Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1883-01-03
ALL THE INCIDENTS AND POINTERS
A Tragedy Unparalleled in the History
Of the City.
EXCITEMENT THROUGH THE CITY.
Proclamation Of the Mayor Offering a
Reward for the MurdererS.

There are deeds of villainy so dark and
.bloody and mysterious that the mind can
not contemplate them without recoiling;
depths of depravity SO appalling that the
hand shrink5 from the task of putting the
record of crime into a narrative of con-
demnation against the vice and meanness
of humanity. OF all the crimes which
blacken the calendar of Minnesota, the
night of New Year, 1888, will be memora-
BILE for contributing as dark chapter as
ever stained the fair fame of this city and
state.
At the present writing the circumst anc ss
point to the committal of as foul and
bloody murder as has ever taken place
in Minnesota, the victim being
Richard A. Pierce, a young man
twenty three years of age, and
of stainless integrity of charac-
ter and of orderly and correct
habits, the son of S. L. Pierce, Esq, the
well known lawyer of this city. The muir
der occurred some time during Monday
night, and at this writing the fate of the
unfortunate young man is involved in the
most profound and painful mystery.
The deed is unparalleled in cool biooded
and freezing atrocity, and stands singular
ly alone in the calendar of criminal events
of the city, from the fact that the sole mo-
tive " hs the insane or devillsh desire to
obtain lucre at the price of perdition, and
through the shedding OF human blood.
CHASTITY DISCOVERY.
The circumstances so far as developed
may be put in consecutive narrature as
follows: About o'clock yesterday morn
ing James Mathewson, night watchman in
the Omaha railroad yards, while walking
on the track which skirts the river in the
rear of elevator A, on West Third street,
discovered several articles of mems cloth
ing on a bench-like formation of the river
bank or bluff, between the outside track
and the river. The attention of the watch
man at the elevator, David Curry, was also
called to the clothing.
At this location the bank runs into an
.abrubt bluff, slanting in character, the dis
tance from the river to the top of the bluff
being about twelve or fifteen feet.
The curiousity of the men being aroused
they descended to where the clothing lay,
when their gaze encountered a spectacle
not soon to be forgotten. Resting on the top
of the snow was genteel pepper and salt
overcoat, a cutaway black coat, handker-
chef, blood soaked scarf and collar,
and aplush cap and portion of shirt
sleeve matted and literally soaked in blood.
Scattered around we're fragments of blood
soaked paper, while the snow was tramp
led and saturated with blood, there being
evidences of fierce struggle. The dis
covery was reported at city hall, and Off
Ger Stolz was detailed to secure the cloth
ing and bring it to police headquarters.
An examination of the pockets brought
to light several memorandas and papers,
going to show that the clothing was that
worn by Mr.. R. A. Pierce, well known and
highly connected in this city.
THE FATAL WEAPON.
On the snow close to the clothing, was
found common iack-knife, containing a
single blade about three inches in length,
the point of which was slightly blunted as
though by coming in contact with a bone
or other hard substance. The blade con-
tanned several small clots of blood, and
the knife was recognized as the property
of the missing man.
AN UGLY CASH.
A closer scrutiny of the clothing discov-
cred horrid evidences of foul play, and
testified most vividly to the terrific COM
bat the brave young man must have had
with his cowardly assailants. The over
coat and cap alone bore no t1aces of the
terrible death struggleS The black dag
onal coat bore cash about an inch long,
penetrating the cloth in nearly the middle
of the back below the shoulders. The col
lar, sixteen-inch stand-up, was saturated
with blood and contained diagonal cash
or cut extending from the top to the seam
on the left side near the point of the but
ton hole, the collar being held to the band
by mere shred.
This demonstrated that the assailants