Norfolk Virginian, October 30, 1878

Arrested on Suspicion of Having Committed Murder Sixteen Years Ago.

Moral -- Murder

Constable J. L. E. Kellam, of Princess Anne county, arrested in that county on Monday last a man named Samuel Sherrar, who is said to have murdered in Drummondtown, Accomac county, in 1862, a white man named Wm. Walker. Sherrar was lodged in jail at Princess Anne courthouse Monday night, and yesterday was brought to this city by Constable Kellam, accompanied by Dr. Jas. E. Bell, and locked up for the night in the city jail here. To-day he will be taken to Eastern Shore by way of the steamer N. P. Banks and turned over to the proper authorities. He has been at large ever since the commission of the offense with which he stands charged about sixteen years ago, and though he has travelled about a good deal and visited this city twice, has always succeeded in avoiding arrest.

Mr. Sherrar, who seems disinclined to talk of the affair, but who does not deny having shot Walker, says that the killing took place at a public gathering in Drummondtown, at which a difficulty occurred between his brother-in-law and Walker. The latter was in the act of assaulting his opponent when he (Sherrar) shot him. It was during the war, and the prisoner left the Eastern Shore at once to avoid being captured by the Yankees. He says that he has lived for years in Georgia, and that he spent some time in Norfolk. He went to Princess Anne county some days ago, thinking that the matter had been dropped and he would not be molested. He did not try, he says, to avoid arrest, and supposed that his having remained at liberty so long was because the authorities did not intend to prosecute him. He was a respected resident of the Eastern Shore, where he has many friends, and also lived at one time in Princess Anne county.