Marshall County Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1856-1878, 1872-08-01
CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE.
History of n Remarkable Murder Gas
Truth Stranger than Fiction.

From the St. Louis Democrat.
On the 18th of September, 1868,
farmers boy discovered on the banks of
White river, about three miles north
of the city of Indianapolis, the dead
bodies of Jacob Young and Nancy
Young, his wife, two reputable citizens
of that place. The post norton exami-
nation disclosed the fact that Mrs.
Young had been killed by pistol shot,
the ball entering the back part of the
head and coursing upwards threugh the
brain until it lodged upon the inner sur
face of the frontal bone. The ball
proved to be cartraidge pistol ball. Mr..
Young had been killed bya discharge
from double barreled shot gun, which
exploded, the other barrel heavily
charged with ten buckshot, and stand
ing cooked. The position and course OF
the wound upon Young and his wife
proved conclusively that they had been
murdered. No pistol was discovered.
The day after the discovery of the muir
der, it was ascertained that the shot
gun found by the dead bodies had been
purchased from pawubrokerin Indian
apolis on the day of the murder. The
gun was identified by means of a broken
thimbIe and a popularity about the
locks, and the man who had purchased
it was accurately described by the pawn
broker and a negro servant who was
present when the purchase was made
At the time of the murder a gentleman
and his two children, who were fishing
some distance below the scene OF the
murder, heard the report of firearms III
the direction of the place where the
bodies were found. Five minutes before
the report was heard the children saw
the deceased and another woman walk
ing on the sand-bar near where the.
were killed. A farmer and his son drlv
ing along the road, within few hun
dred yards of the place, heard two re
ports, one like a shotgun, the othe
Sharp like pistol, and so near togethe
that it was difficult to distinguish them
A man and his wife, living quarter
mile from the scene, heard the tw
reports, and scream between then
The witnesses agree that the time wa
about o'clock p. m. The horse an
buggy of the deceased were foun
hitched in the road near by.
On examining the neighboring groun'
the well-defned tracks of woman
wearing a new number three gate
making long steps, as in flight. wei
traced from point near the dead bodi
through the woods to place whe
they intersected the track of bugg
going in the direction Of Indianapol
and drawn by an animal wearing sma
sized interfering shoes. The tracks
the woman, and the horse and bugg
were all accurately measured. The
were the clues, and the question aros
who bought the gum Who was t
woman seen in company with the c
ceased? Who drove the buggy in viii
the n1urderers fled from the scene of t
tragedy?
The pawnbroker sold the gun a
o'clock in the morning. Between
hours of and three applications
the purchase of secondhand shot-g
had been made at as many aucti
stores and pawnbrokers' shops, by
man having sandy hair and complexit
and at the third place had inquired c
bright little girl, who took him to
door. directed him across the street, a
saw him enter the establishment VIII
the gun was purchased, which, in sey
hours afterwards, had slain You
Five witnesses identified William
Abrams. reputable carpenter of In
ananolis. as the man who purchased
gun. Mr.. Abrams was arrested, ana
tention was then directed to the s.
iect of the horse and buggy tracks.