Connecticut western news., 1873-03-07
The Burnside Tragedy.

From the Hartford papers of Tuesday, we copy the following, concerning tha Burnside tragedy:
 Mir. Ira Bliss, the inoffensive old man. who for years has been the railway station agent at Burnside, and who was villainous- y assaulted by two young roughs, John Dynes and Oscar Graves, receiving fright full wounds, died yesterday morning. The outrage committed by these young men is all the more cruel Ill it's inception and execu- tion, because of the old age and unsuspec'- ing character of the victim. Mir. Bliss was but little seen by the travelling public out side of his town, as the station where he was located has but few strangers stopping there an object of considerable interest, his second childhood, almost, leading him to a soit of inquisitiveness which would amuse, but never offend, stranger. The Couran long ago had an account.of Il statioIimas,er, with out mentioning any name, who was To. cated at Mughy junction. and whose pecu liarities were noticed in a somewhat humor, ous vein. The man was in a study, ana the reporter was so struck with his curious phases of character, that the account was written. The agent alluded 10 was the poor old man who has now fallen by assassin a. ton. The news of his death was conveyed soon after it was received in the city to
 THE PRISONERS IN JAIL,
 Dynes receiving it with considerable feel Ing, and saying that the murder was never thought of on his part, and that the whole trouble had come out of using liouor :; while Graves was sulen and bold and de clared that nothing worse than hanging could tefall themi anyway. Graves talked bitterly about Dynes, because of his con- fession. Subsequently he wrote the follow ing on slip of paper and tossed it along the gallery to Dynes' cell
 "We will hay to mind what we say to git red of the Rope. If they ask you how many times he was struck, tell them you only struck him once with fhe club. If they ask me how many, I'll tell them once If they ask you how all the marks come on him, tell him you don't know. If they ask me, l will tell them the. same. Write back"
 Dynes wrote back that he should tell the whole truth. at all events. He is so i'm pressed with the fearful responsibilities of his present position, that he probably will His father has engaged West and Calhoun to act as counsel for him, and they will man. age his case, of course, with skill, Graves, who represents that his father is man of some means and lives in Providence, has had no friends to see hir,, and con sequently has no legal adviser. The death of Mir. Bliss has occurred in season for the state attorney to take action in the case before the March term of the superior court. which begins to day. Many people have supposed that the charge of
 MURDER IN THE FIRST DEGREE
 against the young men could not be sustained because of the difficulty of proving pre- meditation; but that has nothing to do with the case. The killing took place while the assailants were in the act of con- hitting felony, and that constitutes mur- der in the first degree. There can hardly be but one result of trial, and if one or both of the accused escapes the gallows it will be by the clemency of the general as se,nbly. The funeral of Mr. Bliss will be attended at 4 P, M., on Wednesday. His age was seventy five years.
 POST MoRTEM.
 Yesterday afternoon, Drs. Ellsworth and Mayer, of this city. and Dr. Mcintosh, of Burnside, made a post-mortem examina- ton of MT. Bliss, and found the skull frac- tured on the left side, extending in V shape for nearly seven inches. There was much blood and other effusion on the brain, and there IS no doubt that this was the cause of the old mans death.
 A writer in the Kansas Magazine has measured the type used in a copy of New York paper, and also that used in a popular