The New York herald., 1871-03-13
A NATHAN TRAGEDY IN new ORLEANS;
Murder Of Large Shipping Merchant-Francis
w. Perkins Formerly Of Bosom, Killed in
His Own Office and His Safe Robbed.
From the New Orleans Picayune, Ma

From the New Orleans Picayune, March 81
On Tuesday morning +. w. Perkins, proprietor "a
the Alliance line OF Havana and Florida Steamshlpgi
was found dead In his oilce, at No. 80 Carondelet
street. over his right ear and above the templd
stoned Immediate death-f indeed, the fearful Deat4
ing he had received the head had not previously
had been beaten to pulp. The skull was fractured
In twenty places, as II he had been stricken doWH
Dy soMe aeaVy Is proSaee that the pistol shot was
fred aIterward by the assassins to make sure tnA
butchery was complete.
hour, and went TO his residence at the corner OF A4
nunciatlon and Sixth streets, but probably forget
his otice &C late hour Of the night. This IS the
superstition OF his friends. He was doubtless fol1
lowed lowed back BY his assailant and murdered as reS
The homicide was first discovered by the porter Of
been = confidential servant for years. Entering th2
ofce at SIX O'Clock. he found the body Of Mr. Pere
near near \ his head, and the spectacle was gnastiy and
appalling. The office was scene of utter conf
ssa on e c The IN e
ofiice had been opened by keys abstracted
m1sd from MI PERKINS PocKet ana s contents over
in the room which the burglars did not succeed n]
opening. This safe is In the inside OF the railing o1
the front oce, and discloses the heavily shod feet
OF the workman. But from this point the mysterN
deepens rather than Is cleared away. me keys1
which were In Mr.. Perkins pocket, and which were
used by him In opening the door OF the Office wa$
found in the keyhole OF one OF the drawers. There's
was no other outlet except by the front door; yea
that was found locked in the morning by the porter
The murderer could not have locked 1t as ne wenG
one There have been several keys lost recently
stolen in fact. one OF them may have enabled the
These were g the observable objects that met the
eye on entering the Offce-a scene OF utter c0nlua
sion. In the midst lay the form & OF +. W: perklnG
dgned crimsOned as they were with his life blood.
His body had been robbed, the pockets turned insda
a 40 0tnh lou a ans
single barrelled, which had been discharged aad
dropped in haste by The murderer. Close by 1t lay q
one OF the drawers OF the Office, but which had
been used in vain endeavor to open the SAFE.
This showed that the rObber had searched for valu
ables elsewhere before attempting TO open the safe
Indeed, the appearance OF the o1ice, the meanG
deed was committed by some rough worker-an un-
practiced hand. pro- essional burglar would have
carried MS tools Win hlai even a common mouse
The rough and hurried manner OF the search dis
closes the hand OF a iaDorlng man, and the broad
footprints the table In the inner 01lce, and Il
opened with key, which is composed oftwo pieces
joined together, the pieces making key; separated
they are Intellectual Tor opening the safe. One Of
these pieces was in Mr.. Perkins, pocket and was
taken out by the burglar who tried TO open the safe
with 1t; but, failing IN this he resored TO wrench
ana iron lever In the house. Every effort
however, was ineflec. .ual. The burglar then at
tempted to pry open tile doors Of the cupboard in
the back office, supposing no doubt, that 1t cons
tanned valuables; but the iron poker which he used
failed OF its object and this attempt also was abanS
doned.
There is another fact to be considered. If . club
was used in beating Mr.. Perkins, it was carried
away by the man who did 1t. The most probable
suppOslton Is that the weapon used was an ir0Q
jimmy with an inverted point. blow stricken by
such an instrument would have produced the jagged
wounds the back part OF the head revealed. So
would the large poker that was founa lying on the
been made to open IT. The more likely suppOstiOn
OF all IS that that these wounds were produced with
the monkey wrench. THIS Instrument also belonged
IT, as supposed, Mr.. Perkins came to the ONCE lata
at night 1t y not probable tnat ne was followed into
seen the man or heard him closing the door benlnd
him. The murderer would never never have have aisempsea
against interruption. 10 have stopped to do this
would nave necessarily alarmed his victim and eng
abled him to call ior assistance When The shot waa
fired the doors closed the sound OF the dis-
charge would have reached the street.-the struggle.
even. would have attracted the attention OF the
have have been concealed IN the building at the
the case. hearing him at the door, he could easily
have concealed himself until he had entered and
locked the door behind him. Coming into the onicd
behind the railing the scene OF confusion tnat waa
presented doubtless greatly asonished and appalled,
could have emerged from his concealment and
struck the heavy blow from behind. 1t Is singulars
with such means at hand to occasion death. ThiG
OF itself proves the deed to have been committed by
an unpractsed hand The pistol, however, may orer
has evidently been fired but once.
1t win be seen that the blows were stricken with
merely, but dozen, TO have mashed the bone Of the
skull behind into the BRAIN. 1t was at first supposed
tnat the conclusion OF The bullet fractured the skull
In the back part OF the head. Had this been the
case the fractured skull would have penetrated OUT
tain that nothing but blows with heavy iron in-
strument could nave caused the confusion and frac-
These are tile circumstances Of the case SO far as
they were able to be gathered in the scene of utter
confusion that prevailed They are SUFFICIENT to tell
to the community that q horrible murder has been
committed-that useful and Kind-hearted citizen
has been cen killed and his family plunged Into unim-
duty OF ferretng out the criminals and bringing the
murderers to justice.
There are various points In the case which afford
Clue to the perpetrator: Near the door was the m-
preston OF shoe Of large dimensions, such as
contact with dust or dirt. Having dried, it lefs
clearly defined the impression OF the shoe. It was
probably the deed Of no personal enemy. The ObjecC
OF the assassin was plumber. It may be that the
person who did 1t has had the idea in his mind f0r
days or weeks. Should this have been the case ho
would probably have fingered about the house fre1
quenty, watching for opportunities and meditatin0
it ID singular that robber should have gone there
without first supplying himself with means OF even
breaking open wooden doors. The most ignorant
person would hardly have been led into the Impress
sion thai vauables were left unsecured. That no
such means were at hand is proven by the fact Of
with the small iron poker.
The case s strikngy similar to that Of the Nathan
murder in New York, and 1t would be well to look
for the theory of the case in the points supplied
by it.
captain PERKINS was porn IN BOSTON, MASS, IN lS4Os
and is consequently thlrty.one years Of age. He
graduated at Dartmouth College in 1851, at the
breaking out OF the war, and went from college I'd
the army, joining the Second New Hampshire regi<
ment aud serving with distinction. subsequently,
he appointed captain assistant quarterInaster,
and was with the Army OF the Potomac for about
hall the war, when he came to this CITY,.
Under the administration Of General Candy he oc-
cuped the responsible position Of chief Of water
transportation for the Gulf.
When hostilities ceased Captain Perkins, who had
formed many warm attachments In New Orleans,
determined to locate here, and formed cOpartncr-'
ship with Mr. Hersey, son OF General Hersey, Of Ban~
ger, Maine, for the transaction Of shipping busi-
ness. subsequently the firm was changed to +. W..
Perkins Co., the company being Major f. w. Per-,
kins q twin brother. This firm has for several years