Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1867-06-26
a Svashington Trng dy4The Cole
HiscocI< Tragedy sRc-enacted m
the National l,n nifnI. --.--... - | 1

l. ff the National CopitaI. .st.xa -.7guf q
/ from the Washington Republican. June 2Ell !
d Yesterday afterhoon about 21s O'Clock,
one of the mOstlappalling trag. dies oecur
| red in this city that it has ever been our,
province to record. The Sickles tragedy
1 Is naught to it. 3 As ,pales the moon before
4 the dawn of day, so does the remembrance
of Lafayettee square sink into insignifi-
1 carice when compared with the siekenihg
1 horror that hung around the bloody corpse
ssof Thomas Smoot.as he lay in his gore, a.
fearful sight to look upon, in7 the room
where he met his deaf. Yesterday after
1noou, abont p o'clock, the reports ofpis-
Il Ltol shots were heard by neighbors as COM
ling from the house 223 Sixth street north,
between Massachusetts aven ue and X street.
I7Ao few moments elapsed when young
1Jwomam came running. IOut of the house,
land cried that a man had been shot+
Another moment and a.man was seen COM
ing out of the house and walking quickly
4 down thestreet No attempt was made by
any one to stop him, and he, who proved to
be the murderer, kept ons and imakipg TO
the Central Guardhouse, delivered himself
up to the officer in charge, .Tnomas Smeed,
saying that he had shot a man whom he
had found in bed with his wife,. In the
meantime tile news spread like wildfire ;in
4 the vicinity of the house in Sixth street, a
large crowd soon collected. Drs., ,Behrend
land Bowen had been sent for by some of
1.-the women in the house, and these gentle
men shortly made their appearance, and
passing. into the house up the stairs into
the room in the, second story, north side,
discovered the body of a man lying on the
floor literally bathed in blood HeFwas
1stiH breathing, but unconscious. In the
forehead, above the right eye, was dis
lowered 0bullet wound, and in the jaw
was found another - a bullet having
passed from the left side of the jaw over
the right, and through both. The
bullet in the forehead was probed for, but
only q small fragment of it could be found,
the larger portion of it being evidently
limbedded in the skull. Lieutenant Eek
loft, of the Seventh Precinct, who had been
sent for, arrived at the house some twenty
minutes after the occurrence, aud in few
minutes after his appearance the man
breathed his last. By this time an immense
crowd had assembled, and it was soon
known that the man shot was one Thomas
Smoot, butcher, and the murderer Hen
lry johnson, the cause OF the shooting be-
ing the criminal intimacy of Smoot with
1Johnson's wife.
At the Coroner's inquest the testin o "
ELECTED these facts: Mrs. Sawyer, who kept
the boarding house where the tragedy was
teuacted, was a clairvoyant, and made her
living by practicing that art. Smoot and
the woman johnson had been rooming 1t
Mrs. Sawyer's since last fall. Mrs. john
son had always said that Smoot was her
UuSDdlu, anu OnOOG SUayeu III the mouse
levery night but Saturday night, and took
his meals there. The day before the trag-
edy. johnson came TO Sawyer and told him
that Smoot's alleged spouse was his (John-
son's) wife. Witnesses who lived in the
house testified that strange man entered
the room where Smoot and Mrs. johnson
were, and shortly afterwards the report of a
pistol was heard, and Mrs. johnson rushed
out eXclaiming, "Oh my, my man is shot ~
johnson then passed down stairs with the
pistol in his hand. Mr.. Smoot was about
thirty-tWo years of age, and is a son of Heze-
kiah SmooJ, the. butcher, in Alexandria.
He has been in business for himself, both
in Alexandria aud this city. He was a
man about five feet eight inches in height,
dark hair and eyes, smooth face, and has a
wife and four children residing in AleXan-
dria. Mrs. Johnson is said to be woman
some 40 years of age, and is the mother of
three children, one of whom, a daughter,
has been married, and is now widow
She has resided with her husband and fam
ilyr on Bridge street, near the College, in
Georgetown; has for sometime past been
away from her home so much as to arouse
her husbands suspicious, and which final
ly led to the commission of the homicide.
Henry johnson, the prisoner, is butch
er, and has a stall in the Corporation mar
ket. He is about A years of age; has q
mild, pleasant look, and blue eyes, sandy
hair and whiskers. The pistol he used was
a revolver. of the Allen and Wheeler pat
tern, and johnson told officer Smeed that
he had fired three times, but that one bull
let had exploded outside of the barrel. He
was allowed last night to see a couple of
friends, who came from Georgetown to see
him, and who brought him his supper. He
was sleeping soundly when we visited the
station at late hour last night.
There are several rumOrs afloat as re-
CARDS the whereabouts of Mrs. johnson,
and up to an early hour this morning nOtl
ing definite had been heard of her. One
officer stated that woman answering h 1
description had been seen going ont the
Seventh street road about 311s o'csock 2. NJ &.
yesterday. Another account is that she was
seen in Georgetown after the murder. Il
willsnot be long ere she is found and more
light thrown upon tragedy about which
there is yet much mystery.n-=sye