The Ashland Tragedy by E. Joe Castle

Author:E. Joe Castle
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
Published: 2021-08-15T00:00:00+00:00

Alf Burnett, founder of the Eureka Detective Agency. Public domain.

The day after Detective Burnett’s theory appeared in the newspaper, a Courier-Journal reporter approached Marshal Heflin to ask his thoughts on Burnett’s statement. Heflin said Burnett’s statement was “the most ridiculous one he had ever heard in all his experience.” He continued and gave his account of what had taken place.

Mr. Powell came to me at the hotel at Ashland and informed me that he had a man in his employ whom he thought knew something about the murders. I sent for Ellis and he came to me at my room, and I had a long talk with him. After talking with him, I went out, leaving him in the room, and brought in the Citizens Committee; Mr. Campbell, Mr. Russell, and Mr. Calder. This committee had been appointed to defray all expenses that might occur in the investigation of the horrible crime. Ellis had a talk with them and gave them to understand that he knew something about the affair. I did not arrest him at that time and let him go home. But because the excitement was so great amongst the populace, I was afraid the mill hands would mob him if they found out that he was implicated, so I went out and brought him in again about seven o’clock. And while I was out arresting Neal and Craft, he made his confession, as published to Mr. Campbell, cashier of the National Bank of Ashland. His confession was made before three of the first citizens of Ashland.

I did not know anything about his confession until I returned after arresting Neal and Craft. And right here I wish to say in regard to Ellis’ being forced to confess at the point of a pistol, it is a lie and I deny it most emphatically; and a damn’d lie at that! The confession had been made in my absence. And as far as nobody knowing that Miss Thomas went to Mrs. Gibbons’ until late at night; that is another lie.

In regard to the negroes, that was a scheme I fixed up to draw Mr. Burnett off into the mountains. My reason for doing this was that Burnett was monkeying around there and getting in the way. I wanted to get him out of my way so I could work the case without having him nosing around. When I put him on the negro scheme, he went to West Virginia and tried to make a case out on the three negroes, I suppose. They had worked on the railroad near Ashland, and I knew that they had left there three weeks before the murders, because I had traced them to Huntington, WV and found out that they had been away from the scene of the tragedy for about three weeks.

Burnett, so the paper says, thinks George Ellis is a crank and insane. But I know one thing; if I was out looking for fools, cranks or lunatics, and was to meet Ellis and Burnett on the road, I would certainly take Burnett to be the man I was looking for.

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