, 1880-06-13
A Colored Woman Found Ter
ribIy Mangled Near Indian
apctis, Ind.
Her Husband Subsequently Discov-
cred Murdered in the Woods
Near By.
4 Murderer Arrested After Long
Hunt in q Michigan Town.
The General Criminal Record-Vl-
lainies of Various Sorts.
A MYSTERIOUS DEED.

MYSTERIOUS DEED.
Special Dispas4h to Ths Chicago Tribune. J
ISp1AyAro1Is, Ind, June 1o.-Yesterday
afternoon the neighbors Of John Williams,
<colored farmer living near Lawrence, eleven
miles enst Of this city, we're notified by two
negroes hailins from this city that Williams
wife was lying in her cabin nearly killed.
The alarm thus given led to an Investigation
which resulted in finding the woman
stretched upon the floor with j number OF
dangerous wounds and her body covered
with bruises. She was still conscious and
able to nlutter answers to questions in
somewhat incoherent manner. To the In
quiry, "Who did it ?" she replied, "John,"
her husbands name. "Where were you
when it occurred ?" WAS next asked, and
she answered, "1n the clearing" meaning
garden patch adjoining the house. These
answers seem to point to her husband as the
criminal, especially as 1t was known that
they did not always get along we'll together,
and that for several days Williams had not
been seen in the neighborhood. Other dis
coveries added to his guilt. 4 wood-cutters
1nattock, covered with blood, was found
in the: house, and half 4 milo away
Williams horse lay with Its throat
cut, and near 1t hat that was
identified as belonging to the husband,
Of the mangled woman. But this morning
such theory was rudely dispellcd by the
discovery Of Williams dead body in the
woods adjoining where his horse and hat lay.
Death had been inflicted by means of SOME
blunt, rough instrument, probably billet OF
wood, the head being crushed into shape
less mass. But nothing was found to afford
the slightest clew to the murderers. No tracks
or other marks were found, and nothing dis
covered with which the crime could have
been committed. At this writing, therefore,
the affair remains great mystery. The
woman was Immediately taken to
the hospital in this city, where she is lying
| in a se1ni-conscious condition, with little
| hopes of her recovery. The doctor reports
the skull fractured in front and behind. and
| the left arm badly bruised, evidently re-
| ceived in the attempt to ward Oft blows by
the savage murderers. John Williams and
| wife were middle-aged people, without
| children, who first made their appearance In
Lawrence 1our or tiye years ago, when they
| cultivated Il piece of land rented from tne
and from indianapolis, spending tho sum
mer in the country" and winters in
town until last winter, when Thomas en-
| ployed Williams to cut wood for him: Nhen
| the lob WIS cOmpleLed W lll1Allo utcAllIeo ~
| leave the place, saying he would remain,
| and, for place to live in, do such work rs
was required of him. III pursuance OF THIS
arrangement the cabin wherein Mrs. Will
| Jams was found was builE for their accom-
! modation Mrs. Williams was considered to
be a white woman by those who knew her
but when charged with it always in
sisted that she was col0red. In all
interview this evening James Thomas
stated that he knew nothing whatever Of the
! affair; but that some time ago, just before
colored neighbours harm WIS burned: step
son of the owner (Xeph McCure) visited the
Williams cabin, and it is said, insultea Mrs;
Williams. She informed her husband, ana
together they ran him over the heluS milo
and a half and then left the country. This
was given with the intimntion that possibly
Mcclure had returned to be reYenged upon
the supposed burners Of his fathers barn:
Another suspicious feature is the fact that
| the two men who gave the alarm have not
since been seen, nor is it known who they are
The discovery of.this horrible double murdei
by fiends who carried their bloody designs
out against even an unohendlng hofss
created the utmost excitement in the neigh
borhood, which is Intensified by the nIys
terious circumstances surrounding 1t; II Is
not even known when the dreadful crime
was committed, whether "Wednesday. ol
Thursday night, rs the victims lived IN {
secluded spot, and days sometimes elapsed
without their neighbors seeing them.