The Worthington advance., 1881-08-25
THE CHILD WITNESS,

ana at once IepOrt6O my6ol1 10 the town au.
therities. Every inhabitant Of the village,
even to the ragged i,rchins sitting on the
tavern porch, carried grave face and
talked II whispers. Had not known a
double murder had been committed the
night before, could have read some news
almost as bad by glancing at the faces of
the towns people.
While I was eating my supper at the on
~ hotel the town clerk and the president
of the village sat opposite and told me the
story. 1t seems that Arnold, who was
rearly sixty years old, had two sons in an
other part of the state, and, wishing to di-
vide up his property before his death, had
a few days before the murder, disposed of
= farm and some manufacturing interests
in Pittsburg, realizing several thousand
dollars in cash. He intended visiting the
sons and dividing the money between
them, but had placed it In the village bank
until he should be ready to go. Mrs. Arm
old Was old and gray headed, and the
compile would have been all alone had it
not been for little Jack. as he was called, a
child four years old. The child had been
abandoned bya woman passing through the
village, and the Arnolds had taken it for
company; in fact. had made provision to
adopt it.
The night before at o'clock citizen
had seen Arnold at his gate smoking his
pipe. No one heard any alarm from the
house during the night, but about sunrise
little Jack crept Gown into the village, his
night gown red with blood, and told the
first one he met Somebody had hit grand
pa and grandma on the head with an axe. "
There was an investigation, and the aged
couple wee found at the house dead and
terribly mut;]ated. The old mans head
was nearly split in two, aud Mrs. Arnold
had q horrible wourd on the temple, which
had cansed death almost instantly. The
child was not in the least injured, but
seemed to have been badly frightened.
This was the gist of the story got while
eating, but found that none Of the sensa-
tional points had been overdrawn, when I
reached the house. The corpses had been
the subject of inquest, but the rooms had
not been disturbed. A constable had been
present oil the time to see thetany clue that
might have been left of the murderer should
not be erased by careless hands or feet.
The room where the tragedy occurred
was double bed room on the ground floor.
It contained two beds, one of which was oc-
cupied by the old lady alone and the other
by the old man and little Jack. The mur-
derer had come in at the back door, bring
ing along the Ak from the wood pile. He
had passed into the bedroom, lighted q
candle which stood on the stand, and been
weapon. knew this because the tcp draw
er of the old bureau was pulled out, its con
tents tumbled over, aud there were no
bloody fnger-marks on anything. The
other drawers were dabbed with blood,
showing that he searched these after the
murder.
Something had aroused the old man from
his sleep. He had started to get ont o.
bed when struck by an axe. The old lady
had just heard the noise when the cruel
implement descended on her head. the
positions in which the bodies were found
bearing out my theory. The night had
been chilly and little Jack probably snug
gled down under the quilts, and had th1o
escaped harm, though as afterwards shown
he had been a silent witness Of part of the
proceedings.
The murderer made thorough search of
the house, taking his time about it, He
had first felt under the old mans pillow
after money and then under Mrs. Arnold's,
daubing his finger with blood and leaving
marks on the pillows. I counted five
different places where he rested his lef;
hand on the pillows searching with the
right, and in every case there were four
daubs or spots. There should have been
five. He would not put four fingers down
and hold up his thumb. No; the thumb
on the left hand was missing-cut off al
least at the first joint.
This was clue, and all my subsequent
Investigations proved that I was correct in
believing so. There was another thing
The man had torn up the carpet of the bed.
room in several places; and had got out the
Bible and looked between it's covers; had
taken down and searched the clothing in
the closet, and had been so cool and thor
ough in his search that knew he was nc
ordinary offender. A common thief would
lave He'd after committing murder, or al
most stopped only long enough to search
the bureau: Whoever the man was, he had
not secured a dollar in money. He had
however, taken away an old-fashioned gold
watch belonging to Arnold, which was out
Of repair, and chiefly preserved as an heir.
loom. A dozen persons could identify the
watch, il found, and here was something
that might prove good clue.
could not expect to get much out of the
boy, owing to his youth. Taking him on
nay knee l made his acquaintance. cave
him some pennies, and then asked him
what he saw.
You see," began the child, very gravely
II heard grandpa talking and getting up,
and then I saw a big robber jump up anii
hit him with the axe. Then grandpa tel
down and the big man went over ani
struck grandma. Then he looked in th.
bureau, on the bed, in grandpa's box il
the closet and then went off, and then
went TO Sleep"
/ dreaded to ask how the man looked
Tor much depended on his answer. Bu
he was ready with his reply and all m,
cross questioning could not alter his state.
ment. a p, - < - -.
Big manfred collar (necktie) on-prea,
big bEeastpin-red whiskers like Mr.
Jackson there-shining ring on his finger
one eye almost shut up.
tried to make little Jack believe TIM,
the murderer had black hair and was lit.
tle man, but he stuck to his story. The1
one of tue constables talked to him abou,
something else for ten minutes and the,
| questioned him as to the appearance Of Ii,
man; but the story WAS the same az told m,