The Morristown gazette. [volume] (Morristown, Tenn.) 1867-1920, 1874-07-15
A Promising Life Blighted.
THE STORY OF SAM M'DoNAkD, TIE
MURDERER OF BERRY AMOS.

In the Louisville Courier Journal
of few days since, the following
telegram from Baltimore was pub
| lished:
During drunken brawl in the
Sherwood House, early this morning
Berry Amos, aged twenty-five, awell
known gambler. was fatally stabbed
as he alleged, by Sam Mcdonald
who was arrested. Mcdonald is sup,
posed to be here on visit from In
diana. He formerly resided near
Baltimore, and is the son Of William
Mcdonald. the millionaire, former
owner of Flora Temple"
The young man who stands charg-
ed with this atrocious crime was
we'll known in the West, and has
many friends in this city. Never
did career open more brilliantly
than his, and never was inevitable
end of unbridled dissipation more
clearly fulfilled than in the brief par
agraph we have given above. His
fall from a high estate, far beyond
the common, has been so headlong
and rapid that brief recital of it's
incidents will be of interest to the
general reader, and will serve to
point sad moral that cannot be too
often inculcated, and will not come
amiss to some of our own .jeuReSSe
| dOree.
The Baltimore papers, in chroni-
cling the incidents of the crime, have
but briefly alluded to the previous
career of the alleged murderer. Some
acquaintance with its salient fea-
lures enables the writer to present
the facts as given below. The muir
der seems to have been the natural
sequence of four years Of the. most
extraordinary dissipation.
TIE MURDER.
Three men were drinking together
in Baltimore bar-room in the early
hours of the morning, and after a
night spent in debauch. One of
them was noted gambler of that
city, Berry Amos, whom a local pa
per says was fine looking man; at
least, so far as the animal part is
concerned tall, erect, broad chested
and muscular; with sturdy lower
limbs, and brawny arms, and all we'll
rounded, he presented to the eye the
very persopifcation of physical
strength and manly vigor. Another
was boon companion, and the third
was Sam Mcdonald. The first two
were at the bar taking a drink to-
gether, and the third suddenly arose
from his chair and stabbed the gam
bier to his heart. The murder is
said to have been done out of mere
wantonness. The murderer was be-
sotted with liquor, and had bowie
knife in his pocket. Rising from
his scat in alcoholic delerium, he
singled his victim out simply be-
cause he was the taller man of the
crowd before him. There is said to
have been no cause for murder be-
tween the two, and that it is not
probable that the drunken man cher
ished any malice whatever towards
his victim or any other person in
the party. Such are the circum
stances of one scene in this drama
of which we write; the next must
be left to the records of the court
to tell, and of that which proceeded
the bloody tragedy in its course,
we may briefly allude to here.
A RICH ESTATE.
Sam Mcdonald was the son of a
very wealthy man in Baltimore.
whose family occupied the highest
social position III that city. He
himself was sent abroad to be edu-
Gated, and spent several years at
one of the schools in England.
While still abroad his father died,
leaving his immense fortune to be
divided between his son and a
daughter, his only children Young
McDonald's was something over a
half a million of dollars, and, with
proper management, would have
advanced very greatly in value.
Shortly after his fathers death the
young man attained his majority.
The family residence, just out of
Baltimore, was one of the most ele-
giant in the country. Here on the
night of his twenty first birthday he
gave a grand dinner to various
friends in the city, and the celebra-
tion is said to have been carried out
in style of almost unparalleled
magnificence. The spacious grounds
were abIaze with light, and foun-
tain ran champagne in the yard.
The night closed in an orgie of
wine drinking, in which an amazing
quantity was consumed. Thus he
started out upon career of dissipa-
ton which has hurried him in four
years-he is now but twenty five
to the horrible tragedy of last
Wednesday night.
AN APOLLO.
Young Mcdonald at this age was
an extraordinary specimen Of manly
beauty. lie was six feet tail,
straight as an arrow, broad chested
and muscular, yet as graceful and
agile as an athlete. A wealth of
flaxen hair, and broad fair fore
head, deep blue eyes, and a noble
mouth, with features perfectly clas-
sic in their outline-he was per-
feet type of the Anglo-Saxon. Add
to this the exuberant spirits which
always attend good health, and that
nameless magnetism winch SO few
men possess, and the possession of
which may be the best, or the best
of Gods gifts, he was most en-
joyable companion, the life of the
social circle, and as much admired
by men as lie was adored by women.
Snnr, nftor ha had nttainnd his No