meeting on December 15, 1921. j
at or below the market. jg|
icy and volume production reduced factory / yj
a in prices is made possible by our unusually , \ K
ithusiasm, loyalty and determination of our jH
ne dealers who are selling Firestone tires oa M
s every Firestone saving direct to the car* B1
:he saving through high mileage doubles
w fame to the Firestone principle of service?^ . ^
i par Dollar
kioiw I
H
- -jjMH
x fl^BB
j re PainV^J I ^
ires fewer gallons 1 ^
ias two virtues. It hides and protects/ ij
le amount of lead in any paint that de* ?
nes its covering (hiding) capacity," and *
ity of lead that measures its'length of
ses Paint contains more pure lead per jjj
ompare the formulas?here's Kurfees: jjj
Carbonate Lead 80% B
Zinc Oxide 20% B t/M
I0?% |
with Pure Colors, Ground and Mixed jjl ' H
ure Linseed Oil and Drier?That's AIL | 1
ad per gallon means more squarelfeet of sur* jjj
tg-value in every gallon. It means more years j| ?
'hat is real economy. Kurfees costs no more jjj
nary kind, and it is surprising how little it rd- H
nt a house right. Let us figure your quan* B I
1 and show the* beautiful color selections. f
iery Purpose?We have them | j^B
Paint Porch Paint Roof Poize Leak-Seal ' jjj
All Colors Costs lest Stops Leaks. B ^B|H
irsand for porch than Lew Makes roofs H BH
:mentj? floors. roofing. Watertight. H H|
U |n
J. Z. BROOKER MSm |
, DENMARK, S. C. Bfl