The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1879-03-21

ulcotuft Uy the xlf1otutuofy cAcit1-
ment, the Coroner, . slow, but precise
man, announced himself ready for bus
iness, and, accompanied by tbs Sheriff,
several surgeons and the j~anitor. pro-
ceeded 10 the Judges room, the door OF
which was locked behind them Ia order
to keep Intermediates out.
Judge blakely was found In the man.
ner in which the ~janitor had left him,
and the examination WAS begun
The surgeons, who had come before
hand TO the conclusion that apoplexy
had taken the Judge of, were forced TO
abandon such ideas for a brief EXAMINE
alton told them that an assassin had
been there. The crushed skull over the
left a and four dagger slabs in the re-
gion Of the heart were the proofs Of the
murder. Lying in its accustomed place
by the coal-stove vas seen one Of the in
struments Of death-a short iron poker,
to which adhered both hair and blood.
But the dagger was missing.
The assassin, whoever it was, had
first struck the Judge from behind with
the poker while he sal in his great arm
chair at his desk, as the position Of the
chair and body indicated. and then
dealt the blows with the dagger.
In bearing off the sharp instrument
Of death, it was at first believed that the
murderer had left no clew behind, but
after the surgical examination . discov-
cry was made that startled every one
present.
Lying upon the desk. and almost en-
tirely concealed beneath q mass of legal
documents, was q piece of legal cap
upon which was traced, in . spasmodic
hand, these words:
"Jason Bowers did this"
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 affix .
signature, but after q ~" the pen
made a long mark, which the beholders
could follow across the desk to the very
walnut edgirg.
1t seemed that death had suddenly
stricken the writer in the act OF signing
his name. and the broken pen in the
Judges lifeless hand pointed almost
positively to the writer.
There was such . man as Jason Bow
ers. He was no. . resident Of B.
For some time past he had been an in
mate Of the County Jail-held 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
Jury selected to try him, and at the mo-
ment of the commission Of the crime he
was a free man. He had never been
heard to say aught against the Judge,
more than to remark that he thought
that in the charge to the jury he (the
Judge) had favored conviction. At
home the young man had not borne an
irreproachable character, having en-
gagged in affairs Of questionable honor;
but the trial for forgery was his first ap-
pearance before q criminal court.
Upon the evidence Of the writing on
the paper, which was pronounced BY
all to be in the late Judges chirogra-
ply, and beyond doubt the last work OF
his life. the Sheriff resolved to take
Jason Bowers into custody If he was
still in town. The young man was not
difficult to find, . he was in the crowd
below, and on the charge of malicious
murder be was forthwith arrested and
AO0KcN Al JoAi.
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 janitor, said that
he found the outer doors Of the Court
house locked from the inside; and that
he had been Obliged to enter through
the coal-cellar, Of which he alone car
RED the key. 1t was not an uncommon
thing for the deceased to remain in his
room till IL O'Clock st night during .
session Of court, and upon such occa-
sions be locked the Court-house when
be left for home. Upon the janitor's
testimony the theory that the murderer
had been concealed in the building was
started, but this VA injured by the va
rious county officers, who swore that
they had locked tine iron doors leading
into their Offices immediately after the
adjournment Of court, which gave the
murderer no place for concealmcnt but
the stone corridors.
The Court-house was on the second
street running parallel with the river,
and one OF the town sewers connected
1t 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
VA situated on the second floor. The
murderer, to reach the Judges apart
ment, Wa compelled to cross the court
room, which, when wrapped in dark
ness, a. it was when the murder was
committed, was no easy task for n
unacquainted with the arrangement Of
the furniture, etc. II the assassin had
travcrsed the room just described, he
had failed to displace q single chair,
several having been placed in the aisles,
as the Sheriff testified; and the mode
.uA ~r~r,o~ - liz .wst $1,000 sl,r 1o(< -