Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-06-08

woman about 70 years old, height B feet
inches, hair long and light, almost
faxen; blue eyes, very white skin, small
hands and feet, teeth small and perfect,
body well nourished and plump. On her
head q straw hat tied under the chin with
blue ribbon; dress dark gray of a woolen
material, SOFT vet rough to the touch; high
heeled French kid shoes, but covered with
mud, as If the wearer had walked over
boggy ground; hands scratched as if from
contact with the blackberry bushes in which
the body was found"
The doctor also surrendered to me q ring
and breastpin that he had removed from
the body, q stroke of wisdom which he
called "instinctive," and slight evidence
of subjectivity," whatever that might mean.
The ring was gold, with simple blue stone
imbedded in its substance; the breastpin
was of silver, and consisted of two letters
elaborately intertWined. The central letter,
If I may SO describe it, was a large E around
which was twined a smaller c. As is usual
with monogramS any number of letters
might be imagined from the combination,
bu. the two just indicated were undoubted.
These were useful facts to start with; but
before hunting down the criminal deter
mined TO visit the ground of the tragedy,
the good doctor acting as my guide. We
walked toward dense mass of blackberry
bushes, on one side of which, toward the
east, was mass of CONCEALED blood. In
this direction and for a certain distance the
grass was pressed down, and it required no
very strong imagination to detect q rough
outline of human being in the pressed
down stems of grasses and goldenrods. A
short distance away I lay down in the
grass and produced similar impression.
/ NAV say that in this particular spot the
grass was over two feet high. Toward the
north, leading away from this depression,
was q lane running through the grass
toward the wharf In the doctors opinion
in had been caused by some one dragging
the victim, heels on the ground, toward the
water. The theory was probable, but 1 re-
served my decision.
L closely studied the blackberry bushes,
and was rewarded by discovering fragments
of two distinct materials. One was a small
quantity of a dark gray woolen stuff. which
the doctor Immediately recognized as q part
ofor similar to the dress the murdered woman
wore. The other was of finer texture and
black in colcr, and was not recognized BY the
doctor. This was all the blackberry bushes
revealed.
We then directed our footsteps toward a
group of poplar trees surrounding a pond;
deserted, fungus-covered wooden house at
once attracted my attention as offering very
useful temporary hiding place for the muir
derer. Passing by the pond" on our
way to the house I saw at glance that it was
little more than a mass of tenacious mud.
Tine doctor told me that at times this mud
was covered two or three feet deep with very
clear water. and that at other times it was
nothing more than SO much nostril irritat-
ing dust. There were the imprints
of footsteps in this mud leading down
to q small pool of water in the center
of the depression. The impressions
were in places plainly marked, and were of
two forms-one large and broad, the other
small and slender, suggesting that a
man and woman had visited the spot. The
doctor affirmed from personal knowledge
that on the morning before, near noon,
portion of the ground now indented with
the impression of feet was covered with
water. 1t therefore follows that the i'm
prints were made after noon of the preced-
ing day.
The house was a wretched, moldy little
building, rotted from foundation to roof; it
was only one story high, and was divided
into two rooms, but the partition had fallen
down and rank weeds indiferently invaded
what had been sitting room and kitchen. In
what call the Kitchen" on account of a
length of rusty stovepipe lying in one cor
ner, the grass and weeds were pressed down
as if a weighty body had rested on them
there was a weather-stained, battered mans
straw hat, which may or may not have been
connected with the case under consideration.
appropriated it on principle without be-
lieving in its value. 1 also found here a
woman's glove, fresh, almost new, and per-
fumed, and also small paper bundle con-
tanning slice Of bread and a piece of cheese
The paper was the fragment of newspaper
printed, as 1 afterward discovered, on the
day before. The doctor told me that val
liable solitaire diamond earring had also
been found in this unlikely place, and
was awaiting my orders.
A most careful examination revealed lit
tie else of compromising nature. Human
beings had recently visited the deserted
house; that was evident; that was all. The
place would be worth more exhaustive ex-
animation, and 1 intended to return to it
at some future time; for the moment had
seen enough.
Returning by the way of the pond, 1 |
again examined the imprints of footsteps, |
and found them more numerous than had |
at first imagined. L was induced to go over |
the ground again on remembering that in |
his narrative the doctor had told me that on |
the night before he had sent two of his
friends in this direction, and it seemed to
me that the footprints mig ght have been made
by them. now carefully measured the
more distinct of the impressions and OBJ
tained four distinct measurements, among
which one undoubtedly was made bv a
woman. At this point the doctor informed
me that he had found a shoe on the wharf
which he thought belonged to the murdered
woman. Whether the conclusion were true
or false, / determined to compare it with nv
measurements at the earliest opportunity.
Still walking around the pond discovered |
on one of the bent down leaves of buIrush
q stain suggestive of blood. 1 cut off the leaf,
determined to study 1t at leisure with the
assistance of the doctor and his microscope.
The long ribbon leaf of the bulrush bad
been bent by the wind untilits point touched
the mud. The stain that suggested blood
was some seven inches from the point of the
leaf, and as the doctor suggested, might
have been caused by somebody washing his
bloody hands In the pool of water, and un-
consciously allowing drop to fall on the
leaf. This seemed the more probable ex-
PLANTATION, as just beside the bent-down leaf,
in the mud, there were very distict impress
sions of the slender high-heeled shoe which
l had already discovered on other portions
of the soft clay surrounding the pond.
About IL inches back of the place indicated
there was birds nest that had been forci-
bly, swept off the stem of the bulrush, to
which it had been attached. say forcibly,
for in the nest discovered three small half
Matched eggs that had been crushed by
passing foot, and over our heads few two
tiny birds that were piteously complaining
at the destruction wrought on their promis-
ing home. The sight brought the tears to
the good, simple doctors eyes, and he
walled the cruelty of humanity.
i found nothing more of importance.