Connecticut western news., 1874-07-17
A LIFE BLASTED,
The Story of sam M'DOnald, tho Mill
 MOmaire Murderer.

The Story of sam M'DOnald, tho Mill
 MOmaire Murderer.
 In the Louisville Journal of few days since the following telegram from Baltimore was published
 "During a drunken brawl in the Sherwood House this morning, Berry Amos, aged thirty-fve, well-known gambler, was fatally stabbed, as he al- legged, by Sam Mcdonald, who was ar- rested. Mcdonald is supposed to be here on a visit from Indiana. He for merly resided in Baltimore, and is the son of William Mcdonald, the million aire, former owner of Flora Temple"
 The young man who stands charged with this atrocious crime was we'll known in the West. Never did ca reer open more brightly than his, and never was the inevitable end of unbri- dled dissipation more clearly fulfilled than in the brief paragraph we have given above. His fall from a high es- tate, far beyond the common, has been so headlong and rapid that brief re- cital 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 jeataeSse doree.
 The Baltimore papers, in chronicling the incidents of the crime, have but briefly alluded to the previous career of the alleged murderer. Some ac- quaintance With its salient features en- ables the writer to present the facts as given below. The murder seems to have been tho natural sequence of four years of the most extraordinary dissi- patton.
 Three men were drinking together in a Baltimore bar-room in the early hours of the morning, and after night spent in debauch. One of them was a noted gambler of that city-Berry Amos, whom local paper describes as fine looking man at least, so far as the animal part was concerned tall, erect, broad -chested and muscular with sturdy lower limbs, and brawny arms, and all well rounded, he presented to the eye the very personi6catiOn of physical strength and manly vigor. Another was boon companion, and the third was Sam McDonald. The two first were at the bar taking drink together, and the third suddenly arose from his chair and stabbed the gambler to the heart. The murder is said to have been done out of mere wantonness The murderer was besotted with liquor, and had bowie knife in his pocket Rising from his seat in alcoholic de- hrium, he singled his victim out simply because he was the taller man of the crowd before him. There is said to have been no cause for quarrel between the krr0 Ahok .- l~1o kl> drunken man cherished any mallce whatever toward his victim or any other person in the party. Such are the cir cumstances of one scene in this life drama of which we write the next nut be left to the records of the court to tell, and of that which preceded the bloody tragedy in it's course, we may briefly allude to here.
 Sam Mcdonald was the son Of very wealthy man in Baltimore, whose family occupied the highest social position in that city. He himself was sent abroad to be educated, and spent several years at one of the schools in England. While still abroad bis father died, leav- ing his immense fortune to be divided between his son and daughter, his only children. Young McDonald's DOT tion was something over half million of dollars, and, with proper manage ment, would soon 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 elegant in the country. Here on the night of his twenty-frst birthday he gave 8 grand dinner to various friends in the city, and the celebration is said to have been carried out in style of almost unparalled magnifi- cence. The spacious grounds were ablaze with light, and fountain "a. champagne in the yard. The night closed with an orgie of wine drinking, in which an amazing quantity was con- stunned. Thus he started out upon 8 career of dissipation which has hurried him in four years-he is now but twen- ty-fve-to the horrible tragedy.
 Young Mcdonald at this age was an extraordinary specimen of manly beauty. He was over six feet tall, straight as an arrow, broad chested, and muscular, yet as graceful and agile as an athlete. A wealth of faxen hair, and broad, fair forehead, deep blue eyes, and noble mouth, with features perfectly classic in their outline-he was a perfect type of the Anglo-Saxon. Add to this the exuberant spirits which always attend good health, and that nameless magnetism which so few men possess-he was a most enjoyable con- panion, the life of the social circle, and as much admired by men as ho was adored by women. Shortly after he had attained his majority he came out to Terre Haute, Ind, on visit. He re- turned to that pleasant city a few months afterward, bought him farm in the vicinity, stocked it with the finest horses and cattle, and there in- augurated 8 series of dissipations which shocked the goodly little city to it's centre. -s -. .-.s.
 He was soon ostracized from the society of the town, and direful stories are told of the excessss into which he then plunged. There were two gamblers from the East, whom he had brought West with him, and it is said that there were still more disreputable companions of another sex who lived in the same house with him. From this rendez- vous he would take frequent hunting excursions into the neighboring prairies of Indiana and Illinois, the return 10 be always celebrated by 8 debauch. Wine flowed like water in this hunting lodge, as he called it, and cards followed the wine on the table. It was said by those who professed to know that young McDonald spent over $50, 900 the first year he lived in Terre Haute. Here he has sin ce lived, and we are told that most, if not all, of his original patrimony has been squan- dered. It was on visit to Baltimore kl,nA kb;e 1ack f,Aa1 Ir r1,,, o,ooAol