Newspaper Tidbit: Colchester Marker Will Be Unveiled

Evening Star (DC)
24 September 1931

COLCHESTER MARKER WILL BE UNVEILED

Prince William Host to State Officials at Site of First Court House Friday

Special Dispatch to the Star

WOODBRIDGE., Va., September 24 -- Prince William County citizens will play host on Friday to State and county officials as well as several thousand visitors who will journey to old Colchester, now Woodbridge, about 25 miles south of Washington on the Richmond-Fredericksburg Highway, to witness the unveiling of  monument and marker on the site of the first court house erected in the county and used for the first time in 1731. The marker is the gift of Wade Hampton Ellis, master of old Rippon Lodge, who has just returned from Paris to take part in the exercises. The ceremonial will be part of the Bicentennial celebration of the founding of Prince William County and, following the unveiling of the marker, there will be an all-day picnic.

The festivities will begin at 10 o'clock in the morning with a concert by the Marine Band of Quantico, followed by tableaux and pageants participated in by the school children of the county depicting early Colonial historic events in the county, under the direction of Miss Beatrix Clark, rural school supervisor. Addresses will be made by Wade H. Ellis, the donor of the marker; the acceptance address will be made by J. Lindsay Dawson, chairman of the board of supervisors, while brief addresses will be made by Senator Claude Swanson, Representative Howard W. Smith, former Representative R. Walton Moore, C. C. Carlin and Charles C. Callahan. Hawes Thornton Davies of Manassas will preside at the formal exercises, while committees from the various women's organizations of the county will have charge of the picnic feature.

Newspaper Tidbit: Addendum -- Halloween Prank Ends in U.S. Prison

More than one person has asked if the investigation turned up the "pranksters."  The answer can be found in the following newspaper article --

Richmond Times Dispatch
17 March 1935

HALLOWEEN PRANK ENDS IN U.S. PRISON

One Gets Five Years, Two Others Less for the Despoiling of Grave

[Special to The Times-Dispatch]

QUANTICO, March 16 -- Three Quantico marines must serve sentences ranging from one to five years in the naval prison, Portsmouth, N.H., because they robbed a grave near here and dragged the corpse through local streets October 31 as a Halloween "prank."

Those convicted were Gene Cays of St. Louis, five years; Emil H. Hauch, Jamestown, N.C., two years, and John C. Killingsworth of Fort Gaines, Ga., one year. Hauch's parents reside in Washington.

At court-martial proceedings conducted here last month they were found guilty on charges of removing the corpse of John M. Rainey, World War veteran, from its grave Halloween night. The nude body was found abandoned in a front yard here the following morning.

Formal sentence of the marines came today following confirmation by Secretary of the Navy Swanson.

Thriller Thursday: Murder of Ella Smith

Richmond Times Dispatch
December 7, 1909

REWARD OFFERED IN MANASSAS CASE

One Hundred Dollars for Murderer of Prince William Woman

Governor Swanson yesterday offered a reward of $100 for the arrest and conviction of the person or persons who murdered Miss Ella Smith and burned her home in Prince William county, four miles north of Manassas and near the Bull Run battlefield, on the night of November 20.

The fire was discovered by a neighbor, but when he reached the scene the dwelling had been burned to the foundation.  Miss Smith's charred body was found in the ruins.

The authorities, after an investigation, announced that they were confident that murder had been done.  The dead woman was said to have had a considerable sum of money in her possession.