Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1890-03-20
pAsrARpLv OUTRAGE.

Tho Daughter Of . wealthy Missouri F.z..
or BrutaIly Assaulted BY . Tfamp-Afmed
Men In Pursuit Of the Flend.
PLEASANT HILL, Mo-, March 13.-Thts
little town, scarcely thirty miles from
Kansas City, and the country for miles
around, is in a fever of excitement over
fiendish outrage committed on farm
er's daughter by lecherous tramp
Over 500 men on horseback, armed
with guns and pistols and with num-
Der of hounds, are securing the whole
east and south end of jackson County
and relays of guards are stationed at
intervals along all the highways and
railroads in search Of the brute.
The name of the victim of the brute's
lust is Allie Atkinson, and she is the
eighteen-year-oldd daughter OF James w.
Atkinson. a prominent and wealthy
farmer living three and a half miles
west Of this place. His farm is In
rather isolated locality, being fully half
mile off the highway leading from
Pleasant Hill to Lees Summit
Miss Atkinson is a comedy girl of pre-
possessing figure. Her chief charm con-
| sisted of a magnificent head of hair
which she wore braided into a single
plat that extended below her waist
Shortly after dinner yesterday Miss
Atkinson went to the house of Robert
Hoover, the nearest neighbor, about .
quarter of a mile east of her home,
with a bucket for milk. There is .
wood path between the Hoover and At
kinson residences leading part of the
way through a patch of woods. This
the young lady took and she reached the
Hoover house and had her bucket filed
with milk and started back about two
o'clock.
As she reached the patch of woods
about midway between the two houses
Miss Atkinson set the bucket of milk
by the roadside and stopped to tie her
shoestring, which had become 1oosened.
While in this STOPPING posture she was
startled by hearing footstep behind her
and before she could rise she was seized
and thrown backward to the ground and
the face of a fierce-looking, swarthy
complexioned man looking into hers.
In his hand the fiend held glittering
knife which he brandished close to the
terrified girls face and in the most foul
| words he couched an indecent proposal
and as the young lady struggled fercely
| to release herself he Kissed out: keep
still or I'll cut your throat" and he did
infiict slight scratch on her neck.
AS the girl still struggled to release
herself the villain suddenly thrust her
on her side and pulling out her long
plat of hair to it's full length with
| single quick sweep of his keen-edged
knife cut off the luxuriant braid close to
the scalp.
Half fainting from terror and the hor-
ror of her position, Miss Atkinson partly
lost consciousness, and when she recov-
cred her hands were tightly bound be-
hind her, her dress was raised and torn
and a plug of wood about two inches
long was between her upper and lower
teeth, keeping her jaws distended and
her mouth wide open. Thus prevented
by the cruel gag from making any
outcry which her terror and excite
ment had prevented at first, Miss Atkin-
son was compelled, in the full posses
sion of all her faculties, to submit to
the brute.
Half dead with terror and exhaustion,
covered with dirt and mud, her clothes
torn and dishevelled by the brute's des-
perate haste, her hands still securely
tied and the gag in her mouth, the poor
girl managed in some way to struggle to
a sitting posture and then to her feet
and thus she staggered home.
DR.. j. w. Smith went to the house
and stated that the girls condition was
critical in the extreme. She at first
suffered severely from commissions, and
there is still imminent danger that the
shock to her nervous system will result
seriously.
Miss Atkinson's assailant is described
as a man of about medium height and
weight. very swarthy, with long, curly
black hair, black eyes and huge black
mustache. He was dressed in ragged
suit of clothes, blue overalls and
ragged black hat