The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1883-10-09
The Governor Declines to Interfere, and the
Prisoner Remarks, ST Don't Care"--
History of the Crime.
Detective Ten Broeck's Theory of the
Ada Atkinson Murder.
An Unusually Large Collection of Criminal
and Accidental News. with Notes and
Gleanings in Two States.
INDIAN A.
History of the Crime for Which McDOnel
Will Be Executed To-Day.

History of the Crime for Which McDonel
Will Be Executed To-Day
Special to the Indianapolis Journal
Fort WAYNE Oct 8.-A telegram from In
dianapolis announces that Governor Porter,
after full and careful review of the papers
asking commutation of the death penalty
in the case of McDonel, has declined to inter-
fere and the prisoner will be hanged to-mur-
row. On being told the Governor would not
interfere, McDonel remarked, II don't care"
The arrangements for the execution are COM
plete. 1t is thought McDone will make a
confession; indeed, it is believed he has al
ready confessed to a Catholic priest. Sub
joined is history OF the crime for which he
was convicted:
McDonePs home was at Arcola, Allen
county, Indiana, small town on the Pitts
burg, Fort Wayne & Chicago railway, eight
miles west of Fort Wayne. His victim Louis
Laurent, was even younger than he, a re-
spectacle Canadian Frenchman, barely of
age, and of good reputation for thrift and
sObriety.
He had hired out to Victor Cavalier,
wealthy French resident of the town, to
clear a certain piece of timber-land on the
old Cavalier farm, mile from the town, and
slept on the place in a small cabin. It's
worked under Laurent and was to be paid,
| according to a memorandUm-book found in
the dead mans coat, the sum of seventy-fiVe
cents day and his board. The two were to-
| gether frequently in the village after their
| days labor, McDonel finding the society of
the pretty Louise Cavalier an attraction not
easy to resist. The contract for clearing the
land had nearly EXPIRED and Cavalier paid
| Laurent in full in gold. 1t was on the even
ing of Thursday, March %, and shortly after
this settlement with Cavalier that McDonel
and Laurent sat together in Vaughn's saloon
drinking, in all apparently friendly manner,
a glass or two of beer.
They rose from the table, and, in company
with two others, started for their places of
rest McDonel and Laurent walked along
the road until they reached point opposite
the Cavalier cabin. Laurent here bade his
two other companions good night and
strobe gayly away with McDonel He was
never seen alive again.
BETRAYED BY MONEY.
The next day McDonel came to Fort
Wayne and surprised sundry creditors, who
had often pushed him for money, by dis
charging his obligations, paying in each in
stance in gold. With one twenty-dollar
gold piece suit of clothes was purchased,
and he was seen to have in his pocket-book
another gold coin of like denomination,
with which he afterward paid note.
In this way, and in dissipation,
his money was all spent, so far
that when, on the next day, Saturday,
the Oath, when he was arrested for some
trifling offense, he was unable to furnish
| other bail for his appearance on the follow
ing Monday than his watch. On Monday he
remained about Arcola and on the next day
| came again to Fort Wayne, walking along
the Nickel-plare railroad, and was noticed
by three acquaintances to carry fine double
barreled shotgun.
All of this time the absence from Arcola
of young Laurent was explained by McDonel
in plausible manner, and it was not ntil
the morning of the Goth of March that the
fearful murder was discovered. Mr.. Cavalier
at that time had found in Mr.. James +.
Mapes possible purchaser for the farm, and
the two went to look over the property to-
gether. They found the cabin locked, and
let themselves in with a key of Mapes that
so lily fitted the lock that it was broken in
turning.
On the inside they found the dead body of
Laurent. lying on its back, in the back room.
There was a deep hole made by the poll of a
small ak in the forehead, and the dsordered
appearance of the two half-furnished rooms
gave evidence of the terrible struggle for life.
In the front room the table was found set for
a meal and victuals were upon it. The
floor at the side of the table was stained with
petless floor into the fireplace. The broom
and the hatchet were near at hand There
was no key in either of the outer doors, and
one of them must have been locked from the
outside as the murderer passed out.
Cavalier telegraphed to Fort Wayne for
Coroner Wheelock, who came at once with
Prosecuting Attorney @. NJ. Dawson, Sheriff
Schiefer and Deputies Dodge and Doyle.
THE ARREST OF M'DoNEL.
Al
prosecutor was McDonel. He said he had
not heard of the affair." which was surprising,
from the fact of his intimacy with Cavalier,
whose bar-room he used to attend and at odd
times was employed in. In a further CONVEX
sation he made remarks which attracted sus-
picion to him. He was asked to come to the
cabin and look at the body. He replied that
the sight of blood always sckened him, and
went into a small stable for a moment.
Finally rough fellow present caught him
by the shoulder and faced him about so that
he must look through the cabin window at
Laurent's corpse. "Oh," exclaimed he, with
a natural surprise, 'I thought it lay on its
back" Unknown to any but the officers,
they had turned the body over on the floor.
McDonel had expected to find it as he had
left it, He was placed under arrest A
deputy sheriff examined the small stable he
had entered and found concealed in
the manger ticket of Pawnbroker
Shuman, at Fort Wayne calling for Il
double-barreled shotgun, such as Laurent
owned and used to keep in the cabin After
wards, at the JAIL he was asked about the
gum and denied all knowledge of it. saying
he had not handled gun for year past On
the trial the duplicate pawn ticket was pro
duced, together with three witnesses VINO saw
him sign his name when the gun was pledged
as security for a loan. His old clothing was
minutely examined. In the pockets of Il pair