Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1886-05-14

| VII Wal tii ttus i''bg ~ NbNt u
O'Clock in the morning, Mr.. l.. w.
Rose, the keeper, discovered the
body Of a young woman floating IN
the city reservoir. There were the
footprints of "A man aud woman on
the smbankment, and he found a
red glove near by. When the body
was taken out it was covered with
mud. The arms were bent up in
front of the body, with the hands
clinched, and Jumps OF mud grasp
ell in the hands. There was a
slight bruise on the forehead, an
other on the lower lip, both of
which seemed to have been made
by blow. The cOroners examina-
ton showed that the young women
would have become n mother in
about a month. The reservoir is
situated in an enclosure of about
five acres, surrounded by a plank
fence six feet high. The gate of
entrance is locked at night. The
reservoir is surrounded by picket
fence abOut four feet high. After
the gates were locked at night there
was but one way Of getting into
the grounds, and that was by a
hole in the high fence. Mr.. Rose
saw the foot prints of a man and
woman Just inside the enclosure by
this hole in the fence, and these
footprints tended up the grassy
slope Of the embankment to a spot
by the small picket fence opposite
to where the body of the woman
was discovered. Just inside the
hole in the fence "A large old-fashiOn-
ed watch key was found.
In the graveyard just outside the
reservoir fence a glove and blue
veil were picked up, and further
search elected the discovery of
black straw hat, which had been
thrown through broken window
into one of the wards of the desert
ed smallpox hospital. In an en-
tirely opposite direction on Reser-
voir strcet-that leads to the reser-
vOir-a red shawl was found hang
ing to the fence of Mr.. Dunstan.
With the exception Of the watch
key, all of these articles were sub
seQuentiy identified as having be-
/ lOnged to Lillian Madison. The
shawl had some particles Of long
grass and weeds sticking to it such
IA grow i'm the fields surrounding
/ the reservoir. The hat had some
sand or gravel inside, such asls
found on the reservoir walk. For
several days after the discovery OF
the body the young woman's lden-
tity was a mystery. But bag OF
clothing was found floating down
James river, which is about two
miles and a-half from the reservoir.
This bag had the name "F. L.
Madison on it. 4 young lady,
who had known Miss Madison,
went to the morgue and identified
her Then hotel registers were
oyerhauled. The clerk Of the Amer
lean Hotel identified the body as
that of young lady who had reg
istercd on the night of the 18th as
"Nliss +. l.. Merton, Of Roanoke"
lie recalled the fact that this young
lady had, as he had supposed, de-
camped without paying her board,
and that on the morning OF her
disappearance she had written a
note, sent it out by a negro boy
who had subsequently returned
with the note, saying he could not
find the party to whom it was adj
dressed. The clerk remembered
that he had taken the note, put it
in the pigeon hole, intending to give
it to the lady, and after holding
it a day or two had torn 1t up and
thrown it into the waste basket.
The basket had not been emptied.
The particles OF paper were taken
out, pasted together and read as
follows
81 will he there as soon as posi-
ble so do wait for me-
This note was addressed to "T.
j. Cluverius, Richmond, Na.,' and
this led to his arrest at his home in
King and Queen county, thirty
miles from Richmond. Cluverius
showed imagination when arrested.
He denied the murder, admitted
that he was in Richmond about the
same time, but said he did not see
Miss Madison there. The two were
second cousins, and had been very
fond of each other.
ENGAGED TO ANOTHER GIRL.
At the time Of the murder Gu
verius, who is a lawyer, and was
superintendent of the Baptist Sun
day school, was engaged to be
married to n reDuted helress in the !
county. Since his Incarceration |
the young lady has married anoth-
er man.
Fanny Lillian Madison was the !
daughter of a worthy, but not rich,
farmer of King William county. |
At the time of her death she was /
twenty-five years Of age, Cluverius |
being twenty-three. She had borne /
character above reprOach. Gu
verius lived with Mrs. Tunstall, an I
old aunt, who was devoted to him
and fond of Lillian Madison. BE.
tween Mrs. Tunstall and the girls
father, however, a GOODNESS existed,
bat Lillian declined to let this in
terfere with her intercourse with
Mrs. Tunstall. For this cause the
father and daughter did not get OH
well together. She therefore secur-
ed a position as gOverness in the
family of Mrs. Dickinson, in Bath
county, about two hundred miles
from her home. Before she left
she and Cluverius were frequently
together. An occasion recalled by |
a witness was when Cluverius stop.
ped all night at the house of rel
alive in the county. Lillian was
staying there at the time. The
dwelling was an old-fashiOned one.
No locks were on the dc lrs. Gu
verius occupied q room with a
young man. In tho middle of the
night he got up, aud explained to
his companion, in response to the
others question, that he was not
well. He left the room, and did
not come back for an hour. On a
subsequent visit, when Miss Madi-
son was staying at the house, Gu
verius left the room again at night,
Ravino ha Uag sick