Juniata sentinel. [volume] (Mifflintown, Pa.) 1846-1873, 1873-05-07
An ATRoCIOUS CRIME.
Horrible Murder Near Saltzburg'
A Young Girl Violated and then Muir.
dered.
A Pair Of ssTramps'' Said to be the Per
petrat0rS.

Of this dastardly and horrible crime is /;
little girl, who was violated and murder
ed. after terrible struggle. in the wood
about half mile from Saltzburg station
in this county. The citizens of the vi
cinity are terribly aroused. and if tn,
perpetrators are caught. Judge Lyncl
will probably decide their case.
About half mile from the little station
of Saltzburs OIL the Connellsville road
an honest coal miner resided named
Christian Cline, he had in bis family an
adopted daughter named Eliza Mess, al
interesting little girl of some fourteen
years of age. Cline is in the employ Of
tbs Schanks Il Brown coal company
Yesterday morning about nine o'clock
Mrs. Cline sent the girl, who was rather
small for her age to the company's or as
it is known to the J G. Schank's store
to get some groceries. The child stayed
away very long for one having to go on
ly a short distance, and Mrs. Cline be-
came very anxious. Inquiries were made
which revealed the fact that the child
had been seen by the Conncllsville Rail
road day watchman talking to two men
on the path leading to McCloskey's .
woods. A search of the woods was at
one commenced, and at about two hun
dred yards from the anthracite coal mine
track among the leaves horrible sight
presented itself. There lay the form of
the little girl in pool of blood, present
ing at once heartrending and sickening
sight. She was still alive and moaning
Her head was crushed in and stone
was imbedded in the skull. A fence
stake lay near by. broken in two, one
end of it being besmeared with brains
and the life blood of the innocent victim
of brutal lust and crime. The almost
lifele.s body was picked up and carried
to her home. She fingered until about
twelve yesterday morning when she died.
She remained ;nsensihle until her death
The ground about where the murder
had been committed showed that terri
BILE struggle must have taken place The
ground for many feet around where she
lay was torn up, remnants of clothing,
several pants and shirt button. showed,
what terrible struggle she must have
made 70 defend her life from the terrible
rufians. AS soon as the news of the
horrible crime gained circulation, excite
ment became intense in the community.
Miners left work and determined to fer
ret out the brutal creatures who were
capable Of. committing SO horrible a
crime.
As we have above stated, an employe
of the Connellsvile road saw two men
talking to the girl on the path leading
into McCloskeys woods. lie gave
description Of them, as follows ; One of
the men wore a cap, and the other a
slouch hat: one was about five feet five
or six inches high, while the other might
have been two or three inches taller
The shortest one appeared to be about
thirty five years of age, and the tallest
thirty-two. One of them had on Ken
tucky jean clothing. while the other man
wore sort of brown cloth coat, faded,
and cashmere pants and vest. Shortly
after this, Mr. Charles Dillon saw two
men just answering this description jump
the fence of McCloskeys woods and
walk hurriedly toward the railroad track.
He also saw the girl 60 into the woods.
The men looked like "tramps," but he
took no more notice of them. as he did
not then know of the occurrence.
Yesterday afternoon Mayor Blackmore
received the following dispatch, which
was the first information that was receiv-
ed of the horrible murder in this city:
Please look out for two suspecious-
looking characters walking towards Pitts
burgh. Wore caps and jean suits; one
has chin whiskers ; supposed to be Ger
mans last seen at Port Perry at 1l:30
A. NJ; appeared to be in great hurry
Little girl murdered at Saltzburg.
On the receipt of this faint inkling an
other dispatch was sent by the Mayor
inquiring for further particulars, in reply
to this another dispatch was received as
follows ELIZA Mess, age fourteen
years murdered one half mile from
Saltzburg."
This was all the full particulars that
was sent.
= Last evening Mr.. Hutchinson. of Saltz
burg, accompanied by another gentleman
came down to this city to see if they
could get the assistance Of our detectives
to ferret out the murderers. These gen
tlemen stated that they knew the route
the men had taken and had traced them
till within eight miles of this city. De
tectives Long and Messner were detailed
to 60 with the men and see if they could
capture the fiends or find any clue to
them. Mr.. II. stated he thought they
had come into the city. and might be
found in some drinking saloon, but the