The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1873-03-13
PARTICULARS OF THE TRAGEDY AT
ISLE OF SHOALS
The Murderer Taken to Portsmouth.

DoSloN, hiICI
Lewis Wagner, suspected of the double
murder al Smutty Nose, one OF the Isles
of Shoals. was arrested in Fleet street,
Boston, last night, and committed to await
the reuuisition of the authorities of Name
within whose jurisdiction the murders
were committed.
Wagner is about thirty years of age and
weighs 40 pounds He claims to be a
Prussian by birth.
When charged with the murder he
stoutlv denied having any knowledge Of
it. On his person was found a small
found, where he had disposed of it, and
his old clothes, spotted with blood, were
discovered in shop where he had pro-
cured a new outfit.
The murder, which was most brutal in
its details, was discovered at an early
hour Thursday by members Of the Hunt
ress family, at whose residence the out
rage was committed.
Wagner. former employee OF Mr..
Hontvet. arrived in his boat from Star
| Island at an early hour on the evening of
| the murder His mission to all appear
ance was the preparation of the crime he
! subsequently committed, his sneaking
iDdllHtl bil Ms al ~ eti dl tHt iiOucN 'tihS
such as to rise to suspicion on the part of
Mrs Hontvet that he was intent on some
object which bodied no good. He passed
the front OF the house to the rear, and
soon after entered the house After short
conversation he asked Cornelia Chri stem
| ton to come into the entry with him as he
had something very important to com
municate The woman, who suspected
acquiesce IN Wagner's request Trembling
with fear she approached the entry, where
on arriving she discovered Wagner with
an axe in his hand With a Shrek she
started TO run to the kitchen. where she
had left Mrs Hontvet and another wo-
man, named Annette Lawson, but before
she could re-enter the door she received a
| furious blow on the head from Wagner
with the axe. The blow was sufficient to
| kin her instantly. The murderer, with
the axe in his hand, entered the room
where the other two women were, and
without word struck the Lawson woman
a terrible blow upon the side. The Wo-
man fell to the floor, her agony being
such as soon to occasion loud cries of dis
| tress
She was asked by Wagner where the
| ilIpHtN was iidl wa" hCtJl III tlit HoHSCs
| being at the same time warned that il she
would not tell him he would kill her at
once She continued to groan, seemingly
to pay but little attention to what the
brute was saying. All at once Wagner
seemed to have become possessed OF the
spirit OF q demon and heaped the blows
with the axe thick and fast on the head
and body OF the unfortunate woman. Mrs
| / b,n liz, ,,.I
| Jelly Meanwhile Mrs Hontvet who had
received a severe blow from the murderer
with chair was hidden among the rocks
on the island. Remaining in her secure
position till between eight and nine O'Clock
| Thursday morning, she ventured out and
crossed the sea wall to Malaga Island,
and by her cries succeeded in making her
self heard by Mr.. Ingerbredson, a man
who has house on Appledore Island, He
went to her assistance and found her suf
fering from a blow on the shoulder, and
her feet and parts of her body badly frozen,
she having remained IN the severe cold
all these hours with nothing on but her
chemse and flannel night dress
| When the men arrived on the island a
sickening sight was presented. In the
| bedroom in the east end of the house Law
the dead body of Miss Christensen. She
was lying on the floor on her face, with
no clothing on except her chemise. She
had a white handkerchief passed around
her neck twice, drawn very tight and tied
in q hard knot on the back Of her neck
The scene was horrible She had five
deep cuts III the back OF the head, and
four in the face, each one penetrating the
skull so that the brains protruded The
room had every appearance of a scutfle,
rs the bedclothes were lying around in Il
disordered condition, being covered with
blood and there was blood on the walls,
doors and floor. In the kitchen, the dead
body OF Annette Lawson lay on the floor
| with the face upward; She was in her
night clothes. As stated previously, her
head was tearfully mangled in fact cut to
pieces with an axe. A shawl was wound
twice around her neck tightly, and tied,
as il to choke her or otherwise to haul the
body into the house, as the theory is that
she was killed outside the house. In this
kitchen was a table with plates, bread,
&c, upon it; also kerosene lamp. A
chair had been smashed in pieces. and the
fragments were lying around the room
and there was one whole chair, stove
and other kitchen furniture
PORTSMOUTH, n H., March Z.
large crowd of indignant citizens
were gathered on the arrival of Wagner,
the alleged murderer, but there was no
breach of the peace.
The murdered women were of ire
proachabe character and quite remark
able for personal beauty.
All is quiet. The question OF inrsdic-
ton, whether in Maine or this State, is
still undecided 1t is probably Maine.
Coroner Jnnkins' jury at Kl5tery has
not reported yet. The victims will be
buried here.
THE MURDERER'S STORY.
PORTSMOUTH, N. H., March g. Sheriff
Warren and Attorney Yeaton of York
county are here, and have virtually de-
cided Smutty Nose Island to be in Maine
hy assuming charge of proceedings in the
Shoals murder case, They are going to
the island this morning in the U. s.
steamer Mayhower to visit the scene OF
the murder, aud bring in the bodies of the
women for burial. Wagner will probably
he examined and arraigned at kittery
and taken to Alfred Jail. The clock at
Mr. Hontvet's house was knocked off !,
shelf in the melee and stopped about l
o'clock.
MRS. HONTvET DOING WELL.
PORTSMOUTH, March 8. 1t is expected
the Mayfower, on her return, will bring
the bodies of the murdered women. This
afternoon crowds are about the police
station. 1t is expected Mrs Hontvet will
confront Wagner after the return Of the
party from Smutty Nose. DR.. Whittier
reports that she is doing well and ampu-
| tatiOn will not he necessary
Wagner has received hundreds of Wis
itors this morning. There is an impress
sion that his trial may result as did that of
Alley of Boston. He tells straighttor-
ward story and apparently accounts for
every hour of that night. He says he
drank two glasses of ale and paid ten
cents for it, that it made him drunk and
everything was black. He then went
down a street and fell near a pump on the
ice, staying there some time. Then he
got up, went down Liberty street and
went into dark room in Matthew John
sons and saw through the open door two