Fay's body was found by Watchman Mace when the latter came on duty to relieve him at midnight. He was lying in a pool of blood in the cloth room.
Death is thought to have been instantaneous from a wound in the heart.
He had apparently grappled with the robbers when he found them removing cloth from the storage room. He was shot twice in the back and his thumb was also shot off. His clothing was burned with powder. Detective Sergeant Hillyer, head of the Peoria police bertillon department, was summoned to Lacon at the request of factory owners and has discovered many finger prints. Some of these prints are clear and easily reproduced.