The county record. [volume] (Kingstree, S.C.) 1885-1975, March 30, 1922, Image 2
BURGLAR'S WIFE
TILLS OF HER LIFE
MRS. J. C MOORE RELATES EXCITING
INCIDENTS COVERING
PERIOD OF SEVERAL YEARS.
(From The Columbia State)
A waik through a park witti companions
from a girl's boarding house;
a meeting with an anient admirer in
a park; a quick courtship and an engagement;
unyielding objection to the
match by the girls iamer; -a element
through a window from the
s? hool; a hasty marriage and then?
well then, an 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 oper a safe
and the wife is a prisoner cn the
third floor of the Richland county jail.
Mrs. Moore, who didn't care to give
her maiden name when seen yesterday
in the county jail, is a decided
blonde of sturdy type. She cays she
is 20 years old and even after having
undergone during the past two days,
close questioning at the hands of officers
who have been endeavoring to
procure information from her, she
does not seem wcrn nor exhausted.
She smokes incessantly, lighting one
cigarette after the other and inhalirg
deeply almost al! the smoke.
There was no evidence of nervousness
in her behavior yesterday, but she has
been given opportunity to rest during
the day.
Mrs Moore makes no objection to
' * ?the man
talking- about r.er wm^i ?
who met death at Trenton while blowing
a safe.
"I thought I loved him at first,"
she said, "but I know now there can
be no real love unless there is respect
"You see, I was just a kid when I
met him. I was attending a hoarding
school near Huntington, W. Va.,
several years ago, and the authorities
would permit the girls to walk
out through the park.
"Once when we were in the park I
met Mr. Moore. I was just a kid
and he seemed very fond of me?he
was 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 him.
"I was the youngest in the family
and I guess I was spoiled. Well, dad
nearly ran Mr. Moore off the place
wher: he asked for me?he was suspicious
of him from the first. I was
taken out of school and was kept at
heme.
"After some time I persuaded father
to let mt return to school, and
then one night Igot 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
husband did?see, I was young and
ignorant.
"He was a prince to me. Never
spoke a cross word to me throughout
our acquaintance and while I
would sometimes get mad all over
and fly off, he always was kind and
* considerate.
' "My nuSDanc. \va> air.,.JO
itself, but I wanted to leave him. I
tried to make him jealous?would let
him hear conversations over the telephone
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
lr:d $38,000 in cash and bonds on my
bed.
"I took some cf the bonds to Atlanta
with which to buy some clothes.
I was afraid to try to cash the $1,000
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
cash more bonds, but these bonds had
been registered and between my visits
there had beer, come investigation.
Word had reached the office to hold
mc in conversation if I came back
tc cash more bonds. So the clerk
talked to me?tried to flirt?and when
I came down in the elevator it seemed
like the whole detective force of
Atlanta was after me. I squealed
then?there didn't seem to be anyiWtMMAlei/i
f A '
UUII^Ci^ kv uv>
"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 came to
mc in Augusta
"My husband came to me there?
he did not upbraid me 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 offi-1
cers would surely be after him and j
told him I would let him know how
things were. But I intended to be
somewhere else when he retu Ted to !
Augusta for me."
Without any more emotion than a
v oman would display in showing how
a dress was made, Mr:. Moore tolc
of her husband's movements; of ai
accident that happened to the car sh<
and ho were riding in while in Co
lumbia, of his having to go to bet
foi treatment while recovering fron
injuries and x the low state of theii
finances when lie recovered.
"He blew the Blythewood bank am
got $1,165 from there," she said
"At Roberta. Ga., he lost his car?hat
to leave in a hur y. From Augusts
lie did the Blythewood robbery ant
then we moved to Columbia.
"I had gotten him to promise tha
he would quit after this season. See
safe blowers do not w^rk in the sum
mer?the winter is their season.
"After we had moved to Columbu
r.\\ husband did the Little Mountaii
job and then tried Blackstock, bu
lost out there.
"Then he worked Gilbert. At Gil
bert he only got $15?he blew th<
wrong safe and did rot have time t<
blew the other before he had to ge
away. The last job was at Whit*
Oak. Here he got about $5,000 ii
bonds, which were burned. He go
about $200 in money, cf which $12.51
was in gold.
"For the Trenton job, he got hi
dynamite in Brookland. He trough
it home and boiled it and t' Id me h<
was going in the country. He wen
to Trenton to get the DanK. wna
happened at Trenton is well known
"He always had confidence in mi
r.nd kept nothing from me."
When asked what disposal was madi
of bonds and stamps, Mrs. Moore said
"New cards would be gotten for thi
war saving stamps and they wouh
be put on these new cards. If th
bonds were registered, they were de
ctroyed. If not registered, they couli
be disposed of with considerable ease
"Once after we had been away fror
Columbus, we returned and found th
house we had occupied had been burn
ed down. Deep holes were dug al
about the place where people ha
been looking for buried money?the;
lird gotten it, too.
