Wyandot County Republican. [volume] (Upper Sandusky, Ohio) 1869-1903, 1869-02-04
Murder Will sensation
in Actual Life.

The following account of a mys-
terious murder, committed seven
teen years ago, and the recent dis
covery of the murderer, is given by
the London Daily Neys. 1t would
furnish a wonderful theme for elab-
oration as sensation novel of the
period:
''The lapse of fseventen years and
a half has not erased from the recol
lection of the Inhabitants of the city
of Norwich the frightful sensation
which they experienced in the year
of the Great Exhibition. On satur-
day, the 21st of June: 1851, a young
man named johnson was out walk
ing in lane about a mile from Nor
wich, accompanied by his dog. The
dog was ranging a neighboring
plantation, and found there a piece
of carrion, which he brought out
on the road, and with which he i'm
mediately ran home. On Johnson's
arrival at home he was Mortified to
see that the piece off1esh the animal
had found was a human hand. He
at once gave notice to the police,
and the plantation was thoroughly
searched, and several other pieces
of flesh were found. On the next
day, Sunday, a foot was found on
the plantation, and some of the
vertebr@ were discovered hidden
in sawpit A black striped waist
coat, some cotton waste, such as is
used in cleaning machinery, but
smeared with blood, and a roller
such as is used by the Norwich
weavers, were also found.
"On succeeding days other parts
were diseovered-now in a field on
one sids of the town, then in an en-
tirely opposite direction; and at
length the whole district was search
ed the rivers were dragged, and
small pieces Of h-man flesh, evi-
dently carved in slices from a body
were found almost everywhere.
Eight days after the first discovery,
portions of the viscera were found
in sewer, cut up into pieces three
incher long; the pelvis had been
previously discovered, a leg bone
picked up, and black velvet bon
net, which had evidently been the
property of a person in respectable
circumstances, found in the Yare.
On one occasion parts Of the body
were found in spots which had pre-
viously been carefully searched
and it was evident that they had
been placed there since the first dis
covery. Some of the pieces had
been soaked in water: traces of
deodorizing liquid were found in
Others. and, though no part of the
body could be restored sufficiently
to allow Of an inquest being held,
many of the scattered parts thus
brought together again fitted suffi
ciently to show that they had formed
portions of one organization. 1t
was said by the doctors that the
body was that of a female from
sixteen to twenty-six, and that she
had been dead fortnight, and that
she was in good health when death
seized her. 1t was concluded by
the police and by the public that a
murder had been committed; that
the murderer had taken this strange
method of disposing Of the body
bit by bit, and that he was actually
at his work still disposing of it in
out -of-the- way places after the dis
covery had been made, and while
the search was diligently going on.
"The authorities were convinced
that murder had been committed.
and, as usual in such cases, they
received numerous applications
and inquiries from persons whose
friends were missing, but they en-
tirely failed either to identify the
body or to discover . trace Of the
-.n r.