Des Arc citizen., 1859-06-15
AN ATROCIOUS ASSASSINATION AT
 ST. LOUIS.

AL about nine o'clock on Friday m0rn- ing, 2nd inst, the quiet citizens of St. Louis were startled by the perpetration of one of the most deliberate, cold-blooded and atrocious murders our pen has ever been called upon to record. Joseph Char less, Esq, an old and esteemed citizen and President of the Mechanics Bank of that city, having been shot down in the street whilst peaccably pursuing his way to his place of business, by Jos. w. Thorn ton, ex-bookkeeper of the Boatmen's Saw ing Institution. Thornton was immedi- ately arrested and conveyed to jail. the officers having much difficulty in preserv- ing him from the hands of the infuriated people.
 About twelve o'clock, some two or three thousand men repaired to the jail with the avowed purpose of forcibly taking and hanging the prisoner, but through the exertions of the police and the influence of several prominent citizens. the excitement was somewhat allayed, and majority of the crowd prevailed upon to disperse. Squads of excited men, however, fingered around the jail all the afternoon, and tra- versed the streets, threatening vengeance on the culprit.
 To prevent violence, Mayor Filley ordered out the military, some of whom stood guard in the jail-yard, while others patroled the streets prepared to instantly suppress any threatened outbreak. MT. Charless still fingered a; the latest advices, but his death was looked for every moment. He received two pistol wounds in the ab- domen, either one of which the surgeon pronounced mortal
 Much excitement existed, and 1t was feared that the announcement of the death of the wounded man would be the signal of general outbreak.
 MT. Charless, senior, is of the firm of Charless, Blow & Co.,, one of the oldest and most esteemed merchants of that city, and the attack upon him is universally regarded as the most unprovoked and cold-blooded on record.
 The following causes are given as hav- ing led to the commission of the bloody deed: Some four years ago, the Boat mems Saving Institution of which Thornton was book-keeper at the time, was robbed of some eighteen or nineteen thousand dollars. Suspicion was directed towards Thornton, and he was narrowly watched, but the officers of the institution as yet retained his services. Thornton kept a private account in the bank of which Mir. Charless was President and it was noticed that whenever he made his deposits, one or two notes answering to the description Of the stolen ones, were among the money he wished placed to his credit. Finally, he offered the sum of $l ,070, all of which was suspected 10 be portion of the missing funds; MT. Charless questioned him re- garding it, and received an evasive answer which so strengthened his suspicious of Thornton's guilt that he resolved to de- nounce him. Thornton was arrested, tried, and acquitted there being no positive evil dence that he had stolen the money. Since the trial the mind of the disgraced | man has been breeding over his fancied wrongs and he has been heard, several times, 10 express his intention to say those who appeared against him. He has n- deed wrecked dreadful vengeance upon one of the objects of his hate, and lost himself.