The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1889-03-13
EDITOR DAWSON MURDERED
The Most Liberal and Fairest-Minded
Journalist of the South Shot Dead.
Known, but 1t Is Certain that the Dead Man
Was Working in Righteous Cause.
spec,a, to the Indianapolis Journa, :.


this hour DR.. Mellow walked into the police
station and gave himself up. with the state
ment that Captain Dawson was lying dee
in his Office. Mellow vouchsafed no e,
PLANTATION. 1t has been learned tina
Captain Dawson recently became sus-
picious that young girl employed
in his house as nurse for
his children was having improper relations
with men. Last week he called. upon the
chief of police and asked that a detective
be detailed to shadow the girl for few
days and let him know what, if anything.
he discovered. Captain Dawson stated If
she were being honorably courted. hewould
have no objection to make, but that If she
We're not strictly moral he did not want his
children to be in her care. On Monday
morning a detective saw the nurse
girl get on a Rutledge-avenue car.
After proceeding few blocks
she was joined by Doctor Mellow.
The detective followed the pair and kept
track of them and their stopping places for
several hours, and submitted a report in
writing to the chief of police. who, in turn.
communicated it's details, this morning, to
Captain Dawson. Captain Dawson left
his office at $50 o'clock this afternoon, and
was found dead at $50 p, NJ, in DR.. Nc
BOWS office, not one hundred yards from
his own residence. His face was badly
beaten, and bullet was lodged
in his heart. In the absence OF
supposed that he went to DR.. Mellow Office
and demonstrated with him about his con-
duct with the nurse girl, and they became
engaged in a quarrel, which resulted in the
shooting, Mellow then left his office and
wandered about until $50, when he APP
peared at the police station. DR.. Mellow is
a married man, and the father of several
children. He married the daughter of &.
ID. Ahrens, wholesale grocer.
Mellow is said to be the only doctor in
the city who is not member Of the State
Medical Society, and has an unsavOry rep
utatiOn, and it is known that the police
have been asked to shadow hing several
times. The city is in. a terrible state of
excitement. All the evidence adduced thus
far shows that the murder was one of the
most diabOlical in the annals of crime.
Captain Dawson was shot while sitting
down: After numbering his victim, it is
said DR.. Mellow left him lying on the
floor, locked his office door. and went out
to corner grocery. There isevidence that
he tried to bury the corpse of his victim,
but that in the meantime suspicion had
been aroused; and. finally, three hours after
dered himself to the police authorities. The
murderer has the reputation of being
rake, and it is said that he is known in al
most every house of prostitution in the
city. Tonight the city is wrapped in
mourning and the murderis the subject of
discussion everywhere. The body of the
murdered man has been taken to his resi-
dence, and the coroner, after impaneling
jury, adjourned the inquest until tO-mOr-
row.
The murderer was hurried to the jail as
soon as he had surrendered himself and
for the present is safe from lynching as
the Jail is well-nigh impregnable. The en-
tire community is incensed. The City COun-
Gil had just met tonight when the news of
the murder was telephOned. upon which
the Council at once adjourned.
Sketch of the Murdered Mans Life.
NEW YORK. March 12.-From the Tribune:
Capt. +. w. Dawson was a native of Eng
land, but he passed the greater part of his
life in the Southern States. Early in the
war Commodore Robert Il. Pegrum. of the
confederate navy, was in English waters
in command of the Nashville. To him
came an intelligent and well-mannered
young Englishman, with the request that
he be given passage to the Southern States,
as he wished to join the confederate army.
Commodore Pegrum refused, saying that
among strangers to run the risks of war.
He would not consent, even if the boy
obtained the consent of his guard
ian. w. L. Yancey was then
in London, and young Dawson,
for he was the youth who wanted to cast
his fortunes with the Confederacy. sought
him out and so worked upon his feelings
that he wrote an earnest request to the
Commodore to give the boy passage. The
Commodore still refused. About this time
the Queen ordered the Nashville to leave
English waters Commodore Pegrum did
not obey the order, but went to London to
some hands were shipped on the Nashville,
and among them the Commodore afterward
found young Dawson. Later circumstances
led him to appoint Dawson as captains
clerk, and this appointment was confirmed
by the confederate Secretary of the Navy
when the Nashville reported on her return
Soon after his return, Pegrum was placed
i'll command of the James river SQUADRON,
and he took with him Dawson, to whom he
had become greatly attached. The James
river feet was for long time inactive. to
DawsOn's regret, for he had come to fight
One night splash was heard alongside his
ship, and soon man was seen swimming
toward the federals There was general
known whether he was hit. At the roll
call in the morning young Dawson was
missing. A few days afterward it was
learned that he had swan far enough to-
ward the federals to escape the commOdores
sentinels and had then reached Capt. w.
T.. Pegrum's battery. This battery was, in
a few days, in the thickest of the fight, and
it is Capt. Pegrum's testimony that
he never witnessed such cool bravery
in his life as was displayed by
young Dawson. He was wounded, and the
Commodore had him taken to Richmond.
While he was there an orderwas issued for
the examination of men for the ordnance
department The Commodore furnished
Dawson with books. and two or three times
a week he went to Richmond and examined
| his young friend. He progressed rapidly,
and he stood first in the official examina-
ton. Though not entirely recovered from
| his wound. he reported at once for duty,
| and before the war closed he had advanced
| to the first position in his branch of the
service.
After the war Captain Dawson Joined the
| ranks of the Southern journalists, and il is
| as an editor that he is best known I'm the
North. For many years he had been editor
| of the Charleston News and Courier, and in
| that position he supported all the Demo
cratic measures for obtaining control of
| South Carolina. NOnatiye of the State was
more ardent or more active in the work of
| giving control of the State to the Demo-
cratic minority, and his journal, the most
powerfulin the State, put courage into many
| Democrats who could not at first see their
way to approving the high handed outrages
which at last gave their party control.
| Outside of politics, Captain Dawson was
| active in promoting the material welfare
| of the State, and when Charleston and
| ruinous earthquakes, he took prominent
| part in raising funds and relief in the
| North. 1t was after leaving the confeder-
ate army that Captain Dawson became en-