The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1878-08-29
A MOST SINGULAR CRIME.
The Killing Of A. VI. Tullis. of 0rsnd Is
land. CAT, by the Public Administrator,
In Order to get Hold of His Fortune OF
R5O. 600.

The Killing Of A. VI. Tullis. of Grssnd Is |,
land. CAT, by the Public Administrator,
in Order to get Hold of His Fortune OF
From the San Francisco Call
SACRAMENTO, Aug. 13.-Late last /
night the Sheriff arrested Troy Dye. |
Public Administrator of the county, on |
a charge Of the murder of Tullis, on |
Grand Island. Clark, partner of Dye
in the saloon business, was arrested at |
the same time On the morning of the |
I'd inst. A. VI. .Tullis, a fruit-grower on |
Grand Island. in this county, was found |
dead in his orchard. The night before !
two unknown men were seen to come |
down the river in small, roughly built |
boat. They went to Tnllis's ranch and
landed. One Of the men asked the !
Chinese servant for the boss. He was
directed to the orchard Soon after |
o'clock shots were heard fred. and the
shouting Of men and the barking of q
dog. Tullis was found next morning
on the ground dead. 1t was evident he
had been running when shot, and he
must have been STOPPING over when hit.
for the murderer's tracks were traced TO
the rivers edge.
At the inquest held on the I'd and Sd
inst, it appeared that two suspicious
men in redwood duck-boat were seen
in the river. One of the men pulled his
hat over his eyes when passing people.
The men were seen near Tullis's place at
5 O'Clock, and Tullis was killed about7 in
the evening. The body had four gun-shot
wounds in it, apparently made by pis-
toll. One entered about the first false
rib on the left side, and passed obliquely
upward, tearing away in its course one
of the vertebroe of the back and passed
through the right lung, The lung was
injured by extravasation OF blood,
caused by the wound. Another ball en-
tered at about the third vertebre, and
lodged just over the right eye, passing
through the brain. A third bullet
passed through the neck behind, emery
ing under the right ear. This ball made
two openings. The deceased, when
found, lay upon the right side of his
face, with his right hand under his face
and his left hand stretched out, full of
dirt, as if he had grasped handful of
dirt just before dying. His head was
toward the south. His shirt was burned
at the place where the ball entered the
back. There were no weapons on his
person. Tullis's tracks led from a
place south of where he was found to-
ward the north. These tracks appeared
for about 200 yards from where the body
was found He toed out great deal,
and his tracks were easily distinguishes
bic. There were also tracks of two
other persons. One was a large track,
made by No. s or 9 boot, and the
other by not over No. boot. These
tracks followed behind Tullis's tracks,
and came toward where the body was
found. Right around the body was q
confusion of tracks, as if several persons
had been walking around it. The tracks
were the only ones leading to or from
the body, and they went from the body
TO the river.
The boat referred to was proven to
be sharp at both ends, and to have in it
two persons. On the morning of the
murder, at early dawn, two men were
seen to launch rude boat from the old
mouth of the American River. Two
cleats nailed on one end made an indent-
alton in the sand, which an officer found
to correspond with the description of the
cleats given by q man who saw the boat.
The day after the murder two strange
men were seen footing it up the road
| from Grand Island to Sacramento. 1t is
said they ran by houses and avoided OBJ
servation as much as possible. Since
the search for the murderers it has trans
pired that on the way down the river the
Aoi nj 20
ranch and sought nails and a hammer
and strips of wood to fix their rowlock.
The San Francisco agent for Tulis,
George P. Starr, says the deceased wrote
to him that he had difficulty with two
Portuguese, who had been driven from
the ranch. Deceased was a bachelor, of
very close and retired habits. He was
known to be severe on tramps, and in
variablV drove them from the house.
Some have thought tramps, in fit of
anger, killed him. Tullis left an estate
valued at $4,000. On this estate Troy
Dye, as Public Administrator, has filed
his application that letters of admins
tration be issued to him. ~
Last night, at IL O'Clock, Troy Dye
was arrested and charged with COM
plicity in the murder. The arrest was
effected by Sheriff Drew and several
deputies. Deputy Sheriff Harrison,
who has been working up the Tullis case,
makes the following statement: He
says he arrived here on the Sunday sue
ceeding tbs murder, and read over the
testimony taken at the Coroner's in
quest. He asked the Coroner if the
Administrator had come yet, and was
told that he had not. He asked If he
had telegraphed, but found he had not.
Harrison's theory was, either that the
relatives that came here killed TulGs to
realize on the estate, which they could
not otherwise get, or that parties here
killed him in order to get the estate.
Harrison's theory was that the men who
killed him lived in Sacramento. He got
buggy, and he and the Sheriff, N. M.
Drew, went to Corother's ranch, Just
below GAINESVILLE, and there they got an
accurate description of the men in the
mysterious boat. They were told they
had passed on down the river. The
officers went on to Walnut Grove, and
there found parts of the boat, perhaps
half or two-thirds of it. They exam
ined the place where the ruins OF the
boat were first found. Harrison's theory
was all the time that the boat had been
scuttled, and he had been anxious to
find it. The people of the island had
offered 800 reward for tie recovery of
the boat. 1t was found by butcher on
the right of the levee. He was driving
on the levee on the side of the old river,
Just below where Tullis was killed, and
all at once heard noise as if some one
was hammering on q board at the edge
of the river. The noise came from the
spot where subsequently the remains of !
the boat were found. His horse became |
frightened and jumped from the levee.
That led up to the finding of parts of
the boat in an eddy which held them in
some willows. Harrison brought the
boat pieces to Sacramento.