The Leavenworth weekly times. [volume] (Leavenworth, Kan.) 1870-1880, 1870-08-11

r..I.-,.H co. x.
From the New York Sun, July o.
The city was sgit.aed yesterday morning
BY the report Of an appalling murder thai
Ind besn commitsed u D6eify;s1ird aSeet-
Mr.. Benjamin Nathan, . psominent Wan
$1,000 hsokae,-Wh0 - Aaan.1w
known on Change, and was br0ther-in-lav
Of Judge CoFdo1o, M feumd butehesed n
his own boss,e, where q the tine his tvO
sons and two domestis were sleepiue With
out being aware Of his terrible faee. III
A number Of 6m repessas Wepe 4 orr
sent to gather full parssCu}ns, ard oae a
them went to Mr.. Nztkan's Hou:e n 1~esev.
third direct, one door fiua F7feh aSe.aie
1t il q splendid brown stone mansion. befxr
which stood . crowd Of men and boys that
had been collected by ieeliaes Of vaeue
and painful interest. A policemam at the
head Of the massive Stone se1irs admitted the
reporter. In the rooms On the parlor noor
were the murdered mans griefsricken sons
and friends. On the 6oOr abuve wa the
tsiy. Ono ascenlesi the lguoal and inpses-
sive staircase, and entered Mr.. Naahan's
bed-chamler, fine, lofty room with gillcd
eornices, French-Plate giase windows, and
heavy velvet tapestry. Against the middle
of the western wall stood . small camp bed.
the covering turned down, on which lay a
drawer that had been taken from the safe in
the next room. The bel-clAhes were very
little dixarranged and not spot of blond
was to he seen upon them. Between the bed
and the open door that leads into the library
4 mattress was resting agains, the wall, and
before the mattress ON the foOr lay an Orlli-
nary palmetto fan, 70 whore handle 4 cord
me- on one side, and on the other the name
Henry Thomas Hunter. Between these OBJ
jects and the western window, stretched
across the threshold Of the library, covered
with CONCEALED blood from head to foot,
an appalling. sickening spectacle Lay. '' ,
1t was about the medium size, we'll made,
but not stout, with q rather large head, and .
full, gray-whiskcred face, but it was fright
full figure rs it lay there bloody and multi.
atcd. The white night-shirt was bafhed in
rcd, and it was torn open, displaying the
bare breast. The legs were drawn up as
they had been left when the last struggle
ceased; the left hand was fercely clencbed.
while the right, black, swollen, with the
thumb cut almost in two, and every finger
crushed, was broken at the wrist. The head
and face were covered with dreadful gasl,es,
an inch or two in length, and deep, fine,
punctured wounds. Boil, eyes were black
and greatly swollen, the right ear was split
open, while the region Of the right eve and
temple WIS beaten to a jelly. Twelve or if
teen distinct wounds could be counted. From
their nature, some being broad and heavy.
and Others fine and deep, il was evident that
two widely different weapons had been uscd.
Cine Of these instruments Law at the side Of
the corpse. 1t was tool called an iron dog,
such as is used by ship carpenters and pump
makers, about twenty inches long, both ends
terminating in sharp, narrow blades, the
planes Of which are at right angles u each
other. Tine end only was bloody. The
second weapon could not be found. The
carpet i,eneath the body was soaked with
blood, and the door Posts were despatched
with it. There had evidently been furious
struggle, in which all the strength Of despair
had to lie overcome. The library, in which
the dead mans feet lay, il u small room,
fronting on the street, and situated over the
hallway, or entrance to the house. Ii con-
tains Secretary, two lsNk- cases, a centre
table, and small safe When the body was
discovered the safe door was open, and the
safe key was in the lock, the Library floor
was strewn with papers, and the secretary
writing board had been lowered, and on it
lay an open check hook. Strange to say, in
the check book there was a check drawn to
the order Of II. Lapsley Il Co., for
subscription to one hundred shares OF
the German American Bank, worth
$4,000 which the murdered man
had begun to write, but could not finish.
II was dated July -. Is II possible that he
had risen from his bed between the hours Of
one and six, and had begun to write the
check; that he heard footsteps behind him,
turned, rOse, and was then struck?
Near the ccntrc-table a char was over
turned, and behind the chair the carpet was
stained with two spots of blood. The bot
tom of the chair was alsO covered with
bloody marks, and one Of its legs bore the
imprint of a. tremendous blow from some
evidently grappled with some person or per-
from the ''tleg," stabbed and struck about
over the threshold, where he was found.
The murlerers then ritled the safe, scattered
the papers that were in It about the floor,
took small dOuble-flced Jurgensen watch,
No. 12ll, from beneath the pillow Of the
bed, and the shirt studs from the victims
shirt. The white waistcoat, which lay on
chair near the opposite wall Of the room, had
also been searched; the marks Of bloody lin
gers were on it. What the safe contained
nobody knows; in the morning only papers
were found in it. 1t has been said that Mr..
Nathan did not keep large amounts of money
in his safe, and it is probable that il con-
tanned very little on this occasion; for men
who have made good haul of money will
hardly think Of looking for watch beneath
a bed pillow, or OF taking set OF studs from
Il shirt. That Mr.. Nathan was struck re-
peatedly after he had fallen where he was
subsequently found, the number and nature
of his wounds seem to indicate. The muir
dcrcrs were persons who were evidently
known to their victim, and resolved not to
give him an opportunity of having them
ai.erwarl punished; nor docs this hypothesis
at all conflict with the circumstance Of the
whole case The mur,lerers must also have
been well acquainted with the house, for
Notwithstanding their butcl,ery, they finished
with remarkable neatness. Their feet left
no bloody tracks, and hardly single Nova
BILE thing was thrown out of order. The vic
tim had not time or chance to utter \ single
cry for help. The windows were open; al
most directly opposite, near the Fifth Avenue
Hotel, were the wide-awake Ilackmen; and
at the corner, a few wards distant, a pOlice-
man at short intervals took his station. One
cry, and crowd would have been at the vic
Tins door; but that cry he had not the power
to make. There could have been very little
noise indeed, for the servant heard not the
slightest unusual sound, and she slept in the
large room back Of Mr.. Nathan, which was
from the latter by merely two Ordi-
nary doors. But yesterday morning blood
stains were found in the bathroom, which
connects Mr.. Nathan's room with the ser
wants, 81 that, when the murderers washed
there, is they evidently did, they
must have been very short distance frUm |
the servant; and vet she heard not 4 sound. |
Was she afflicted with a temporary deafness?
that the murylerers knew pretty |
we'll how affairs stood in the house, is shown |
by the neatncSs, the despatch and the ease
with which they did their hideous work.
Had they been at all furried, they would |
have overturned the light centre-table in the
library, and knocked down the paint-pot
which had been used by the workmen in the
lousa, and stood on the crate fireplace. For
he reason Of this want Of Confusion, it is
Utmost certain that more than one person was
,ngagcd in the murder.
The deed must have been done between
me and six yesterday morning. On that
night FIVE persons were in the house-the
-ic.in, his fvO sous the sorv.nf Ann Kill