Newspaper Tidbit: Three Prisoners Flee Manassas Jail

Evening Star (DC)
28 October 1939

THREE PRISONERS FLEE MANASSAS JAIL

Sheriff J. T. Kerlin of Prince William County, (Va.) and his deputies today were searching for three prisoners who escaped last night from the Manassas Jail by digging through a brick wall with a stove poker. Washington police were asked to aid in the search.

The escaped men, police said, are A. Keller, 42, and two youths about 20 years old -- Charley Hall and Oscar Verran. It was believed they caught a freight train out of Manassas.

Jailer Joseph Garner said three other men in the jail did not join in the break.

Madness Monday: Maggie Compton Perkey Clore

Evening Star (Washington, DC)
21 October 1946

MAN KILLS DAUGHTER, THEN ENDS HIS LIFE

Manassas, Va., Oct. 21 -- A Manassas man, arguing with his daughter about being sent to the county almshouse, shot her to death and then killed himself yesterday, Sheriff J. P. Kerlin reported.

Police listed the father as Thomas Lawson Compton, 65. His daughter, who had been twice married, was Mrs. Maggie Compton Perkey Clore.

Sheriff Kerlin said the father protested plans of his daughter to send him to the almshouse and fired two shots, striking her in and near the heart, and then shot himself through the head. The shooting occurred in the daughter's home on the Centerville road near here. Her two sons by a former marriage, aged 3 and 10, witnessed the shooting the sheriff said.

Beside her sons, Mrs. Clore is survived by her husband, a railroad employee and a daughter, Mrs. Mike Papa.

Dr. E. H. Marsteller, Prince William County coroner, issued certificates of homicide and suicide.


[The death certificate for Maggie Compton Perkey Clore notes her burial to be at Cannon Branch Cemetery in Manassas, VA. ~cgl]

Newspaper Tidbits

Richmond Times Dispatch – January 19, 1911

WANTED, DOCTOR: A GOOD LOCATION at Brentsville, Va.  Also merchant for this town; dwelling house and storeroom combined; for sale or rent.  Inquire of DR. W. J. BELL, Bristow, VA.

Richmond Times Dispatch – April 7, 1908

CAPTAIN W. F. WILLIAMS. – Bristol, VA, April 6.  Captain W. F. Williams, sixty-six years old, a native of Brentsville, Prince William county, VA, died here to-night of pneumonia.  He was captain of Company A, Fourth Virginia Regiment of the Confederate army.  For many years he was prominently connected with the railroads here.  Two sons and three daughters survive.  His only surviving sister, Mrs. Somerville, resides at Manassas.

Richmond Times Dispatch – November 5, 1916

APPOINTED DEPUTY SHERIFF. MANASSAS, VA., November 4. Judge J. B. T. Thornton has appointed J. P. Kerlin of Nokesville, deputy sheriff of Prince William County.  Mr. Kerlin was selected by Charles A. Barbee, sheriff, to succeed the late John M. Hooe.  McDuff Green, of Aden, has been appointed to fill the vacancy caused by Mr. Kerlin's resignation as supervisor from the Brentsville District.

Daily National Intelligencer – July 14, 1825

BRENTSVILLE, VA., JULY 8, 1825 – Joseph Bergess, who was sentenced to be hanged, by the Superior Court of Law for Prince William county, held in October last, for the murder of Charles Gollyhorn, was executed near Brentsville, this day, in presence of a large number of spectators, who had assembled to witness the scene.

Pittsfield Sun – July 4, 1867

The death is announced near Brentsville, Prince William County, Va., of Wm. Washington, aged 74 years, nephew of Col. Washington of the Revolutionary army, and third cousin of Gen. George Washington.  His brother, Col. Henry Washington, of the District of Columbia, survives.  The deceased served with distinction throughout the war of 1812.

Alexandria Gazette – May 22, 1832

DIED, Wednesday last, at Brentsville, Prince William County Va., Philip D. Dawe, Esq., Clerk of Pr. Wm. County Court, aged 50 years.