The Rock Island Argus., 1885-05-15
A CELEBRATED CASE.
ON TRIAL FoR THE MURDER OF
YOUNG GIRL.
Both the Defendant and His Alleged
Victim Descendants of Presidents
synopsis of the Evidence Against
the Prisoner.

RICHMOND, Va, May Is What promises
to be the most interesting and sensational
murder case in the history of Virginia is
now on trial bef,r Judge Atkins in the
hu,t ,tings court in this city. The pris-
oner in the dock is I. j. Cluverlus,
collateral descendant OF President
john Tyler; his victim was Miss Lillian
Madison, lneal descendant of President
James Madison. Intense interest is being
taken in the trial, and every day the
courtroom is densely packed Although
the case has been on for three weeks
little progress has been made. The
work of impaneling a jury occupied
nearly two weeks, and the illness Of one of
the panel caused further delay. Now the
opening speech has been made and the taking
Of testimony for the prosecution has begun.
Mr. w. L. Rose, the keeper of the reservoir
where Miss Madison's dead body was found,
was the first witness placed upon the stand.
The detectives say they have made out a
strong case against the prisoners. They
claim to have established with great GER
tainty that the girl had been betrayed by
Cluverius that she came to Richmond at his
wish on March IL that he was with her dur
ing the next day and at $3.50 o'clock in the
evening. There is strong circumstantial
evidence that he was with her near the res
ervoir, and going toward it, at $50 o'clock,
and at 10 O'clock woman's screams were
heard in the reservoir grounds Her face
was bruised as if from furious blows, and
the medical examination showed that she
had breathed after sinking below the waters
of the reservoir.
1t has been shown that the girl would
have become mother in two mon tbs, and
that CluveriuS had been paying marked at
tention to another young girl in King and
Queen county. 1t is believed that Mis-
Madison had threatened him with ex.
posure; that he took her to the lonely
grounds about the reservoir with the inten.
ton of numbering her; that lie struck her
down and threw her unconscious body into
the water. Then the prosecution will claim,
he threw her sachel into the river and
burned her little reticule-thus hoping to de-
stroy all evidence OF the young girls iden-
tity No one but himself knew she was
in Richmond The body found, and
no one coming to recognize it, it would be
buried in the potter's field. Before the
girls absence would be noted week at
least would elapse, and before the body of
the girl could be traced decomposition
would have removed all traces of violence.
Then there would be nothing to show
it was not suicide, But the acumen
Of a newspaper reporter led to the
Identification of the dead body on the day ii
was found, and to the prompt arrest of
Cluverius. His conviction however, of the
actual murder may depend upon a watch
kew, 1t was found within the reservoir
grounds, and. it is said, can be proved TO
have belonged to Cluverius.
Cluverius bears up bravely under the ter
rible ordeal which he is undergoing. He
knows that everybody accounts him guilty;
and yet he walks with a firm and elastic
tread, and the expression of his face is calm
and placid. He is cleanly shaven, and
dresses In q gray suit,