The weekly Portage sentinel. [volume] (Ravenna, Ohio) 1854-1861, 1858-05-20
IFrom ne chieaso Journal of May sA.l
A Fearful Tragedy-A New York
Mystery Cleared Up.

some Time since our readers VIII femem.
Der sf announcement in New York papers
that barrel marked "W. H. Jennings, 1856
Leonard street, New York." containing the
remains Of a female, was found in
the Hudson River Railroad depot, at New
York city. An inquest was held upon the
body at that place, aud the oficefs com.
menced Investigations. kilograms were
sent through Canada, and Il was found that
the barrel had crossed the Suspension
bridge. ~
From thence il was easily traced to Wind.
sor, and was found to have crossed the river
from Detroit on the 18th of March on the
steamer Transit. Further vestigation 10.
Gated Chicago as the starting point. From
the fact that there were no charges upon
the barrel except for it's passage over the
Michigan Central road, it was evident
that It was shipped here, and upon examine
ton Of the books ii was found that the bar.
rel left the Michigan Central depot on the
10th of March.
From this point, and with data furnished
them by the officers of the company, and
others, whose names are inmaterial at the
present time, Marshal Rehm and Capt.
Bradley commenced operations, and by q
series of successful moves and undete cted
strategy, which it is not necessary to detail,
few days since made up their minds who
the man was. Considerable precaution was
still necessary to be exercised until they
should obtain some definite clue as to the
probabilities of the case.
A consultation was held yesterday, and it
was determinee to arrest the man last night
They proceeded to the shop where he
worked, Messrs. Frazzes g. Rbolla's bar.
ber's saloon, under the Matteson House;
waited until the time of closing, and when
he came out to go home us usual he was ar.
rested. His name is Henry Jumpertx, and
he is a journeymnn barber by trade. He
has been in the employ of the above firm for
some time. and was formerly employed by
Warner who kept shop about three years
since, under the Revere House; then the
Young America. He is Prtssian by birth,
and twenty.four years of age. He came to
this country about four years ago.
The circumstances OF this cold. .b4odded
atrocity as detailed by himself, are as fol.
lows, in the outline. or how much Gre.
dence they are worthy it is not for us to de-
termine. They certainly, at any event,
form combination of horrors seldom, if
ever, equalled in the annals of crime, and
show him to be, ii not murderer, TO Which
alt the circumstances point, at least cold
blooded, depraved man, with little Of the
human in his composition.
The name Of the murdered woman is So
phia Werner; her maiden name was Ellen.
She was twenty-nine years of age, and the
wife Of Frederick Werner, who formerly
kept barber shop under the Revere House,
at which JumpertZ worked. Werner at the
same time, was living with another woman,
whose name we are unable to learn. This
was in The latter purt of 1868. Somew hat
over year ago Werner abseonded from the
city with this woman, leaving his wife here.
His business was broken up, and his wife
lived with barber under tile Shermon
House-Jumpertz wos boarding at the same
house, and formed an improper intimacy
with her. She told him her story and he
sympathized with her, and finally so far pre-
vailed upon her that she iet her former
paramour and lived with him.
After that building was burned last fall,
in the great fire, he hired a room in the fifth
story OF Pomcroy's building, at the corner
of South Water and Clark streets. After
they took the room, they ceased taking their
meals on Lake street. He provided a stove,
table; dishes, and other articles, and she did
the cooking. After time the woman be.
came enciente. He tried to keep the natter
a secret, but it leaked out, and his associates
continually annoyed him for living with a
low Dutch woman.
Provoked by their taunts, he determined
to 60 to Milwaukee, and the guilty pair took
their departure from this city. Shortly af-
ter their arrival, che was delivered of
child, but by some means it was hurried out
of existence. The prisoner says it was
born dead. Not satisfied with this guilty
alliance, the woman plead with Him to mar.
fy her, but lie refused. He wrote to Chica.
60 to obtain work; and Frazzee and Rabolla
offered him situation.
He packed up his baggage, and she in.
sisted on coming with him, and still more
strongly that he should marry her. He
fatty refused each of these requests, and
hard words passed between them. He hired
q room for her, paid her board until July
next, came off, and left her about the mid.
die of December last.
Several letters passed between them, in
all of which she constantly reiterated her
demand that he should marry her, and in one
of them said that she should die il he didn't
let her come. He finally wrote to her that
il she was coming to come in the night
time, and come directly to his room, SO that
no one should know she ives here. She
arrived in the city some time in February,
and no one knew she was back again except
the drsyman who brought her trunk to his
room. They lived along in the old style
until Sunday, the 9th of March:
That morning he went to the shop as iist-
al and returned at half past one to dinner.
The prisoner says that as he opened the
door it pushed hard, and that when he got
into the room; he found her hanging by
cotton rope to a common screw hook driven
into the door; her feet almost touching the
floor. This is the prisoners version. He
cut her down and laid her 6h the bed. Up
on the table he says he found letter stat
ing that she forgave him and wished she
could have died by the side of Werner. He
then sat in the window seat about an hour
thinking what he should do with the body,
Then, to convince himself that she was real
ly dead, he took the body off the bed; laid it
on muttrass on the floor, and cut her with
u lancet in several places. At the first in
esion drop or two of bloc flowed, but af-
forwards none. On the next day, he took
out the entrails and carried them two or
three miles off on the prairie and buried
them. His first thought was to throw the
body into the river, but there was too much
ice.
He then procured common case knife
and carpenters saw, and, after much trou-