"Are my people living? Well.afte
I had run away from school, m
father was very bitter and forbad
any communication with me. I hear
from a sister occasionally, and one
she wrote me that father had ha
a stroke cf paralysis and was call
ing for me. I went to see him an
he asked me to stay at home. I tol
liim that if he were sick I would glac
ily come to see him but that my plac
was with my husband and that if h
could not come to the home wit
nr.e, why I would not come eithe:
So I am just going to see how thing
here turn out and do not care t
give my maiden name."
Mrs. Moore said her husband usual
ly worked alone though she said h
had accomplices on certain jobs whic
were large. He was a man of littl
education, she said, though he ha
traveled over the United States. Sh
said he was 42 years of age.
"My husband never killed any on
ir. his work as a safe blower," sai
Mrs. Moore. "There had been som
talk that he might have been invoh
ed in a bobbery in Georgia in whic
the night watchman was killed.
"He never killed any one," she re
peated. "I told him often that if
man's life came in between him an
the money or the bonds to let th
n.oney and the bonds go. I told hir
t *k/v,,rrV,t thp u*nrct thincr
X VltVU^liV IV VI W .. o
n\nn could do?to take a life.
"I was often curious to know ho>
he felt about religion," said this 2
years old woman who was marrie
to a man more than twice her ag<
"I used to tell him that I wishe
he would live straight and that
could lead a Christian life. He woul
laugh and say, 'The idea of your be
ing a Christian.' He didn't believ
in God. I used to ask him if he wa
not afraid of being killed. He woul
say that he was not afraid tc die.
"Mr. Mocre was not a jolly manhe
was rather gloomy and was no
talkative. He would tell me thing
but he was not the kind to striki
up acquaintances end exchange con
fidences.
"Once I remember he told me hov
he came to take up blowing as ;
profession. When he was a youn|
chap he got in with two other boy;
and they were about broke. Thej
went into an Italian settlement in :
city and began looking for money
The Italians all lived in a tenemeni
and they kept their trunks in on<
room and stored their savings ir
these trunks. These three young men
ore of whom was J. C. Moore, entered
the house and broke open the
trunks with a bread axe and secured
between $2,000 and $3,000.
"The Italians soon came swarming
rut after them 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 unacr 'che moving freight
train and got out on the other side
and escaped into some woods. He
told me the other two boys were
hanged. I do not know in what city
this occurred."
Mrs. Moore has voiced few regrets
over her stirring past but yesterday
-re said, "They say your father al
ways knows best. My father tried
1 tc keep me from marrying Mr. Moore.
1 ant' if I had listened?we'l maybe
; tnings would have been different.
- But Mr. Moore wac always very kind
1 to me. with never a cross word and
1 while we were not millionaire -, I alr
ways had whatever I wanted.
"I used to try to get him to stop
1 this business of safe blowing. He
. was always lucky at cards, and for
1 amusement would often play, and
i nearly always won. I tried to get him
1 To quit safe blowing and take un gambling:
I know gambling is net the
I best life, but it'- better than safe
, blowing. But he always said lie did
n't like to gamble and so he kept at
his old business.
i "I euess it doesn't matter about
i using my picture," she sa?'d, when
t leference was made to?a photograph.
4 I've had so much notoriety already
. that when I go out from this jail
? every one will say, 'There gees that
3 safe blower's wife,' so I guess a litt
tic more publicity won't matter one
i way or the other.
i "When Mr. Moore went on the Trent
ton job, he and I were planning to
) buy an automobile. He has promised
ice a red roadster?we were going to
s see it when he came back from Trent
ton. But he never came back."
e Mrs. Moore was more nervous yest
tcrday than she had been during the
t day previous and showed much more
, feeling when talking over the five
p years of her life with the professional
safe cracker.
She said yesterday that she did nol
know Portland Ned. For some time
' after Moore was shot and killed it
g
j was suspected in some quarters that
he was Portland Ned, the convict who
it will be recalled, escaped from the
j governor's office at the state capitol
some years ago. Portland Ned now
however, is serving a term in the At
larta penitentiary and, <is evidentlj
rot the same as J. C. Moore. Wher
j asked yesterday if she had a photo^
gTaph of Moore, Mrs. Moore uxid sh<
did not?that hs would never have r
V photograph taken of any kind.
It is likely that Moore was knowi
1 under other names to law officers ovei
y
the country anil in investigations nov
j under way other facts with regan
to his life mav come out.
e
d ?
