The evening Argus. [volume] (Rock Island, Ill.) 1861-1871, 1869-02-11

CtlcD Thted ROGERS case ID NtW "Ih' nNNIIt' I
= RHording its parallel.
GEN. M'COESELL's RESIDENCE
is on one ofthe principal aud most frequent.
I'd streets, and at the time tho murder was
people were passing and repass
ng in front Of it. The house is an ordiua
y twostory structure, with hall opening
rom the front At one side, and extending
clear through it to the rear. At the side
Of the house is one story addition with
door opening to the front, aud another into
the hall in the main building.
TuF GENERALS PRIVATE ROOM,
In this addition are located the private
room and office of the general. and in this
room the foul deed was perpetratsd, He
was last seen at about 20 minutes before 9
o'clock, By his grandson, who brought him
his morning mail, The generals table is
located near the corner Of the room, farthest
from the door, with room enough-say four
fet-to pos- behind a person sitting at the
table and the book cases with which the room
Is lined.
JUST EFFoKE THE MURDER
hi. grandson found him siuingwi,h hisrirht
side to the table, aud his feet on the hearth
Of the stove. Ats O'Clock, certainly not
later,-hi5 wife was in the kitchen, getting
up lunch for the general, who was prepar.
ing to 90 to Springfield.
THE MURDER
The door from the kitchen to the dining.
room into the ball, aud the back.halI outside
door all being open, the seryant.girl, at work
ia room over the dniug.room, heard a
sound like a fall. in tho generals room, like
the violent slamming Of door and, she
believes, footsteps in the hall. The general
had recently had slight attack of apopleXy,
and was appreheusive Of another attack.
Fearing the general had fallen in an ap.
oplcctlc fit, the girl immediately came down
and went to the room, where she found him
lying Frustrated upon the floor wetering 10
his blood. The alarm was Immediately
given; Mrs. Mcconnell came in, and George
Mcconnell, the general son, was sent for
! The general was breathing when George
Mcconnell arrived, but expired before the
arrival Of physician. George and the
| physician were at first Of the opinion that
the general had been taken with hemorrhage
| of the lungs. He was lying with his face in
| a pool ofbIood, which concealed his injuries:
but, when the physician commenced TO
wipe AWAY the blood from the face the fact
that
a MURDER OF MORE THAN USUAL ArRocrY,
has been perpetratpi, became apparent
Five wounds were found any Of which
would have proved fatal, the assassin,
whoever he was, having been determined to
to complete beyond all probability offaiIure
his bloody work He had received blow up
on the back Of the head, by which the skull
had not only been crushed but literally pull
verified, fragments Of the bone having been
driven far into the brain, The skull, near
the right temple, q little above the line Of
the eye, was fractured There WAS wound
of the loft .~,..l,le, rvncuing upward just un
der the edge of the hair, in which some three
square inches ofthc skull had been complete.
Iy driven in, as with a hammer, the wound
being fully two inches IN Cepth. Back OF
the left ear, was another serious fracture OF
the skull, and still another under the right
ear. Besides these wounds,-any one OF
which would have proved fstal the left
Jaw was broken, without, however, any abra
sion Of the skin. Some of the wounds are
double corresponding precisely in size and
angle, as if the deadly blows had been in
hicted with q moukey.wrench
SUSPICION.
at first pointed directly to the servant girl
from the fact that it seemed as if some one
having access the generals room at all times
must have committed the deed, and from the
fact that it seems impossible for her to have
heard the noise she says she heard but her
appearance on the stand, and the fact that
she has resided with the family for six years
past, that she has always been on the best
terms with the general and to all appear,
RHCes, devoted to him, and that the family
utterly refused to entertain such q thought,
have entirely relieved her from suspicion.
1t is generally supposed that the part OF her
story relating 10 the noise or fall she heard
is the result of an impression created upon
her mind by the excitement attending the
discovery of the horrible crime.
HYPOTHESIS.
The outside door of the generals room, it
is proper to say, was locked when the girl
went in, but it was subsequently found un-
locked, without any one knowing how it be.
came unlocked. There is closet in the
room and one hypothesis is, that the muir
derer was surprised by the approach Of the
girl, and concealed himself in this closet,
and subsequently came out, and escaped by
this door, unlocking it for the purpose.
MYSTERIOUS CIRCUMSTANCE.
Another circumstance which tends to
shroud the assassination in mystery is the
position in which the body, was found.
There was but one pool of blood upon the
floor, and no blood upon the chair or tables,
showing conclusiveiy that the man was
not moved, and did not himself move, after
receiving the first blow. The assassin must
have come in either at the front or rear hall
door,-and how be could have done so
without Mrs. McConDell's hearing him,
seems strange,-and in coming into the
the generals room, must have approached
him trosl the front aud on the left side, while
the position Of the body shows that the
blow was delivered from behind and on the
right side for the body had fallen ont Of the
char to the front and to the left, the feet
being under the hearth of the stove on which
they were resting.
When his grandson left home, the letter
brought by the boy had been opened, and
the general was evidently reading his papsr.