Morning journal and courier., 1886-07-27
THE MORRIS TRAGEDY.

Some Interesting Facts Not Before
 Mentioned About The Finding or
 LOckwOod's Body - The Coroner's
 Inquest.
 People living in East Morris have not as yet finished talking about the brutal murder of Miss Mattie Randall and the fate of her murderer, Charles Lockwood, who was found Sunday noon hanging from chestnut tree. After the people, of whom there were about three hundred, had gathered around the body Sunday noon as it hung from the tree, at first there would be on their part silent look at the corpse and then an outburst of execration for the criminal.
 The lew requires that the body of 8 myste- riously or suddenly dead person must remain untouched until the arrival of the medical examiner. The dead man was hanging in Litchfeld, the town line running through the Johnson house. So Dr. Gates was sum- moned. While waiting for him the crowd grew restless and noisy. There were frequent shouts of "Burn him." ::Drop match in the bushes under him." 'tLet's have a show at him." and the like. Such tur- bulency, as Judge Huntington said,
 
 would have been the result had the man been taken alive. But it did not reach it's fullest until the man was united from the limb by Deputy Chaplin under MT. Huntington's or ders. A rush was then made which nearly rolled the half dozen stout officers, the judge and all down the steep hill with the corpse. Fitful discharge of guns did not increase the feeling of general safety, and only by careful watch of the officers was order preserved fn Q ali af hn a pockets. The first thing taken out of the dead mans pocket was 8 handful of small bits of lead like slugs or whittlings from a pipe and rudely cut pasteboard gun wads-evidence of cool generalization and also of the real substance used in place of shot in the bloody deed. The only other things were jack knife and 8 piece of a cruller from the Johnson supply. All this time men were breaking off pieces of the rotten limb for memorabilia of the occasion. Judge Huntington then ordered the body taken down to the barn to await the exam iner's arrival. Dr. Gates arrived about 2:30 and began the examination. The first thing he did was to tear back the shirt and re- vealed an ugly gunshot wound just outside and trife above the left nipple. The hole was irregular in shape, but the flesh was smooth. The charge had evidently plowed along the body from toward the armpit. The second discovery of interest, after it had
 
 neck in the fall, was that there was deep cut near the jugular vein in the throat. This wound puzzles except sustaining the view that lynching was done. Opinions are still divided as to whether Lockwood killed him. self or was lynched, but the majority seem to think now that it was case of suicide in- duced by mental torture at the horrible crime he had committed. The body was found in plain sight of the high road. As to the gunshot wound, the gun may have been dis charged in the scuff1e which may have taken place with the girl; yet that struggle could not have been very severe.
 Had it not been for the character of the three letters the fellow left in his vest pocket addressed Dearest Mattie," and holding out inducements for secret meetings, it might be said that, bad as he was, he loved this girl truly, and when he found that his suit was rejected determined that they should die to- gether after the usual lackadaisical fashion. But these letters as well as his previous rec ord show that it was brutal passion alone which caused the terrible tragedy.
 The coroner's inquest was held at o'clock Sunday afternoon, the jury being of men standing around the corpse. An autopsy of the body was made which showed that the wound was merely flesh wound and not fatal. It had been made, Dr. Gates thought, at the time of the murder and the gun had been slanted too much upward. The cut in the throat under the left jaw was an old one, and had probably been made with the broken jacknife after the first attempted suicide had failed. The knife had struck cord which could not be easily cut through.
 In the stomach were no signs of the food the man had stolen Saturday, so he must have been hanging only a few hours. The coroner's verdict of suicide will be filled in regular order. The body was put in box and taken to Litehfield to await the action of William Lockwood, the mans father. If he does not take charge of it, it will be buried by the town of Litchfield