The Burlington weekly hawk-eye. [volume] (Burlington, Iowa) 1857-1858, 1857-07-29
The schuyler CeAnsy Tragedy
Murderer Atill ~ Large.
Hprru Aha Nornan InnrnAl. 16kh.

From the Morgan Journal loeh-
| Since the date Of our last, We hayf t1ee1vet
letters aud other information Il pa q whaci
should have reached ua in time for y week
paper) in reference to the murdered @oman ant
children, found in the Illinois Rive4 near Mere
dosiA and Naples, about the 2S,h ~ = gen
tleman who has spent some time enofIs Y
unravel the mystery. sends us the following de-
| scription Of
rHE MURoKRED FAMILY.
A fisherman on the river below Beardstown
| SAYS tha, on the lst Of May, two men, woman
| and three children came TO his hose and stop
| ped for the night The men hired 10 cut wood
| for q Mr. Briggs, and the whole p4esy occupied
shanty on the west side OF the river, IN the
lower edge of SCHUYLER County. On the even
ing Of the murder, the men purchassd two jugs
Of liquor, saying they were going 70 have
"frolic' On the evening OF the 26th, about
eleven o'clock. two men who we're nsling IN
| the vicinity Of this shanty, heard the cry o.
murder" from q woman, but the cry soon
ceased. They afterwards heard one OF the
children excaim, pap don't kill me. Iney
seem to have made no effort to interfere or IN
vessigate the affair. as they report that they
soon heard a splash in the river and then all was
still. No one was to be seen on the following
day.
THE BODIES.
The body OF the woman was found about on
mile above Meredosia, and was brought to tha'
place for the purpose Of holding an inquest
She is described as being about a5 years OLD.
about five feet high, with dark crown hair, and
q full set Of teeth. She bore marks OF violence
upon her breast and BODY; her neck was diso-
Gated, and . cord was drawn three times around
it, to which were attached heavy sad iron and
skillet lid, weighing together alGut twelve ios
She was perfectly destitute of clothing, sheet
being wrapped around her, and tied Al the feet
and around the neck. The verdict OF the jury
was, that she had been murdered by some per-
son or persons unknown.
The children are described, as LIST, a little girl
about ten years old; I'd, boy six, and Sd, a
boy four years old. or these, the two oldest
only have been found, though it Is probable the
youngest child shared the fate of the rest OF the
family. Tie girl was found near Naples about
the same time the woman was found. The Old
est boy was found about three miles above Ne.
redosa, with both legs thrust into one leg Of his
pantaloons, and the other tied around his neck
The circumstances 70 20 prove that the most
brutal murder ever known in this section OF the
State has been committed. The murderers
seem to have endcavored TO remove all traces OF
the murder, only striped shirt with marks
Of blood upon il had been found.
The mnrderers are described as follows: first,
the one representing himself as the husband of
the woman gave his name as George c. Clay ton
also went by the name OF John George. lie
is about five feet eight inches high, with dark
hair, blue eyes considerably pack marked,
weighs about l7o pounds, aged @6 Years, had on
a checked or tweed coat, the remainder OF his
clothing yer, common. He is q great talher,
likes to drink and represent himself as Cana.
dian Frenchman.
The other calls himself James Watson; ap.
pears to be an Irshman, says he is from Can
ada, is five feet and half high, has black hair,
freckled face, is heavy set, with broad should
ers. and weighs about 17o pounds. The beard
on his chm is rot shaved. He appears to be
about 80 years of age.
A letter received a few days ago informed ,is
that both the men had been arrested, and were
in Jail at Rushvie. This seems to have been a
mistake, however, as later information has been
received this week contradictinG this report, a
dispatch having been received at BeardstoNn,
from the officer at La Sale, stating that the
men were at that place the night previous with.
ont money, and that they had gone up the canal.
The probability is that they have been arrested
before this time.