HOLLOWAY, Ed - Big Four wreck
Source: Crawfordsville Daily Journal Tuesday, 17 July 1894
The confession of Ed Holloway as being implicated in wrecking a Big Four train at Fontenot whereby the engineer and fireman lost their lives comes in the nature of a shock to many people in this city where he was so well known. While the environments of blood were not such as to create great expectations, yet he was regarded as an industrious and inoffensive young man, and many were inclined to give him much credit in his efforts in the line of good citizenship.
(*details of accident in this issue)
Source: Crawfordsville Daily Journal Thursday, 19 July 1894
Terre Haute Express: Coroner’s court was in session all day yesterday and nine miners who came down from Fontanet, and who were supposed to know something of the wreck, were examined. A large number of the witnesses from the scene of the awful wreck did not get to testify before the time for adjournment, and the taking of evidence will be resumed this morning. The examination is being conducted by Attorneys Lamb and Beasley, who are prosecuting the case in the interest of the Big Four Railroad Company.
Holloway, the man suspected of having thrown the switch, is still cowering in his cell at the approach of the time when he will be confronted with a charge of murder. He made no more confessions yesterday nor added to his already long list of lies. This happy state of affairs arises from the fact that he was kept under close lock and key and no person was allowed to talk to him.
The statement printed in last evening’s Gazette to the effect that Holloway’s repudiation of his confession was made by him on the advice of an Express reporter, who sought to create a sensation as a measure of revenge for being “scooped” on a piece of news is not true as to facts. The surrounding circumstances as they first appear makes colorable the claim that the reporter might have advised Holloway to repudiate his confession and add another to his long list of lies, but the fact that jailer Wier was in the cell during the interview and heard every word that was said prior to the time of Holloway denying his confession to Coroner Mattox, renders it impossible for the reporter to have committed such an unprincipled act, even had he desired to do so.
That the charge of suggesting to Holloway that he repudiate former statements is false can be determined by the statement of Jailer Wier, who is a sworn officer and had the custody of Holloway since his arrest. Wier will say that the reporter was never with the accused unless he (Wier) was present and heard all that was said prior to the suspect’s denial of his confessions, and that nothing was said by the reporter which could be construed as advice to Holloway to change his confession.
A special from Terre Haute to the Indianapolis Sentinel says:
The confessed Big Fur train wrecker, Edward Holloway, added a peculiar chapter to the case today when he gave a reporter for the Terre Haute morning paper decidedly the worst of it.
The morning paper in question had got left on the confession of Holloway to the coroner and last night, in an effort to discredit it and check the force of the “scoop” by the Sentinel, the reporter went down to the jail and induced Holloway, so Holloway says, to set up his claim of last night that Detective Grady of the Big Four had coerced him into confession and that he wasn’t at Fontanet at all on the night of the wreck.
Holloway’s statement as to the reporter is partly corroborated by ex-Congressman Lamb and Sheriff Stout, to whom the reporter declared that he was going to try to make Holloway go back on his statements.
The prisoner today gave away the whole of the reporter’s scheme, and it naturally causes amusement.
Holloway says he wants to plead guilty without any further ceremony and take his sentence.
Source: Crawfordsville Daily Journal Tuesday, 28 August 1894
Terre Haute Express: The State has practically dropped the case against Ed Holloway, the young man in jail here charged with wrecking a Big Four train at Fontanet. Indeed it is said that the Big Four officers are looking for a place to let loose of Holloway. Grady, the Big Four detective, who is alleged to have coerced the confession from the harmless simpleton, is almost in the same position as the man hugging the bear—he wants somebody to help him let loose.
From the present indications Holloway’s attorney and his friends won’t have it that way. Holloway, though never regarded as mentally right, seems to have been an honest hardworking boy. He has hundreds of friends in Crawfordsville, where he was raised, who, it is said, will see to it that retribution overtakes those who have taken advantage of his mental condition and thrown him in a murderer’s cell.
Holloway’s first statement printed in the Express has been thoroughly investigated by attorneys Sant C. Davis and Sam R. Hamill and found to be correct in every important detail, thus rendering it utterly impossible for the young man to have committed the terrible crime charged to him. Arrangements were completed yesterday which will enable the defense to prove an alibi and his attorneys say that in a short time after the case is call for trial, he will be a free man. Then, the defense claims, the other fellow’s ox will get the goring.
