Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1872-09-03
THE CLARK-FEwELL TRAGEDY.
DEATH OF JAMES F. CLARK.
Special to the Alexandria Gazette

Especial to the Alexandria Gazette.
BRENTsvILLE, Sept. 8, lS72.-Clark IS
dead !! and whether the enormity of his guilt
was as great as it is now generally believed to
have been, is only known to the unfortunate
survivor of the elopement in which he was lm-
plicated, for, so far as is known, he never
breathed a word about the part the young lady
took u that affair." except to say that he had
not taken her away, and had not seduced her.
Soon after he was shot he was removed to the
debtors room on the second floor Of the Jail,
the same in which he had been confined when
first iucarcerated. The iron bed-stead and shuck
mattress, upon which he had laid when in there
before were removed, and the room furnished
with wooden bed-stead and feather bed, upon
which he was propped up, for his wounds would
not allow him to lie down. Here he received
the assiduous attention Of his physicians, Drs.
Leary and Barbour, and the constant and un-
RENTING care of numerous residents of the
village, who We'd with each other in anticlpat-
ing and supplying his every requirement. His
brother-in-law, j. Milton Weldon, was with
him from Saturday morning, soon after he was
shot until he died. His father, who had been
with him on Saturday and Sunday, returned to
him again on Monday. and his mother also
reached here few minutes before he died. Mr.
Weldon and Dr.. Leary came to Brentsville
last Saturday morning to be present at Clark S
examination, which had been set for that time,
and both expected that blood would be shed
that day, but not until after the trial. They
reached here half an hour after the shooting
had occurred Clark commenced sinking Sunday
morning and life gradually wasted away. When
DR.. Bedford Brown, Of Alexandria, who had
been brought up here by the wounded man S
father, arrived yesterday morning, consuta-
ton was held by him and the two attending
physicians, and when Dr. Brown, in response
to question by Clark, told him that his iu-
juries was of very serious character. he re-
piled "Yes, but don't intend to give up I'M
til long after you do" Until yesterday the
wound in his breast did not hurt him, but yes
tcrday morning he commenced to complain of
that wound He also spit blood, and was at
tackled with spasmodic hiccup and intense voln-
ting, and for some time before he died made ii
constant noise like that of groan and cough.
About three p. N. his MUD began to wander,
and though RATIONAL when reused up to 4 p.
NJ, he became inscnsiblc after that hour, aud
grew rapidly weaker until ! p. M, when he
breathcd his last.
Yesterday was Court day, and an unusually
large crowd was present, drawn by the interest
in the Clark affair, and though guard was
around the jail, and had been since Saturday,
no hindrance was offered the many whose curl
osity or sympathy induced them to visit the
dying man. Soon after he died a coroner's
jury was summoned and an inquest held upon
the body by Justice james r. Purcell, acting
Coroner, aud the jury, of which A. f. Wood
yard was foreman, returned as their verdict
that the deceased came TO his death from the
effects Of a wound received from a pistol shot
in the hands of l.. NJ. Fewel.' The shot that
caused his death was the one in his breast. The
ball entered about an inch and a quarter to the
left of the left nipple and inclined nearly hori
zontaily to the right, passing directly over, if
not wcunding the heart, and as he did not die
from hemorrhage, it is supposed that death en-.
sued from lesion of the great sympathetic
nerve. A post norton examination, conducted
by Drs Barbour and Leary, was held in the
room in which he died, but up to half past
three O clock this evening they had been un-
able to find the ball and at that hour they were
about to relinquish the effort as hopeless
Mr.. j. j. Davies, young lawyer of the
village, left here this morning for Alexandria
for surgeon to assist in the endeavor to find
the ball which caused death, but returned with
out one.
Clark will be buried tomorrow at Chappa-
wampslc.
Fcwel is confined in the same cell in which
he shot Clark, and yesterday, seemed very
anxious about Clark's fate and when told that
he must certainly die, asked if they would let
the corpse stay up there all night?' He will
not be admitted to bail but will remain in Jail
until his trial.
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