St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1886-04-05
A Sunday Game of Cards Leads to a
Ghastly Tragedy in the
Sixth Ward.
Patrick Manning, an Old Man, Stricken
Down With a Hatchet by Cole
man Gary.
The Scene of the Murder One OF
the Worst Localities in
West st. Paul.
The Murderer Eludes the Police for
a Time, but is at Last
Captured.

| Is a UcITllOIg hHONn W TIE pOllcc as OOu-
nemara Patch" A settlement has been
built up, and rows of slab shanties flank
the streets on either side, presenting most
unnviting appearance. This neighborhood
has often been brought under the eye of the
police through the quarrelsome disposition
of the people dwelling in it. Drunken
brawls are frequent there, and cutting
atfrays and clubbing picnics are often in
dulged in. About o'clock last night news
was received at the police station that
murder had been committed in the settle
ment and the officers Immediately started
out to uncover the facts surrounding the
affair. 1t was learned that Patrick Man
ming had been struck in the head with an
axe or hatchet by Coleman Gary during a
drunken melee and was lying at the point
of death. The scene of the murder at mid
night when the GLOBE representative
reached there was one well calculated to chill
the blood i'm the veins of an ordinary man.
On low, marshy ground, sat half dozen
unshapely slab shanties. The only evidence
that they were occupied was gained from
the riffs of light that stole out through the
crevices in the sides of the building and
STRUGGLED WEAKLY
with the heavy darkness outside. Half
covered with earth and partly surrounded
with hugh piles of wood. the houses looked
more like temporary shelter for animals
than the homes of human beings. The
night was so thick and black in the locality
that an object was hardly discernable at a
distance of ten PAGES, and every
shadow seemed to hold the form
of a desperate. Behind a rough
board fence stood shanty whose style of
architecture and surroundings were in strict
accord with the horses hoyerng around ii.
In one corner door stood ajar, and through
the narrow opening came the low, solemn
tones of the priest, as he uttered the words
that were intended TO bring peace to the
soul that was about to wing its flight into
the mysterious shades of eternity.
Gently opening the door the reporter
stepped inside. The apartment was hardly
more than twelve feet square. On the
rough unplaned walls hung few articles
of wearing apparel and cooking utensils.
There was no ceiling and there were
but a half a dozen beams between
the eye and the rafters. In one
corner stood bed on which was stretched
the form of the dying man, wholly un-
conscious of what was transpiring around
him. At the foot of the bed. piled high
above the foot-board, were heavy logs Of
wood. Near the head of the bed stood a
table bare of covering. Near il and nearly
in the center of the room stood a cooking
stove, in which burned low fire. On the
able sat a lamp,
THE WEAK BLAZE
struggling to light the apartment through
a smoke-beSmeared chimney. stretched on
the bed. with his eyes firmly closed and his
features rendered horrible by the blood that
had trickled over his face and hardened in
its course, lay the man who
had been stricken down by the
murderouS weapon. He was apparently 90
years of age and a man of heavy frame.
Across his head lay bloOd-stained band
age that covered the terrible wound through
which his brains protruded. He lay like
one in deep sleep. Not muscle moved
and the only indication that he still lived
was in his deep irregular breathing. BY the
side of the bed. in the dim light stood
Father Gallagher with solemn countenance
reading in measured tones the words of the
sacrament Crouched on the floor behind
the stove were half dozen women who
watched the priest blankly and quietly as
he read. Not sigh escaped their lips and
not tear mostened their eyes. 1t was an
uufeelmg picture of horror. Just as
the priest had finished reading a tall man
staggered through the door and up to the
bedside, gazing down into the bloody face
of the dying man. do you know him?''
asked the priest,
Yes. sir, he's my father" calmly re-
piled the man. He Withdrew without be-
trying any signs of emotion.
WHO HE WAS.
The wound in Manning's head is a fear
full cut. 1t was evidently made with the
sharp edge of the hatchet, which pene-
trated the skull and brain. The hole in
the skull is about one and one-half inches
long and runs from front TO back exactly
in the center of the frontal bone just above
the forehead on the bald part of the head.
The skull is badly fractured and split in all
directions. When viewed by the reporters
the opening in the skull was about
three-Quarters of an inch wide from
which the brain protruded. Drs. Ancker,
Singler and Darling were in attendance
shortly after the blow was received and DR..
Ancker gave it as his opinion that the man
would die. He is about 60 years OF age,
and only three years from the old country.
He is a widower with five children and an
unmarried daughter, Barbara. lived with
him. He has two married daughters, Mrs
: Anthony Ball and Mrs. Redman Melon.
! nell, both of whom live near him. He ha:
. two sons, Patrick, Jr., and Michael
HOW IT OCCURRED.
John O'Toole was caring for the wounded
man and gave some information regarding
the affair. He said that Manning. who was
quite well educated, had been down to his
(O'Toole's) house to write letter for hin
to the old country. They were on theil
way back and had got nearly to Manning.
house when they heard tumult in Cole
, man Gary's house which. is nearly across ths
street from Manning's. Tney stopped anC
! : heard a quarrel inside. Then severa
, men rushed out still quarTeling
and drunk. Gary had a hatcher
: and was flouTishing it in the air. Two Of
, the men were trying to get the hatche
away from him, but he eluded them anC
. struck Manning over the head with the
weapon. Telling him to the ground. They
.. picked Manning up and carried him into
his own own house. Gary jumped over the
fence and ran. He said that Manning anC
! Gary had never quarreled but always go
along well. -Four or five of Gary's cousin!
from DaytOn's bluff. including one O'DOn
nell, had been spending the evening a
Gary's and they had been having high ole
D time. 0'Toole said that his wife was ;
e cousin to Manning.
4 Mrs. Anthony Ball, daughter of tht
wounded man. who lives i'm an adjoining
shanty. said she saw the blow struck; iha
her father was standing in front of Gary.
, house when the latter came out and strucl
) him with the hatchet without provocation
There had been no quarrel. Mrs. Ball wa:
! very reluctant about talking.
{ Gary is a married man about 25 years ole
and has a child. His wife was seen las
J night and didn't seem to be much exercised
: : over the trouble her husband had got into
! The police captured two witnesses of tn,
fight and took them to the central station
They were then taken in the patrol wagor
to Dayton's bluff to identify Gary