PEACH OF A STORY

Fame Thrust On A Well Known Local Character

Jim Willis, a well-known local character, was indicted at Criminal Court for entering a Baltimore & Ohio freight car in the local yards and stealing therefrom 150 feet of rope, worth $15.00, a set of blocks worth $10.00, 400 feet of rope worth $20.00, brass junk worth $20.00 and an ax worth $1.00. Jim escaped from the city, but the B&O officers kept after him and arrested him last Thursday at Pittsburg. This morning Officer Gaiway left for Pittsburg and will bring the prisoner here.

Willis is having fame thrust upon him, according to the following peach of a story sent out from Pittsburg:

“Pittsburg, Pa., Sept. 23 – James Willis, a young West Virginian of 33 years, was arrested here yesterday afternoon on a charge of larceny. The police claim that Willis stole a whole locomotive from the yards at Parkersburg, W.Va., some time since, and has since sold most of it to junk dealers in Pittsburg. Baltimore and Ohio Railroad detectives who traced Willis say he ran the engine out into the country into a blind switch in the woods, where he, at his leisure, dismantled it, taking the brass and smaller parts first, taking them by hand-car to where he could load them on a boat. He would then return for other hand-car loads until most of the engine was lifted. At one Pittsburg junk dealer 700 pounds of the engine was found in stock.

“About six months ago the large Mogul engine owned by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad pulled into the yards at Parkersburg after a long haul. The engineer and fireman left the engine in the yards, with the steam blowing off. Willis happened along, and seeing the engine deserted, and its inside and outside shining like a jeweler’s show window, took possession. Opening the lever to its last notch, Willis drove through the yards and only slackened up when the yard limits were reached.

“After clearing the yards, Willis slackened the speed of his prize and at once started to loot the Mogul. Every ounce of brass was stripped from the big engine and every other thing saleable on it was secured. Then he again opened the throttle and after gaining a strip of woods, tossed off his treasure trove, and as the big engine came to a stop, he loaded his plunder on a hand-car, which he pushed along the tracks, until the wooded section was reached. Here he buried the loot and disappeared. The plunder brought about $500 when taken to a secondhand dealer.”

The Parkersburg Sentinel,

Sept. 23, 1910

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Bob Enoch is president of the Wood County Historical and Preservation Society. If you have comments or questions about Look Back items, please contact him at: roberteenoch@gmail.com, or by mail at WCHPS, PO Box 565, Parkersburg, WV 26102.