Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1870-08-12


no sign OF life he passed again at ~ a. m,
and again tried the doors, both of the main
hall and the basement, and they were yet
secure The dreadful deed had undoubted-
ly then been done, but the house kept its
grim secret and gave no sign to the peering
eyes Of the patroman, who passed on upon
his lonely virgil.
THE FRIGnTFUL DISCOVERY.
The gray dawn Of morning came and yet
the house contained its secret, but discovery
was near at hand. The mournful duty that
had called the aged millionaire to he city
required early rising, and at 81 o'clock his
son Washington, slipplng on his socks. went
down 70 call his father. lie turned the han
die of the reception room door and stepped
into the room. He glanced at the bed-it
was empty, but at the same instant his eyes
rested on a horrible object beyond. His
father, marred and mutilated out of sem.
bance to his kind, lay upon the floor at the
door to the office. Clothed only in his night
gown, smeared with blood from head to foot.
his face bruised, his eyes wonderfully dlsfg
ured. his head gaping with six cruel wounds,
bis right hand crushed, the loved father lay
upon his back, one foot just touching the
i'll OF the door leading into the Office, the
other leg drawn up with the knee resting
against the door frame, and with both arms
drawn back and the hands clinched, as if in
agony. Washington at once ran to his IA
theirs side, and was Mortified. His fathers
blood oozed up from the soft, thick carpet,
and wet his feet to the instep. His night
gown, long, like that of his father, was dab.
bled with blood as be stopped over the man
gled form. Only moment he paused, and
then, rushing to his brothers room, told in
a word of the horror below. The'two broth
es, clad only in their III hit garments, rush
ed down into the street, through tie main
bali door which they found closed but un-
locked, and shouted murder" John Man
gum had just passed the house for the third
time, had looked at the door in common
with all others, and, seeing it closed and
nothing unusual about the house, had pass
ed on and was three doors below. He turn
ed al the cry, and, seeing these young men
thus atiired and one dabbled with blood, he
hurried back aud went with them into the
house. Washington, as he went out, had
seen lying at the foot Of the hall. just inside
the street door, n ship-carpenter's ''dog" II
was simply Il round piece of iron, about two
feet long, ana an inch and half thick. with
gray hairs mingled with it. They went up
stairs. The policeman was made of stern
er stuff than the bankers sons, but the sight
shocked even him. Yet he cbeyed the
mandate of duty, and laid his hand upon
the bloody breast. The body was warm
and he thought there was a chance that life
had not been utterly crushed out of it. He
called for DOCTOR and the physician of the
Fifth Avenue hotel was summoned, and i'll
five minutes was beside the corpse, bat on
ly to shake bis head sisnifying that life was
gone. The blood was dried upon the body,
and it was his opinion that life had been
some time eXlinct--the murder had been
done probably before 3 o'clock. The pa
trolman, guided by the knowledge of the
sons, scrutnized the surroundings, and
carefully noting all for future use, left an
associate to guard the scene of blood, and
reported a, his station house, in Thirty fifth
street, near Seventh avenue. Sergeant
Henry Hutchinson, at i o'clock, sent the
tale Of terror over the telegraph wires to the
central office, in brief but comprehensive
words.
THEORY OF THE MURDER.
Never did murder tell its own story more
plainly than this 10 an experienced eye. II
The dead man could have opened his man
2led bps, be could scarcely have added to
the narrative given by the bloody corpse
ana il surroundings. Never was it more
clearly shown how false is the aphorsm that
dead men tell no tales for this dead man
told a tale as distinctly and wildly as could
the assassin, who was the only ether wit.
ness OF the scene. Upon one poiu only
was there "a doub', which can probably only
be solved by the ass issin himself, and tht
Is as to the manner IL which. and the time
when, he gained access to the building. Ii
may be that he entered clandestlnely during
the day and remained secreted somewhere
in the house until the hour for lis purpose
arrived, or it may be (athough no door or
window has the taintest sign of violence
about it, that he entered by sealing the bal
cony and mounting second story window,
only a few minutes before his bloody deed
was accomplished. Only this point is in
donbt ali else Is plainly written in the muir
der itself.
The purpose Of the intruder was plumber
only. When once in the room where Mr..
Nathan was reposing, he went directly to
the clothes OF the sleeping man, lying on The
chair, remote from the couch. He removed
the diamond studs from the rt-tront, the
watch and chain and pendant tob-chain
from the vest, the money from the pocket
book, il it contained any, and, having secu-
red these upon his person, took the key OF
the safe from one OF the pockets Of the pan
taloous. Then he went steathily by the
sleeper and glided to the safe which was
dimlv lighted from the reflection of the
stree, lamps. He thus had light enough to
fit the key into the lock, and gradually and
noisel.ssly open it. He was taking out the
contents when some noise he made, most
probably by accidentally letting a small tin
box containing papers fall, awoke the sleep
er Mr.. Nathan slipped from his bed and
groped his way-tor he was so ncar-sighted
that he could never distinctly see across the
room. He, too, made noise that reached
the burglars ears as he Was rummaging the
safe, and brought him instantly to his feet
rhe two men met in the doorway, between
the oilic, and reception room. They were
equally matched in size and strength and
nerve, but tHc uuiSh uau 'hal hoh upS,
which gave him terrible advantage. 1t
not possible to guess what words passed, i
any. between these men, thus meeting under
such awful circumstances, but 1t is certain
that Mr. Nathan began the attack by seiz
inc the burglars throat with both hands.
Then the iron dog" came down with terri
Bile force upon his right hand, breaking the
bones and telling it helpless by his side. But
he still held to the burglar with tenacious
grasp with his left hand, and thence the
iron dog" bounced savagely six .imes in
such rapid succession as 10 be almost IN
Simultaneous, up n his head splitting his
RIGHT ear and smashing his skull. Then,
and not till then, Mr.. Nathan fell backward
into the reception room and into the posi-.
ton described All this had occupied but
a moment of time and the burglar who had
thus rapidly been changed into an assassin,
pnssed out of the hall door of the Office into
the main hall and down the stars, carrying
the ins rumen, Of death with him until be
reached the door. There he paused for an
instant. That blood besmeared bar of iron
was too terrible teli-tale 10 have upon his
person, and he dropped it upon the floor,
where it was atterward found. Then he
sepped out into the street unseen and made
his escape.
There are no blood stains anywhere except
at the spot where the struggle took place.
There the carpet is soaked under and around
the dead, and the door rcasing is smeared
with bloud for two feet above the floor, as