St. Paul daily globe., 1889-03-08
DRAINED WITH AN AK.
Mysterious Murder of New York
Drug Clerk in Broad Daylight.

New YORK. March 7.-Gunther
Wechrung, twenty-nine years of age, a
German drug clerk at 957 Third avenue,
was struck on the head with an AK early
( this morning by an unknown man who
attempted to rob the store. Wechrung's S
skull was fractured and he will die.
Wechrung said he was lying on alounge
when the thief entered, and that he was
trying to prevent the robbery, when the
thief drew an ak from beneath his coat
and struck him down. Wecbrung's
hands were almost cut off in trying to
save his head. His assai]ant has not
been arrested. The store was robbed,
but the police believe that this was
done to avert suspicion as 70
the real motive Of the crime.
Wechrung was not insenSible when
discovered. and was removed to
the hospital. where the doctors set to
work to try and bring him to such a
state that he would be able to tell some
thing of the crime. The axe with which
the deed was done was new. 1t had an
edge five inches wide, and handle a
foot long. The edge of the steel had
been turned by the force of the blows
upon Wechrung's skull. The drug
store is on the ground floor of tene-
ment. The prescription counter, where
the murder occurred, is concealed from
the view of customers in the store, and
at its rear window Overlooks the
yard. An extension behind the counter
did service as sleeping room for the
clerk. Wechrung came to the store
shortly before midnight, and as far as
any one knows
SLEPT THERE UNTIL MORNING.
William GOulick, a boy who does chores
about the place, rang the bell at z
O'Clock this morning and was let in by
Wechrung, who was in his shirt
sleeves. He went out to get rolls for
Wechrung's breakfast, and the clerk
went whistling behind the prescription
counter to finish his toilet. He seemed
TO be in good humor. Goulick was de-
tanned at the bakery for fifteen minutes.
Then plumber in the basement came
in TO get some drugs he had ordered.
The clerk was not in sight, but when
called by the plumber, answered
counter. The plumber waited, think
ing he had not finished dressing, but at
the end of five minutes, another Gus
toner entering, he tapped with his foot
impatiently on the floor, and again a
faint voice was heard. Thinking the
clerk might be sick, McCreery went
behind the prescription counter. He
had not disappeared moment before
loud cries brought the other customer
behind the counter. There a fearful
sight was beheld. On the floor in front
of lounge lay Wechrung weltering in
a pool of blood. He was literally
hacked to pieces, and from deep cut
in his head the brain protruded. One
of his hands was cut and pounded into
a Jelly, and his coat was cut in a dozen
places where the hatchet blade had en-
tered his back. The walls and fur
niture were spattered with blood. The
proprietor Of the store was summoned
and the dying clerk placed upon the
lounge, where reStOrativeS were ad-
miniStered. His senses were not gone,
and when questioned as to how he had
received the cuts
ANSWERED SLOWLY AND PAINFULLY.
He had sat down ON the lounge, when
the boy left him, and bent forward to
lace his shoes. While in that position
he received blow on the arm, and in
attempting to rise was struck i'm the
head. Instinctively raising his hand to
ward off the blow, the hatchet in the
grasp of the butcher again descended,
and the member was nearly severed.
The clerk then lost consciousness. The
detectives, who arrived on the spot
few moments after the police had been
notified, Immediately took the hatchet
and set out to find where it had been
purchased. The s11 in the cash drawer
had been taken. but the detectives were
of the opinion that the crime had been
committed by some one with a grudge
against Wechrung and not common
thief.
THE POPULARITY OF THE CASE
is found in the cut coat. The clerk
when discovered was in his shirt
sleeves, and it is hardly possible that he
could have taken off his coat after the
blows had been inflicted. No one pres
ent thought of ascertaining if the rents
in the coat correspondent to the cuts on
the body. Six hours after the deed had
been committed there had been no clue
found to the perpetrator. No one had
seen any one but the messenger boy
either enter or leave the premises about
the time of the crime. and the conclu-
sion reached was that the assassin came
through the rear. The suspicion that
woman is concerned in the case is
strong in the minds of the police, but it
cannot be learned that the clerk had
any entanglements. Wechrung is
twenty-nine years old, unmarried and
German. He died at o'clock this
evening at Bellevue hospital.