Sharp County record., 1879-04-03

measure 0T the ehIftofNiNtfN Nh.i'F-
nept. the Coroner. q slow. but precise
man. announced himself ready for bus
ness. and. accompanied by the Sheriff
several surgeons aud the ianit"r, pro-
reeded to the Judges roomt the door OF
which was locked behind them I'm order
.r keep intermeddlers out
Erdaa Rlakelv was found I'M the man
rar I'm which the ianitor had left him.
and the examination was begun.
The surgeons. who had come before
hand TO The conclusion that apopleTy
had taken the Judge of were forced TO
abandon such ideas for brief examin-
alton told them that an assassin had
been there The crushed skull over the
left earand four dagger stabs i'm the re-
1fOu of the heart were the proofs OF the
murder Lying in its accustomed place
by the coal-stove was seen one OF the IN
sfruments Of death-a snort iron poker
.0 which adhered both hair and blood.
But the dagger was MISSING.
The assassin, whoever it was, mad
first struck the judge from behind with
. the poker while he sat in his great arm
chair at mis- desk, as the position Of the
chair and body indicated, and then
dealt the blows with the dagger.
i'm bearing off the sharp instrument
of death, &c was at first believed that the
murderer had left no cIew behind, but
after the surgical examination a discov-
srv was made that startled every one
present.
Lying upon the desk, and almost en-
firalv concealed beneath mass of legal
documents. was piece of legal cap,
upon which was traced, in q spasm0dlc
land. these words;
90 Jason Bowers did thisi"
Below this brief but startling sentence,
which seemed at once to fix the identity
of the assassin, was what appeared TO
be an attempt of the writer to attiE o
signature, but after "J," the pen
made long mark, which the behOlGers
could follow across the desk to the very
walnut edgirg.
It seemed that death had suddenly
stricken the writer in the act OF signing
his name, and the broken pen in the
Judges lifeles8 hand pointed almost
positively to the writer.
There was such man as Jason Bow
ers. He was not q resident of B.
. For some time past he had been an in
mate of the County Jail-hetd there on
. q charge of forgery. On the day prior
TO the night of the Judges murder this
man Bowers had been acquitted by the
. furv selected TO try him, and at the mo-
mept of the commission of the crime he
was a free man. He had never been
heard to say aurht against the Judge,
more than to remark that he thought
chat in the charge to the jury he (the
Judge) had favored conviction. At
homa the Young man had not borne an
. irreprOachable character, having en-
gaoed in affairs of questionable honor
but the trial for forgery was his first ap-
] Ipearance before q criminal court.
Upon the evidence of the writing on
the paper, which was pronounced by
al to be in the late Judges chirogra-
phy, 5nd beyond doubt the last work OF
his life, the Sheriff resolved to take
Jason Bowers into custody if he was
5till in town The young man was not
difficult to find, as he was in the crowd
below and on the charge of malicious
murder he was forthwith arrested and
lodged in jail
We now come to the most mysterious
part of our narrative.
At the COrOner's inquest but little
light was thrown upon the crime.
Jabez Throck, the ianitor, said that
ne found the outer doors of the Court
. house locked from the inside; and that
ne had been obliged to enter through
the coal-cellar, of which he alone car
ried the kew. It was not an uncommon
ching for the deceased to remain in his
room till y O'Clock at night during a
session of court, and upon such Occa-
siOns he locked the Courthouse when
he left for home Upon the janitor's
/ testimony the theory that the murderer
/ had been concealed in the building was
started, but this was injured by the va
riOus county officers, who swOre that
they had locked the iron doors leading
into their offices Immediately after the
adjournment of court, which gave the
murderer no place for concealment but
/ the stone corridors.
The Courthouse was on the second
street running parallel with the river,
and one of the town sewers connected
it with the stream There was bare
possibility that small man might have
obtained ingress to the building by the
sewer, but an examination of its mouth
dissipated this theory. The courtroom
was situated on the second floor. The
murderer, to reach the Judges apart
ment, was compelled to cross the court
room, which, when wrapped in dark
ness, as it was when the murder was
committed, was no easy task for one
unaequainted with the arrangement of