Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1884-01-31
A FIENDISH CRIanE,

A FIENDISH CRIME.
NRecently Married Couple Horribly Butch.
cred I'm Their Humble Home near 81.
Louis, Mo.-The Crime Shrouded in Alys-
tery-The Generally Accepted Theory Of
thu Tragedy.
ST.. LOUIS, Mo-, Jan. "a.
About five O'Clock yesterday afternoon
Justice Lippeman, residing in the vicinity
of Trenton, No., walked hastily into Chief
Harrigan's Office and reported that newly
married couple named Bodicker had been
murdered in their bed in a log cabin four
miles south of Fenton. in Jefferson county,
Mo. In December last Bodicker married a
young girl in this city named Josephine
Giatt, who lived at 1904 Hickory street.
The young couple immediately moved to
alog cabin on the High Ridge road, a few
miles south of Fenton, where her husband
had rented land, which he intended to cuH
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. Botn were Industrious, and were in q
fair way to gain the better things of the
world in the future.
Yesterday morning q 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
gate, which opened on a pathway lead
ing to the door, wide open. There
was 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 q wounded or
bloody hand. A second glance at the
cabin showed the front door open. He hall
20 f1o nfc hut fhnp2
answer. Fearing that something unusual
had happened, he determined to invest.
gate matters. Toe cabin was divided by a
partition into two rooms-a kitchen and bed
room. The kitchen door, which was aiar,
was on the north sideiof 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-
named Mrs. Ford, where he reported his
bloody discovery. A man named Stock,
who was present, volunteered to go with
him and make further examination of the
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 a mass of CONCEALED blood
and brains. He was lying on his back with
his head toward the door and his feet di-
rectly under the stove, which stood near the
center of the kitchen. The body was robed
only in night clothes, and life had left it
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 to their
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
strip of flesh. The body was hacked and
chopped in a frightful manner, and a
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, could
hardly be imagined. The bed-clothing was
saturated with blood, and the. walls
blotched and stained with brains. The men
found that it was frozen to the floor, the
hair and limbs being meshed in blood.
Turning away from the sickening sight
Harrington noticed a bloody trail leading
from the room across the kitchen and out
toward the road.
He followed it until he reached a spot in
the middle of the highway, which gave
every evidence that a deadly struggle had
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 were stained and filled with
blood. The trail again turned and led
back toward the house, but the back track |
was of different character. The ground |
looked as if 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 been |
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 forced open by some bloody imple- |
ment and rifled. Bloody finger marks were |
imprinted on the cover, and what was left |
of the contents of the trunk were flecked
with gore. The shirt which the assassin
when he committed the dead
found rolled up in 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
Rnd hair still adhering to the blade. The
tracks of the murderer were plainly dis
around the cabin, as the ground
was soft and muddy Tuesday night ard did
not begin to freeze until early yesterday
A probable solution of the mysterious
crime has been accepted by nearly all the
neighbors. Tuesday evening, it is sup
posed, tramp came to the cabin and asked
him in the kitchen. During the evening his
sye rested on the trunk and learning the
habits of the young people believed that it
money and valuables. After the
cOupie TeGueu uo COucOCteu OGSlllSn |
plan of double murder. After being as
sured that husband and wife we're sleeping
he rose from his impromptu bed
and searched around until he found the ak.
He then stole into the bedroom of the
sleeping couple and dealt crushing blow
On the head of the man. The noise awak- |
,ned 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
ng up crap pied with the assassin, and in
he stI uggle reached the door, where she
broke away and ran into the road.
The murderer pursued aud finally over
ook his victim in the public road. There
,e struck her second blow, knocking her
bleeding TO the earth. She continued to
struggle, and while on her knees he almost
her with a blow on the neck.
lie then dragged the body into the house
md threw it beside the bed. Bodcker,
till showing signs of life, had walked to-
yard the door that led into the yard,
when the murderer met him and dis
latched him with couple of blows. He |