Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1889-09-23
ANNIE LECONEY's MURDER.
She Was Murdered by Her Uncle TO Get
All the Farm and Mil.

She Was Murdered by Her Uncle to Get
All the Farm and Mil.
Il now appears that Anrie Z. Leconey vss
murdered BY her uncle, Charley Leconey,
with whom the girl lived - house kee per
Charley has persistently asserted HIS limo
csuce, but the crime was revealed to Detective
Patrick Gallagher by Garrett W. Murray. q
negro, who was employed as farm hand by
Leconey. He said:
ssThere has been more than one quarrel be-
tween Annie Leconey and Chalkley Leconey.
She gave him 10 understand that by Richard
Leconey's will she had better right TO control
the farm than Leconey had. On Monday
and there we're bad words on both sides. !
went out Of the kitchen, where they we're both
at breakfast. After ! got out Of the door
went to the barn. did not know where to 60
and In fifteen minutes came back. Chalkley
Leconey put his head out of the door. He
lay Annie with her throat cut and the bloody
knife in his hand.
"He said: Murray, o, what have I done?
IvR KILLED ANNIE
"He had on . light pair Of pantaloons, the
ones he wore on the farm every day, q cotton
shirt, and a pair of slippers. Blood was on all
these things. Leconey said to me: We quar-
relied, and she took the knife off the table.
snatched it away from her. didn't mean to
do IL, and az she came at me ] run the knife
into her. ] did not know what did. o, God,
what win do?'
"He went up to the trunk, brought some Of
the bills and the gold, S19S, which was taken
from the chest, and he gave 1t to me, and when
he asked me promised not to tell, and didn't
mean to tell, for NJ 0halkley Leconey was al
ways Kind to me. went out to the pump
and washed his hands and there got the mud
on his slippers. I walked to the pond and
washed his shirt and his pantaloons. That ID
Annies blood.
HE killed her with the carving knife and he
was sorry he did II. The tracks to the pond are
mine. don't deny it. We then went to the
citron field, and you know all that know"
DR.. Townsend, an eminent physician of Cam
den, and one Of the surgeons of the pension
board in West Jersey, examined the bloody
garments which had been found secreted in the
Leconey cottage. These were the pantaloons.
Though washed and wet the blood stains had
only spread themselves over the surface.
They stood plain and distinct to the naked eye.
The muddy slippers were dyed in Armies
blood.
The shirt of Chalkley Leconey was torn In
the back, as Gallagher and Warner allege, torn
in the death struggle, for the girl did not die
without fight and fierce one, for the back
Of her dress was torn in half, her undercloth.
luk was suIeOS duQ the plOOQy cOrsetS were
torn from her body as il wrenched from the
dying woman's stalwart frame by the hand Of @
mailman.
AvAR1cE WAS THE MOTIVE.
Leconey and his two brothers were carpen
tiers. Richard drifted into c. B. Coles mill al
a wage worker. He loved the mill, and hi
neighbors and friends, deeply attached to the
quiet, honest miller, advanced him money Il
buy the Coles mill on the Colestown road
Richard loved his kindly and frugal niece An
ME. She came to his home to take care Of hin
In his declining years. He sckened with par
alysis after the successful struggle of lifetim,
to buy and pay for the mill site and to fire.,
from debt the little farm. Before he died b,
assured Annie that as his brother Chalkley wa.
single man she should be amply cared for b,
his will. Neighbors knew that such will wa
drawn, signed, sealed, witnessed and properl,
executed.
The first cloud came on the peaceful house
hold when Chalkley Leconey told his niece tina
her brother Richards will could not be found
She demanded her rights under the law. Annie
openly told her friends that she was the mos
important legatee under the will Of her dead
uncle. 1t was not in her nature to Weld heI
legal rights. Strife took the place of peace;
passion stepped into the little white cottage
and if the states theory and Murray's comics.
sion are true
ANNIE WAS MURDERED BY HER UNCLE
that he might own and run the 77-acre farm on
the Colestown road.
From the first Chalkley exhibited strange,
restless and uncomfortable desire to keep Gar.
rett W. Murray. now in Jail as an accessory
after the fact, within hailing distance of him.
In vain did Detective Warner lure the appar.
emily unsuspicious Murray away from Leconey
and begin cross-examination of the colored
man. Chalkley in an instant was at his side
md Oh Lana
and Joined the inquisitive Detective Warner
and interrupted the conversation between the
officer Of the law and his trusted henchman
Murray.
1t was Detective Warmers own idea to sepa.
rate the negro and his master, Chalkley. Muir.
and Detective Warner reasoned that if master
and man could be separated the interests oil
justice would be thereby advanced Chalkley
was in rage because the coroner's inques,
could not be completed on the Wednesday fol.
lowing the murder, alleging his anxiety to &c
out with the dead body of Annie Leconey "a
Waverly, Ohio. Mr.. Ridgeway courteously re.
piled: Mr.. Leconey, 1t need make no differ.
ence to you as to the conclusion of the inquest
Your friends declare that Frank Lingo is the
guilty man. You can go west and assist at the
funeral rites OF your niece-an eminently
proper thing to do-and with your assistance
we will run out the chase against the negro
Lingo"
Chaikley Leconey replied with evident pleas
ure: ''You have spotted the right man and you
can count upon my aid in bringing to justice
the villain who murdered my niece"
CHARLEY WILL NOT TALK.
A reporter visited the scene Of the murder
and vainly endeavored to secure statement
from Chalkley. He declined to talk about the
case. calling up Mr.. Vance, who knew nothing
about the facts of the case, and urged him to
tell the story Of the crime to the listening
newspaper men. Chalkley gave as his reason
for his reticence that the sad and sudden blow
had broken up his home and so disturbed his
mind that he was incapable Of giving a cor
rect account of anything.
When Leconey found that the time had come
to 60 to Wayerly he was more restless than
ever, and told Prosecutor Jenkins that he did
not want to 60 alone, and did not care to go un-
less he could take Garrett w. Murray with him.
But Detective Warner came to the front and
assured Leconey that the permit had been
given purposely so that he (Leconey) could go
west with the body of his murdered niece. and
it would be impossible to trace Lingo without
Murray, who had gone, as he was ordered to,
with the request that Lingo would come to
work at the Leconey farm on the fatal Monday.
The train bearing Chalkley Leconey west