The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1883-10-03
The Circumstances of the Recent
Tragedy Near the Village
of Oxford, Indiana.
Adah AtkinSOn's Cruel Death at the
Hands Of an Unknown
Fiend.
The Lonely Farmhouse Had No
Occupant Save the Victim and
Her Murderer
The Events Which Lay Various Persons
Open to Unsatisfactory Suspicion
An Excited Community.


is still undated, and, if anything, is increas-
ing. Shrouded in impenetrable mystery, it
is the sole topic of conversation in homes, in
saloons, and on the roadway. Men and
women passing each other OH the highway
stop and inquire: care there any new de-
velopments% In the fields, where farm
laborers are cutting the corn, the sorrow-
full details are discussed, and vows of
vengeance breathed against the MUIR
-derer. In the evening when the farmers
who had been or going to town come along,
the large grove near the Atkinson residence
is filed with wagons buggies, and saddle
horses, as all who pass that way stop for a
while to cOndole with the family or to ex-
change theories Some of the best men in
Benton County have abandoned all work,
and are devoting themselves to the search for
the unknown murderer. essrs John and
Lee Templeton and Mr. Daniel Frazer, the
Prosecuting Attorney. are on the scent from
early in the morning until late at night.
The wiser heads, however have failed to un-
ravel the tangeled skein of crime. Detective
Harris, OF Pinkerton's agency. is here in the
employ of Mr. Cephas Atkinson. Adams
father, but is as much at sea as anyone else.
So far he has done very little except TO eN-
plode the wild theories that have been adj
vanced and remove suspicion from innocent
persons. The Atkinson farm is about two
miles from Oxford, little town of about 800
jewellers, and a stream OF people is
CONTINUALLY PASSING
between the two places. Even on ordinary
occasions, some one passes the road at least
every half hour, and it is not at all impro "a
bic that at the very time the murder was be-
ing committed some one was in the near
vicinity. From the time the girl was last
seen alive to that when her bloody corpse
was discovered by her sister Lucy was a space
OF two hours. This, of course, gave the muir
derer ample time to escape. Adah was seen
little after o'clock Monday afternoon sit
ting ON the steps of the front gallery, singing.
At a few minutes past o'clock Lucy re
turned home on horseback, and went up
stairs to her room, where she found her dead
sister. The girl had been killed in Lucy's
loom. This room is a small one, the bed Oc-
cupyirg nearly half of the space, and the
strangest part of the tragedy, as explained
yesterday, is the absence of the blood-stains
anywhere, except the pool formed where her
head was lying and another little lower
down, about where the stomach would be.
The tiOer is not marked by any scattering
spots, but three or four on the wall about
two feet and half from where the body was
prove that
THE LIFE STREAM
must have Spurted. If it did so the clothing
of the murderer, who must necessarily have
been in contact with his victim, ought to
have received good deal of blood The
stairway leading to the lower floor of the
house is dark, narrow passage, not over two
feet and half wide, and is the only means
of descending The house is so constructed
that even when all the doors and windows
are open this stairway is dark. Yet the
closest scrutiny of the steps and the walls
failed to reveal the slightest blood-stain.
The murderer in leaving the presence of his
victim in trepidation would, it seems, have
at some place touched the wall with his
bloody hands or clothing. Ills feet certainly
could not have received any of the blood as
beyond the Threshold of the room there are
no tracks. This would appear to prove that
the villain accomplished his work with
sedulous care. Notwithstanding the
condition of the body bore evidences
of frenzied rage. Another extraordinary cir
cumstance is the fact that the blood IS all
confined to two spots though the body of the
girl displayed signs that struggle had taken
place Her corset was broken, almost torn
OH, and the backs of her hands were cut, as
II she had been warding off blows of the
deadly knife. The examination of the
wounds showed that the knife used did not
have blade over three inches in length,
and apparently not quite that. There was
only one place where the weapon had cut
through the clothing. the dress having been
raised when the wounds in the abdomen
were being inflicted This cut was in the
back, little above the waist over which the
skirt could not be raised, and was done
probably when the victim in her struggle for
life rolled partly on one side.
THE WOUNDS
in the adomen were cut upward, the cut:
running toward the outlines of the body
The nature of these inclined the examing
physicians to believe that they were inflicted
before the throat was cut. On the left thigh
were the imprints of bloody fingers, and the
throat also showed signs that it had been
grasped by a merciless hand.
Such are. in brief, the facts of the murder
so far as known. Why and by whom the ter
rible crime was committed, are questions Of
the answers to which every one is profoundly
girl, loved by all who knew her, anG
was not known to have an enemy
who would be likely to wreak
such a revenge. There are several young
men who cOurted her, but though she pre-
ferred one TO the Others it is not likely tina
the rejected suitors were so badly smitten as
TO take her life for want OF her heart And
indeed, all the young men who were sus
pected, or who were ever believed to enter
tain a jealous fondness for her have peer
closely watched, their actions investigated
and satisfactory explanations given of any
suspicious circumstances y pocketbool
containing nearly $500, with which Mr.. At
kinson intended to purchase some cattle TIVE
watches and some silverware and jewelrN
were lying exposed in an adjoining room
and all were left undlsturbed.
THE CRIME
was evidently not instigated by desire t.
steal What then could have been the mo
tive2 The cuts on the abdomen and lowe
extremites of the body, indicating that they
were inflicted first, the fact that the clothes
had been raised. would suggest that a more
brutal impulse had prompted the deed. Had
a stranger been implicated it is more thar
probable that he would have taken some o
the valuables, as there did not seem to be any
hurry about escaping. Had a woman muir
dered the girl her clothes would have lef
some mark of blood. Had lusty young mar
attempted TO giut a fiendish appetite the
body would have shown evidence of tina
attempt There was nothing, the doctors as
sert. to indicate that an outrage wa.
committed. 1t remains then as the only
plausible theory that the murderer haC
lust been his motive found himself physi
cally incapacitated, or the resistance offered
was too strong. The girl was only fifteer
years of age last June, Of slight figure, weigh
ing not over ninety-five pounds, and even
If she bad the strength to make much resist