The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1884-02-01
A FIENDIsH CRIME.

/ a uoccnt1y AarrteO COuple nOfftDly butcns
cred in Their Humble Home near st.
| Louis, M0.-The Crime Shrouded in Mys-
tcry--The Generally Accepted Theory OF
the Tragedy.
| ST.. LOUIS, Mo-, Jan. "a.
About i've O'Clock yesterday afternoon
Justice Lippeman, residing in the vicinity
of Trenton, Mo-, walked hastily into Chief
Harrigan's Office and reported that newly
married couple named Bodicker had beer
murdered in their bed in a log cabin -four
miles south Of Fenton, in Jefferson county,
Mo. In December last Bodicker married o
young girl in this city named Josephine
Glatt, who lived at 1904 Hickory street.
The young couple Immediately moved te
a log cabin on the High Ridge road, a few
miles south of Fenton, where her husband
had rented land, which he intended to cul
tivate in the spring. They were esteemed
by their neighbors, and to all outward ap
pearances the honeymoon in the log cabin
was as happy as the young folks could de-
sire. Both were industrious, and were in
fair way to gain che better things of the
| world in the future.
| Yesterday morning a resident of the
neighborhood, named Thomas Harrington
had occasion to pass along the High Ridge
! road, which runs past the threshold of the
humble cabin. On reaching the home
of the young couple he noticed the
gate, which opened on a pathway lead
ing to the door, wide open. There
was a suspicious silence about the
house which caused him to stop, and
| on looking at the gate more closely he no
ticed some bloody marks which seemed to
have been imprinted with a wounded OF
bloody hand. A second glance at the
cabin showed the front door open. He hal.
loed to the occupants, but there was nc
answer. Fearing that something unusual
| had happened, he determined to invest.
gate matters. The cabin was divided by a
partition into two rooms-a kitchen and bed.
room. The kitchen door, which was ajar
was on the north sideof the cabin. On enter.
| ing Harrington was Mortified to find the
dead body of Bodicker lying on the kitchen
| floor literally chopped to pieces. He shud.
dered at the sight and ran to a neighbours
named Mrs. Ford, where he reported his
b'~Ndy discovery. A man named Stock
| him and make further examination of the
| cabin. The two men entered the cabin and
found Bodicker lying in a frozen pool of
| blood.
His head was so mutilated and hacked
that it was barely recognizable. The floor
| of the cabin was mass of CONCEALED blood
and brains. He waslying on his back with
his head toward the door and his feet di
rectly under the stove, which stood near the
only in night clothes, and life had left il
| several hours before. The men pushed
| open the door leading into the bedroom
and their horror was increased two-fold by
the sight that presented itself (" theiI
view. Lying on the floor beside the bed
was the body of Mrs. Bodicker, bathed in
blood from head to foot.
| Her throat had been cut from ear to ear
| and the head only hung to the body by q
| strip of flesh. The body was hacked and
chopped in frigAsful manner, and q
| ghastlier looking object than her dead body
clothed only in night garments whose
! Wilderness could be seen only here and
there in the blood-soaked garment, coulG
| hardly be imagined. The bed-clothins was
saturated with blood, and the walls
blotched and stained with brains. The meI
| attempted to place the body in the bed and
| found that it was frozen to the floor, the
hair and limbs Icing meshed in blood
Turning away from the sickening sight
Harrington noticed bloody trail leading
from the room across the kitchen and oui
toward the road.
He followed it until he reached spot ir
the middle of the highway, which gave
every evidence that deadly struggle haC
taken place. A portion of the .woman's
bloody night garment was found on the
ground, and the ruts and cavities of the
country road We're stained and filled with
back toward the house, but the back track
was of a different character. The ground
looked as ii body had been dragged over
it. On further examination the men found
that Mrs. Bodicker's body was covered
with earth, showing that she had beer
dragged from the road back into the house.
The next discovery made was that trunk
which stood in one corner of the room had
been forcel open by some bloody nipple.
menS and rifsd. Bloody inger-marks were
imprinted on the cover, and what was left
of the contents of the trunk were fiecked
with gore. The shirt which the assassin
wore when he committed the deed was
found rolled up i'll one corner of the kitch
en-. The sleeves and breast were saturated
with blood and the murderer, after wash
ing, evidently put on one of Mr.. Bodicker's
shirts which he found in the trunk.
Outside in the yard a blood-covered ak
was found with which the terrible crime
was committed. 1t was sharp and deadly
and an examination showed pieces of flesh
and hair still adhering to the blade. The
tracks of the murderer were plainly dis
cernible around the cabin, as the ground
was soft and muddy Tuesday night ard did
not begin to freeze until early yesterday
morning.
A probable solution of the mysterious
crime has been accepted by nearly all the
neighbors. Tuesday evening, it is sup
posed, q tramp came to the cabin and asked
for lodging, and a pallet was prepared for
him in the kitchen. During the evening his
eye rested on the trunk and learning the
habits of the young people believed that it
contained money and valuables. After the
couple retired he concocted his devilish
plan of double murder. After being as
sured that husband and wife were sleeping
soundly, he rose from his impromptu bed
and searched around until he found the ak.
He then stole into the bedroom of the
sleeping couple ami dealt a crushing blow
ON the head of the man. The noise awak-
ened the young wife and she started up in
alright. The murderer then struck the
woman, but she partially evaded the blow,
receiving it on the shoulder, and leap
ing up grappled with the assassin, and in
the struggle reached the door, where she
broke away and ran into the road.
The murderer pursued aud finally over
took his victim in the public road. There
he struck her a second blow, knocking her
bleeding to the earth. She continued to
struggle, and while on her knees he almost
decapItated her with a blow ON the neck.
He then dragged the body into the house
and threw it beside the bed. Bodicker,
still showing signs OF life, had walked to-
ward the door that led into the yard,
when the murderer met him and dis
patched him with couple of blows. he
then forced the trunk, taking what valua-
bles he could tin1. He next procured some
water and washed himself, taking of his
bloody shirt and putting on one that be-
longed to his victim and left. Harrington
and Stock spread the news in the neighDor-
hood and all yesterday afternoon the cabin
was surrounded by a Mortified crowd OF
country people. Two or three parties were
organized and started out to search tie
woods in the vicinity. CHIEF OF Police Har.
rigan ordered a couple of mounted men to
the scene.