The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1885-12-03
IMPLEMENTS OFDEATH.
Knives and Revolvers that Have Re
Gently Been Used in Taking
Human Life.

Gently Been Used in Taking
Human Life.
At the north end of the corridor on
the ground floor of the county building
u ghostly hand is ever pointing up the
stairway, while somber-looking sign
bears the legend "Coroners office, room
~ Up stairs in room p one finds
Coroner Hertz, a very pleasant gentle
man and not at all the kind of man
one would expect a coroner to be if he
had never seen one. He has about him
numberless books-huge-bound vol
umes of memoranda, which are the his
tory of almost numberlcss cases of sad
and cruel death. There is also cab
met in room ~ full of the strangest fur
niture a cabinet ever containcd-a
huge collection ofimplements of death,
and each implement has, in it's own
peculiar way, done its deadly work,
and has it's own sad history. The first
weapon in the collection likely to at
tract the eye is an odd one, though not
odd enough to furnish the detectives a
working clew. 1t is an ordinary table
knife of the plainest make.
Blood covers not only the blade but
the wooden handle. With this rude
weapon an Italian, who succeeded in
making his escape, killed Anna Gresta
Dido, in a "dago shop at the corner
OF Clark and Polk streets, on the night
of Dec. l, 1884. In making his escape
down the stairway the murderer also
severely cut an Italian who endeavored
to stop him. He has never since been
seen by any one who knows of his crime.
The formidable weapon of the array
is the Colts revolver from which the
insane westerner, Louis Reaume, fired
the shot which took the life of the gal
liant police officer, Cornelius Barrett,
on Sunday evening, May 81 last, at the
Polk street depot. The weapon is still
just as it was when wrested from the
maniac murderer by Lieut.. Laughlin, it
then being al half cock, preparatory to
rcloading. Reaume was declared in
| sane, and is now in private asylum in
Michigan.
A somewhat similar gun is the one
with which Louis Klipfel,a saloonkeeper
at 5O7 Clark street, last June shot and
Killed Matthew Landy, Il member of
Pinkerton Preventive Watch. Klipfel
claims that Landy, while drunk as
saulted him with a cane, and he fired
the fatal shot in self defense.
blood <.I
ten inches in length, was the instru-
ment which in the murderous hands of
William H. Brown, ended the life of
Charles Roberts on Northwestern
dining-car on the evening of July 8.
The murderer and his victim were en-
ployed on the car in the capacity of
waiter and cook. A trifling dispute
| caused Brown to plunge the murderous
| weapon to the hilt in his victims s side.
He did not at the time nor has he since
| expressed any contrition for the crime
A little 22-calibcr. ''Bluc Jacket is
the weapon with which, on the morning
! of Nov. 6, 1884, Samuel S. Gardner
| was shot and killed by his wife. Her
defense which prevailed was insanity.
The weapon is in excellent condition,
and in the case containing it is full
box of cartridges (minus one loading),
piece of chamois skin; and cleaning
| rod.
A companion weapon, both as to size
and make, is the revolver with which
Henry Bishear recently took the life OF
the lad, Michael Smith, for stealing an
apple in an orchard south of the. city.
Bishear, who is near 20 years of age, is
in the county Jail awaiting trial.
A "Dictator No. 2" % caliber, was
the instrument used by John Flaherty
to take the life of Pete Clarity, Aug.
Z, 1885. Flaherty has not yet answer
| ed to a jury of his peers.
On the night of Jan. 2, Michael
Kenna, while intoxicated, endeavored
to enter his aged fathers house with
the ayowed purpose of killing him.
John McManee, a neighbor, endeav-
ored to keep him out and was shot and
| killed by the would-be parricide. The
| weapon is particularly ugly looking
one of the English police pattern. and
(about 49, sufficient for entry to rifle
range. An intelligent (?) jury let the
slayer escape with four years in Joliet.
"June n, 1885, Man unknown, is
the tag attached to besmeared Smith
l. Wesson. The body was found in a
freight car side-tracked in the town OF
Lake, and was so decomposed as to be
unacceptable. The man had evil
IDENTITY been dead for months, and the
mystery has never been solved. The
revolver was found near the body, and
as three chambers were discharged the
coroner's jury returned a verdict OF
| suicide.
A large Remington, six chambers,
AZ caliber, relieved Adolph Davidson,
of 210 Ewing street, from the real or
imaginary ills of life. Insanity caused
by habitual drunkenness was the YER
dict.
Albert Teschke, a barber employed
on West Chicago avenue, on the after
| noon of June 6, visited the South park
front with a companion. The latter
lett him for few moments, and on his
return found Teschke lying dead with
q bullet wound in his forehead. The
brand new American bulldog, and the
full box of cartridges found on and
| In 1@l