St. Paul daily globe., 1889-01-27
SLASHED WITH A sCALPEL.
Brutal Assault Committed Upon
Nurse in Philadelphia Hos


pital.
PHILADELPHIA, Jan. 26. - Annie
Eisenhardt, nurse in the Cooper hos
pital, in Camden, N. j., was found lying
unconscious in pool of blood on the
second floor of the building, near the
bath room, about o'clock this morning,
after being murderously assaulted by a
man, who apparently escaped from the
building through the window by
means of a rope formed by tying towels
together. Joseph Ellis, the night
1gatchman and engineer, is now under
arrest, charged with having committed
the assault. No one was allowed to see
Miss Eisenhardt this morning, and the
head physician tells the story Of the
nurses midnight encounter. Shortly
after IL O'Clock she entered the bath
room for the purpose of preparing
hot bath for a patient. As she
man who closed the door and demanded
her money. 81 have no money!" she
replied, terribly frightened; ''but here
is my gold watch, take that" Il don't
want your watch; have come tonight
to do away with you. Tomorrow night
! will do the watchman," tiercely ex-
claimed the assailant. At this the
woman screamed, when the man
grabbed her and prevented any further
cutlery. He then tied her hands and feet
and cut off her long hair. The man then
attempted to assault her, when the towel
around her neck became loosened and
the poor woman screamed again. The
man frightened the towel again and then
made an effort to throw her out of the
window. She did not have much power
to resist. but he failed to get her out,
and threw her forcibly OH to the floor.
Then he kicked her in the abdomen and
side and she lost consciousness. When
she came to she found herself
covered with blood and very
weak, and realized that she had been
cut. The man had gone, and the win
dow was open, indicating that he had
gone that way. She could not arise be-
cause her hands and feet were still tied,
but her groans attracted the attention
of Joseph Ellis, the night watchman,
who was just making his rounds. He
and a c0nvalescent patient opened
nurse lying in pool of blood on the
floor She was taken to another
room where she told her story and her
wounds were dressed by DR.. Jarrett,
the resident physician. The doctor
found her badly cut up and weak from
loss of blood. None of the cuts were
deep, and there was no great danger
from them. She was, however. suffer-
ing the effects of the brutal kicks adj
ministered to her, and there was immi-
nent danger of peritonitis settling in,
in the event of which she will
probably die. She had been
cut in nine places with a very sharp in
strument. The doctor found three in
az h0 inh IN
the left arm, two on the forehead and
one on the right side of the face, one on
the scalp, one on the left leg and long
cut on the calf of the right leg. This
last was deeper than the others. There
are horrible bruises on her side and
abdomen, where the brute had
kicked her. All the cuts were
sewed up and the sufferer was
made as comfortable as possible. The
doctor says that four scalpels were
stolen from his surgical case, and that
from the appearance of the cuts they
had evidently been inflicted with one
of these sharp instruments. The same
thing was probably used in cutting off
her hair and in cutting up the towels
which hung out of the window. When
the police made their investigation
this morning they could dis
COfNA Ao 1o0Co VI 1ooeotNPo ~
the soft sand below the window from
which the towel rope was suspended.
When policeman canght hold of the
rope to see if it would bear his weight
one of the knots slipped easily. show
that it would never have borne the
weight of man. These circumstances
led to the suspicion that the deed was
committed by some person within the
building, and the rope hung out of
the window to cause the impress
sion that the criminal had made
his escape in that direction. These and
other suspicious circumst nces led
Mayor Pratt to cause the detention of
Joseph Ellis. the night watchman and
engineer, on suspicion of being the mur-
derous assailant. The mayor summoned
the public prosecutor, and after con-