I- Ten Million Motor Cars in 1921.
d
d The Bureau of Public Roads of th<
1- United States Department of Agri
e culture repotts that the motor vehi
e cle registration for the year 1921 wil
h total approximately 10,325,000, re
r. turns having been received from al
s states except Virginia, Arizona an*
o California, and estimates made fo
these states on the basis of the othe:
I- returns. This represents an increas<
e cf more than a million over the 1921
h figure, or nearly 11 per cent.. Th<
e greatest increase in registration weri
d in industrial sections, the agriculture
e sections in general showing a smalle:
amount of increase,
e
WORRIED
k HUSBANDS
READ THIS
a :
d GUDE'S PEPTO-MANGAN IS THI
e BEST TONIC FOB NERVOUS,
n TIRED-OUT WIVES,
a
Is your wife "all tired out" an<
f> ctoss and irritable much of the time'
0 Do the children "bother her to death1
d every day, and do the ordinary house
i. hold tasks that she formerly perform
d cd with ease seem now to overtax
1 her? In other words, do you ofter
d come home to a house of trouble in
!- stead of a house of joy and happiness 1
If your answer is "yes" to thes<
s pointed questions, don't blame youi
d wife until she has taken Gude's PeptoMangan
with her meals for a few
- weeks. She is simply run-down anc
t neivous and needs the kind 01 iroi
s that she will get in Gude's Peptoe
Mangan to give her more vitality and
- strength. For thirty years doctors
have recommended Gude's Pepto-Mani
grn as a first-class building-up tonic.
1 Sold by your druggist in both liquid
; and tablet form.?Advertisement.
r NOTICE.
i
The County Board of Commission
.? TIT:n; 1 n. A... u
. ers ui rv iinajusuuig v^vunty win i cceive
bids at their office in Kingstree.
* S. C., on Tuesday, September 6th, and
1 on the first Tuesday in each month
thereafter, for groceries in bulk lots
for the chaingang for one month at a
time.
S. J. SINGLETARY,
Countv Supervisor Williamsburg Co.
8-18-21-tf.
DR. FRANK O. LENTZ
I DENTIST
Office Over Baggett's Jewelry Store,
Main Street
OFFICE HOURS:
9 a. m. to 1 p. m. and 2 to 5 p. m.
I WILL PAY 181 THE POUND
FOR FAT HENS. MILLER'S MARKET.
County Pernrd i? mailed to
iiihsrn!K>rs at SI 50 the year, invaria;
bly payable in advance.
j?l
Hi W iW I'll11
" 1 I
IJ
I WANT TO BUY A LOT OF !
GOOD FAT HENS AT 18* THE ;
POUND. MILLER'S MARKET.
"WW ray* i
. | The beat dividend a man can
I earn is the esteem of his asso[
dates and friends. He. has to
: ! have character to do this of
s | course.
: I But one of the adjuncts which
t j help along this esteem is the
I man's APPEARANCE. Noth'
| ing takes its place.
1 Royal Tailored Clothes simpli'
i fy this need. They are made
, I any way you like them?from
any doth you desire?and the
price, $25 and up.
This means guaranteed ALL
1 PURE WOOL and guaranteed
ALL PURE eatisfactlon. You'll
? be surprised to know what fine
t clothes you can buy at so little
cost.
i SUITS $25 AND UP
' City Tailoring Shop
1 J J. V. EPPS, Manager
j Authorized Resident Dealer
1 ...
1
- rv vii'wkbikxki
1 Typewrit
> S' We are
? Typewrite
> I Paper. C;
B need of th
: jj| We cafi
IT ypewnte
and Yellov
size you n(
We car
grades suii
from the h
to a cheap
Mttll n 111111 HI III11 11111111 11 I nil 1111 mint 11 >
i E. V. Price & Co.'s |
I Representative will be at our store !
April 5th and 6th j
(NEXT WEEK) f 4M
With a Special Display of
i Fine Woolens || i
| McGILL BROTHERS jj
Store For Men
:: Kingstree, South Carolina. ||
IIIII llllll t IMIIIIIIIIIIIIHHIIIIimMMIIIHI ?
Sv?*I I i IIII II III 11 HI I 11 11 U H 11 > II11111 H 11 11 11 111
WANTED
! Nice Fat Hens! ii
I will pay 18c per pound for <j
i; all the Hens you have to spare, but j
i | don't want old roosters.
| H. A. MILLER, |
; King'stree, South Curalina !
er Supplies! 1
now carrying a line of 1
;r Ribbons and Carbon jR
all and see us when in |l
also supply your needs in Jj 1
:r Paper, Manifold Paper jgi
v Copy Sheets, cut any H
;ed from stock. H
** * * i 3
i furnisn tnis stock in ||f
table for any purpose, B
ighest grade parchment 9
copy sheet.
^he-Xounty Record 1