Samuel H. Ogden, of Rosedale, was in the city yesterday to see if he could identify Holloway as the man to whom he had sold a sandwich at ten o’clock on the night of July 12th, the night preceding the wreck. Ogden was accompanied to the jail by attorneys Davis and Hamill. No sooner had the restaurant keeper stepped up to the big cage than he recognized the tall, simple appearing, overgrown fellow as his mysterious customer just before closing his place of business on the night and time above mentioned. Ogden said that when Holloway came to his place, his face was bleeding from a fresh wound on his left cheek. He asked Holloway the cause of the wound and was told that he was struck with a piece of coal thrown by one of the miners at Fontanet. Several persons who were about the restaurant saw Holloway walk to a pump near by and wash the blood from his face. He then ate his sandwich and said he was going to hunt a place to lay down and rest, as he had walked fast and ran a good portion of the way from Fontanet and was tired. He said he could not stay in Fontanet until morning as the miners were mad at him, and had threatened to kill him if he did not leave. When Holloway saw Ogden he readily recognized him as the Rosedale restaurant keeper. His face brightened and he seemed to realize that he had found a friend who had brought hope and light into the gloom of his cell. Holloway talked but little, leaving the talking for the Rosedale man, who, in a straightforward manner, told a story which confirms the one told by Holloway when he was arrested. Ogden could not give the exact time when Holloway entered his place, but said it was somewhere between 9:45 and 10:15 o’clock. He remained in the restaurant at Rosedale thirty or forty five minutes, which would have made it near 11 o’clock when he again stepped out on the streets of Rosedale.
Matthew Lindeman, another reputable citizen of Rosedale, who saw Holloway at Ogden’s restaurant on the night of July 12th, was in the city with Ogden yesterday and accompanied the party to the jail. He recognized Holloway as the man whom he saw buy the sandwich of Ogden and corroborated Ogden’s statement regarding the time. He also saw the fresh wound on Holloway’s face and heard him tell about being struck with a piece of coal. He saw Holloway leave the restaurant and wash the blood from his face. Lindeman furnishes further confirmation of Holloway’s statement by saying he talked with him a few moments after he left Ogden’s restaurant and saw him climb into an empty coal car, where he said he intended to spend the night as he was too tired to attempt to walk to Rockville. The accused also recognized Lindeman as the man whom he had met while at Rosedale.
The grand jury has not been in session since Holloway was arrested and there is yet no indictment against him. The case will be among the first taken up when the grand jury meets and if an indictment is returned, the case will be tried during the September term, as the defense is ready for trial and will force the matter to a test as soon as possible. If no indictment is found the case will be at an end, so far as the prosecution is concerned. Holloway’s friends at Crawfordsville have subscribed money for the defense and to aid the unfortunate man in his fight for redress, which will certainly follow his release.
Source: Crawfordsville Daily Journal Monday, 1 October 1894
Terre Haute Express: Ed Holloway, who was coerced into a confession two months ago and whose innocence has since been practically established, has been removed from “murderer’s row” to the drunk cage, which means that the jailer is expecting his release daily.
In his verdict regarding the death of the fireman and engineer killed in the Fontanet wreck on the night of july 12, Coroner Mattox found that the men met death at the hands of ed Holloway, who had thrown the switch, causing the wreck of the train on which the men were employed. After rendering this verdict, the coroner swore out a warrant against Holloway, charging him with murder in the first degree. The coroner’s verdict was based on one of two confessions, which the accused afterward claimed he had made under duress of threats and promises made by one Grady, the Big Four detective, who was at that time in charge of the case. The Express held to the theory that Holloway was innocent and that his confession was the result of fright and his impaired mental condition. When Holloway found courage to withdraw his confession and tell of the processes used by the detective in securing it, there were loud expressions of indignation and detective Grady with the coroner rushed to the Express office to suppress the publication of the statement made by the accused in retracting the confession. When Grady’s request was refused and he was assured that the Express would print the news, the charge was made that Holloway was advised to retract his confession by an Express reporter, the detective and his associates claiming that Holloway had so informed them. But with the same breath they refused to accompany the reporter to the jail and allow Holloway to make such a statement in his presence. Detective Grady got all the notoriety he wants and went back to Indianapolis, and the Express continued its investigation on the theory that Holloway was innocent. Time and disclosures have vindicated this theory and within the next day or two, Ed Holloway, whom the detective and coroner found guilty of wrecking the Big Four train and killing two men, will walk from the jail a free man, wholly exonerated of any complicity whatever in the crime. The poor man, who has been in jail almost three months, is delighted at the prospect of his release, and said to an Express reporter yesterday: “I’ll never forget you fellows. I believe they would have hung me if it hadn’t been for the Express. They had me in here and would give me no chance to prove my innocence.”