St. Paul daily globe., 1888-02-09
SHOT A MILLIONAIRE.
Chicago Burglars Kill Amos
j. Smell, the Mil
lionaire.
The Old Man Makes a Brave
Struggle for Life and
Money.
But Little Booty Secured by
the Bold Midnight
ASSaSSinS.
A Walking Burglar Tool Shop
Arrested by the De-
tectiVeS.
Special to the Globe.

Millionaire A. j. Smell by burglars, early
this morning, has created profound
sensation in this city. The entire de-
tective force is making every effort to
capture the murderers, and several
promising clewS which have been dis
covered may result in this before an
other day has passed. 1t appears that
the burglars entered the Smell mansion,
on Washington boulevard, by cutting
hole in the panel of the kitchen door
large enough to admit of the passage of
hand and arm, The catch was then
sprung and the men stole into the sleep
ing house. Tip-toeing their way through
the kitchen they crept into the million
aires office, in the front of the house,
and ransacked his safe, secur-
ing about $4,000 worth of county
warrants, $1,000 of negotiable pa
per, and nearly $500 III cash.
Then they ascended to the first floor,
and, finding the parlor door locked,
broke it open with a jimmy. Mr.. Smell
slept alone in room directly over the
middle parlor. Quietly as the burglars
had worked they had
ROUSED THE AGED MILLIONAIRE.
He rose from his bed, seized his re-
volver and stole Stealthily down the
main staircase, at the bottom of which
he no doubt heard the thieves at their
work. He was in his night robes. The
white figure had gone but halfway
down the stairs when the parlOr doors
were closed by one of the men inside
the room. 1t is supposed that the noise
startled the old man. He leveled his
revolver at the panels of the doors and
fired. The bullet passed through the
center of one of the doors, about five
feet from. the floor, and crossing
the parlOr pierced white Silken BAN
ner and struck the wall just above the
marble fireplace. 1t then fell upon the
floor. Mr.. Smell fired again, but no
trace of the bullet can be found. With
an armed man standing at the doors
through which they had entered the
room the burglars became desperate.
One of them discharged his heavy
weapon and the bullet pierced panel
in the door and lodged in the wall just
above the banister post. The three
holes in the door tell the
STORY OF THE BLIND DUEL.
There was nothing about the white
figure lying in the middle Of the richly
tapestered corridor, with his gray hair
matted in blood and his right hand
clinched about the handle of
revolver, to give the officers any
positive idea as to how the
millionaire made his last stand
for his life and his property. 1t IS
thought, however. that the instant the
burglars fired through the panel they
opened the doors, and with the barrels
of the revOlverS and flood of light
from their lantern leveled at the be-
wlldered man, shot him before he could
utter word. Their bloody work
finished, the assassins slipped out of
side door and disappeared. There were
four persons in the house who heard
the shooting but feared to learn its
source lest they themselves might be
killed. They were Rose BurkStaller,
the cook; Ida Berenstean, a second girl,
and little Mildred and Christie Coffin,
the five and four-year-old grandchildren
suite of rooms on the third floor. Miss
B1rkStaller ran to alarm Mr.. Smell,
but just as she opened the door there
were
TWO IOUD EXPLOSIONS
and the frightened girl retraced her
steps. Servants and children screamed
behind their barricaded doors, but not
one dared open window to summon as
siStance. Exhausted by their eXertions,
they at last returned TO their beds, and
not until Hestler Henry Winkie e.
book came to the house at $40 o'clock
this morning from the stable to attend
to the furnace fir.eand found the corpse
of Mr.. Smell lying Oh the floor of the
hallway, was there any knowledge of
the tragedy. Mrs. Smell, the wife of the
murdered man. was not at home, having
gone to Milwaukee last Monday to visit
friends. Mr.. Smell, although sixty three
years old, had the physical development
of an athlete and was noted for his fear
lessness. He had acquired an estate
valued at S3,000.O00.
WILL OFFER A REWARD.
1t was rumOred tonight that A. J.
Smell, Jr., intended offering a reward of
$4,000 for the capture of the murderer
of his father. Young Mr.. Smell himself
said he had not as yet decided upon
what course to pursue, but he did not
deny that in certain contingencies a
large reward would be offered. Payment
has been stopped Oh two checks for
5000 stolen and the police claim
that the burglars cannot realize
dollar on their nights work. 1t is
feared that two deaths will be added to
that of the murdered man. Beside the
danger to his aged wife, there is fear for
his youngest daughter, Mrs. w. McCrea.
She is in very precariOuS condition
and for the past four weeks has been
lowering between life and death. Up
to a late hour tonight she has not been
aDpriSed of the tragedy,