Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1888-10-06
WHAT DID 1T CONTAIN?
A Mysterious Box Alleged to Have
Been Unearthed at DavenpOrt---A
Terrible Crime Revived.

A Mysterious BOX Alleged to Have |
Been Unearthed at Davenport---A |
Terrible Crime Revived.
The Davenport Times contained quite
a sensational article. which. If the facts
alleged therein are true, promise to throw
some light on the disposal Of the money
by Schwartz and Watt from their victim,
the express messenger. Kellogg Nichols,
at the time of his murder In his car near
Morris. H.. March IS. 1885. The mys-
terry TO which the Times alludes is de-
scribed by that pa per as follows:
About TWO weeks ago two young men
came along in the dusk OF the evening
and approached the house of Mrs. Thorn
as, who rents rooms TO permanent and
transient guests on East Fifth street,
They stepped up TO the window, which
was raised, and one of them, who carried
spade in his hand, after accosting Mrs.
t., said that they were railroad men, and
that Le (the spesker) having lost his leg
by q railroad accident abort time pre-
viously, had it ampu,ated, and that it was
buried on her lot. He said he knew the
spot where it was placed aud that he
sought permission to dig it up and carry
| it away with him. AT the time this re-
quest did not appear very extraordinary
to Mrs. T., who was absorbed in her
| household duties, so she instantly &C
! dnd Nhnr cGtn No furn
| young men then entered the lot, and
after digging few minutes. unearthed q
small wooden box, twenty inches. more
or less, in length and placing it under the
arm of the spokesman of the pair, they
departed and have not since been seen.
There was nothing to indicate that the
spokesman had lost a limb. There was
no stiffness in his walk as in the use OF
an artificial leg, in fact he was nimble and
agile in all his movements when leaving
with the mysterious box.
What did this box contain? is the CO.
nundrum which seems hard to crack
Even granting that one of these men had
had leg amputated, the question arises
as to who placed it there and how was
the spot where the box was concealed so
easily identified by the man who was borr
with this supposed leg. Then it seems
very unlikely that this railroad employt
should care much or go to any trouble Il
resurrect and bring away his amputateC
limb. These are queries that can bt
left for the public to first reconcil,
and then draw their own conclusion
But people conversant with the fore
going statement insist, after the intellec.
tual process of putting this and tina
together" that the box contained no lie!
but instead it must have held the $2l 900
or great portion thereof, of whicl
Schwartz and Watt had robbed EXPIRES
Messenger Nichols when they sent hin
to his uDsummoDed doom. With thes
people, any theory that cannot be recon
ciled with this conclusion, is looked upol
as silly. They claim Schwartz ant
Nichols knew Davenport well; that a
this house on East Fifth street many o
the roomers were railroad men, witt
whom the murderers must have bee
acquainted, perhaps were accomplices
and how natural that they should hav
buried their plumber on this lot
1t is quite likely that, notwithstanding
the ingenuity exercised in spisning a
sorts of theories as to this mysteriou
brace of men, with the still more myster
ious box under the arm, it will never b
known what this box contained. Onl
of one thing of a verify can it be state
about this circumstance, and that is tina
the hole, left by the diggers where tn
box was buried, was not taken away
This they certainly did leave.