Rock Island daily Argus., 1888-12-04
Tale Of Two Corpses.
The Last One Making Known
a Murder
AND THE SUICIDE OF THE CRIMINAL

A Ghastly Discovery Underneath a Chi
cago Sidewalk Recalls and Explains An
other Similar Find Three Months Ago
A Well Managed Bold burglary and
How 1t Paid Its Perpetrators-Iowa
the Champion for Infant Butchers.
CHICAGO, Dec. 4-"Lightningn Dicker-
son, notorious street fakir, murdered his
room mate, Charles Gunderson, last August
within speaking distance of the principal
west side police station, and then committed
suicide in singular and hideous fashion.
The shocking double crime was never
brought to light till yesterday. 1t was
CHASTITY discovery.
A couple of city laborers tore up sec
tion of sidewalk at the northeast corner of
Washington and Desplaines streets, in order
to pack a fire plug against the frosts and
rigors Of wi nter. An awful stencil greeted
their nostrils They looked down between
the circular wall Of masonry which sur.
rounds the hydrant and the stone coping
| built up as bulwark a. ainst the dirt of the
street and saw the horribly ds6gurei and
putrefying body of what had once been a
human being.
They ran for the police, and with the aid
of a tarpaulin the officers gathered up the de-
| composing remains and took them to the
morgue. The clammy and decaying flesh
had been shifted at by dogs and eaten by
rats 1t threatened TO drop from the bones
as the patrol wagon ratified over the rough
paving blocks. The officers clapped their
fingers TO their nostrils to shut out the
deadly odor that infected the air. The eyes
were socketless, the face hideous the hair long
and rank and matted as on the heads of
corpses after they have lain long in the
grave The clothing was rotten and pulled
easily apart The body was that of man
of medium size The gaping jaws revealed
full set Of false upper teeth
The corner where the ranking body was
found is an odd one where tramps and vag-
abonds of many types slouch about at night.
1t is much like general dumping ground,
where disease is generated and pestilence
spread abroad Furnishing up their mem
ory the policemen recalled the fact that on
Sept Is. while engaged in game of ball in
this garbage lot, little Richard Fink ran
under the sidewalk after the rolling sphere
and was horrified to find "A dead man lying
near the hydrant The mans neck was
broken as if by heavy blow or a fall He
|
hind the wall where yesterdays corpse was
discovered The horror stricken lad alarmed
the police and they removed the corpse to
the morgue 1t was not much decomposed.
To judge by appearances It was the body of
a man of about % years, without beard and
with light brown hair, cut short. His height
was tr fe over feet He was clad in a
cheap, wel-worn check suit and his feet
were incased in a pair Of laced shoes that
might have been abstracted from an ash
barrel
That the corpses of these two vagabonds
lay in juxtaposition when the first was found
is now proved hey youd doubt The last be-
ing concealed by the wall escaped the vigil
ant eyes of the police The cass was one of
mystery till rotten, mil-1ewed, yellow
leaved, foul-smelling diary found in the tat.
tered Rip Van Winkie clothing of the sec.
ond corpse revealed the story.
The name of the young man first found
was Charles Gunderson He was the room
mate and companion of the one whose
corpse remained secreted the longest The
name of the latter was Frank ?. Dickerson
As the diary shows Gunderson was hope
l,sSsly in debt to Dickerson Both through
drink had been reduced to the utmost pc
, nury. The cheapest lodging houses had
cast them out; neither had the wherewitha
, to even buy them bowl OF
. soup When last seen by Acquaintance.
, Dickerson was waiting around barre
houses for chances to be treated When b,
had the opportunity he drank furiously and
wildly. Men heard him complain Of Gun
, ierson for the debt the latter owed him, anc
they also heard him make threats Of reven ge
On the night of Thursday, Aug. u, botl
suddenly dropped out Of sight II is evden
that on that night, while in a drunken quar-
, rel the d>ht, ninkarson pitched his com
, panion over the rail, breaking his neck; tha
when be realized that he was a murderer H.
cunningly dragged Gunderson's limp BODY
under the flank walk to place of conceal
t ment; and that he then pulled himself still
5 further into the dark, sitting hole, and il
his remorse and fear and despair over mur
: der and hunger and the vanities of life
: plunged knife into his heart and died
= Lightning" was the sportively famlia
e name of Frank P Dickerson; be was sor
7 of street harlequin and fal,ir with grin
&, humor and grotesque face; he used to wea
$ the mask of gayety in his better days with
:, good deal of crude charm among stree
n venders Along that busiest of the west sid
l. thOrOughfAreS - W est Madison street =
r Lightning" made himself very we'll know
IS by his forked tongue, For years he was
n habitue of haunts and dives in that locality
His age was 80 years. He used to sell comi
songs, stove polish, cough drops, or whateve
promised small harvest of nickels 70
~ temporary wants.
{ The diary furnishes the names and at
L dresses of Mrs G.. d. Mason, 3IS Ste venso
l. avenue, Pullman; Mrs. d. H. Dcker1ol
e 233 Kars avenue, Cleveland; Mrs. Wicke
VI 32ig Rhodes avenne, Chicago; and Fran
l. Price, Box 70l. F,ndlay, o. These may L
relatives of "Lightning," Others whom h
I, seemed to be acquainted with were Will an
II G. W Spears; Daisy Lake and Elizabet
10 streets; and one or two others. In June an
ie July, 1883, he lived at Toms lodging house
II now called the Sheridan hotel Tue proprie
= ~ tor says lightning" had daughter livin,
in Ohio
Parti-Colored Tragedy.