Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1874-03-26
ANOTHER MURDER MYSTERY.
The Murder OF Mrs. Cr0ssmau, Near Bridge.
port, Wis.--Arrest OF Parties supposed 90 be
Connected with the Tragedy.
Loorrsspondenee Of The sentinel.

death under very mysterious, not 10
say suspicious, circumstances. Mrs.
Croasman being an / lady, and ii7-
Ing on her farm entirely alone, had
not been seen for several days, when
u neighbour, becoming alarmed, went
TO her house, and found her dead, IN
der the bed. From the appearance
of tho body it was supposed that she
had been dead several days. The
horror-.trcken friend burned away
tn alarm the neighbOrs, who hasteD-
ed to the scene ofthe tragedy. ! here
were
NO MARKS OF vi LENCE ON THE BODY
that wolli indicate that q murder
b I'D been committed, only from the
appearance of the deceased. one
would su, pose she had died in great
agony. Upon tsugation, The
house seemed t. have been raDsanck-
ed from top 10 bottom, and sever |
wi liable articles were found to be
missing, among which Was box
known to have contained quite an
amount of gold nd silver coin, seVel-
al silk dresses, and valuable papers.
Mra. Crossman was widow, and
lived upon her farm, about SIX NIL
south of Prairie du CHEN, near
bridgeport, and vas known TO have
CONSIDERABLE SUMS OF MONEY
in her possession. She also h'li the
notes of Horace Beach, L. l. Bower,
l.. Case, j. Famechon, and others
tor something over $500, that she
had deposiled with tn gentlemen ion
safe keeping. Time past on. and
still there was no clue TO the mysteI
ious aff4ir, until recently, whom 1t
was ascertained that man named
George Barnum was in possession OF
these notes, which was singular IN
the extreme, as ne was known TO be
in poor circumstances. Bu; as he did
not present them, a cunningly work
ed notice was put in tho paper. to
the effect that all persons having
claims against the Crossman estate
should present them within a given
number of days for examination
Barnum
FELL IMMEDIATELY INTO THE Trap
so cunningly baited, and brought the
notes in town and took them TO the
attorney, Mr.. Thomas, claiming to
have obtained them of Mrs. Cross
man tor value received.
Now the mystery comes IN. AS
they were regularly assigned Oy Mrs.
Crossman, and az BarDum was
known 10 be in poor circumstances,
how to secure the notes Of Mrs.
Crossman They were notes pays
bic TO order, and The amounts ooult
have been had on demand from the
responsible gentlemen holding the
Ill lady's funds on trust; and yet
Barnum had never notified the par
ties or demanded pay of these
notes although one Of them was past
due. Again. why shou d Mrs. Cros'-
man sell these notes She did not
need the money, for she said so wheD
she placed the money in the hands OF
the gentlemen whose notes were VIII
tually 'cer,Iticates of deposit" BG'
op t the tGssS R@5s7 anu MGa' Why
should Baruum fail to notify the
parties whose notes he held ? The
CIRCUMSTANCES SEEMED SUSPICIOUS
enough to warrant the arrest Of Ba :
nun for frauduloutly obtaining notes
aud money known to have belonged
to the late Mr.. Crossman, the arr's
being pro- pity tffac'ed, withou, any
difficulty, by Sheriff NJ D maid. Bli
upon examination nothing couIi b
proven, and Blrnum was released
from custody chiefly on The evidence
of q Mr.. Duffy, who swore that be
was present when Mrs. CrosemaD
sold said notes 20 B .roum. Sui
suspicion was net quoted, for last
week she body Of Mra. Gresham
was d.sinlerred for The purpose OF
4uhjec'iog the stomach to chemictI
analysis, which was successful j.
done by Dr. Dani,l Mason, of this
place, and was found TO contain
LARGE QUANTITIES OF ARSENIC,
which had he effect Of keeping the
st0ma' b in IA perfect state of preser-
vatior. A warrant was quickly got
out for the arrest of G org, B ,rnum
ard his sister (who is supposed to be
an accompiice), for the murder of
Mrs. Crossman, which was put into
execution by Sheriff Mcdonald on
Wednesday, and the parties were
lodged in the county Jail to await
examination, which examination is
postponed until next Friday,
On the Sheriff's
ARRIVING AT BARNUMs HOUSE
be informed him that lie had war;
rant tor lis arrest on suspicion of the
murder Of tho late Mrs. Crossman.
Barnum exhibited no signs of emo
ton. and was seemingly perfectly
Indifferent, as was also his sister
on being told that she, too, was to be
arrested, Before ia Y started for
town, Sheriff Mcdonald suddenly
said to Barnum, Where il that bot
tic of arsenic that you had left from
poisoning Colo's dog?" (Barnum
had short time before poisoned his
neighbours dog through motives Of
malice.) Barnum, being taken una
wares, sad, 'Oh, if that's what you
want, III get it for you and, going
out to a root-house in the rear of the
dwelling, ha dug itnp out of the dirt.
took it Into the building, and gave it
to the Sheriff who brought it in and
gave IL TO Or. Mason. It would
reem that the
WOMAN DUFFY
was deeply implicated ae she was
overheard by reliable gentleman,
Chauucy Blancher, to declare to Bar
mum that she "nerer had told and
she never would as long as she lived"
There has yet nothing been done to-