Iuka reporter. (Iuka, Miss.) 1888-1894, 1891-05-14
A CASHIER ASSAULTED.
And Left to Die Amid the Burn
ing Building.

A Dastardly Deed of Desperate Rob-
The freight depot of the Georgia Pacific
Railroad in Birmingham, Ala, between 2lst
and ed streets, was burned Monday night
And the chief clerk and cashier, C. H. Kus-
sell, was sandbagged and desperately in
jured.
The fire was unquestionably incendiary,
and there was an attempt at murder
The circumstances are best told in the story
Of nightwatchman Slade
Sometime after 10 o'clock three men who
appeared to be tramps were seen ON the plat
| form by Slade and Russell The latter Or
dered them off, and one of them replied to
him with the words:
I'VE will see you later"
| Russell then remarked to Slade:
| We'll, / must go to work"
| Slade then went toward the eastern end of
| the depot, the business offices being in the
western end, and Russell went to his work.
| 1t could yot have more than half an hour
| when Slade returned to the western end of
the depot and looking in was Mortified to see
Russell lying apparently dead in the very
edge Of the fast spreading flames.
/ The freight depot was on fire
| The papers in the office, the flooring and
desk were in bright flame
| And looking through the doorway into the
| great store room Slade discovered bright
| flames fiaring up near the eastern end.
| He leaped through the opeH window and
] opening the door he snatched Russell from
the fire and hurriedly dragged him outside
| the building.
This was about III o'clock.
Russells assailants had entered the window
| which the warm night had impelled him to
open. and had struck him down as he stopped
to the open safe.
Having done this, the villains made their
| escape.
Sade cried out the alarm, and two Young
men going to the South Highlands on short
| route dummy train, seeing the evidence of
fire, leaped rom the train and hurried to the
scene of the crime.
| And an elderly gentleman also going south
ward rushed to the western end of the sta
ton
The young men took the insansibe form of
Russell, and hurrying down the long plat
form toward Twentieth street, caught hack
and took the victim of the sandbag home
The alarm had reached the fire Impairment
stations, the bell changed forth the alarm the
whistles OF a dozen locomotives Shrieked it,
ank thousands of people hurried to the scene
Before the fire engines reached the building
the flames had gained great Roadway, show
ing that the building must have been fired in
more than two places
And the hundreds of tons of water poured
| in strong streams upon the burning struc-
ture, were unable to save it, and it was prac-
teal all destroyed except the brick walls.
Whether the villains that assaulted Russell
secured any cash is not known. They could
have gotten but very little, for tire Is seldom
any cash In the oifice, freight charges being
paid generally in checks.
but the motive could not have been re-
| yeHxe GA the part Of the supposed tramps.
lhe probability was that they were not
t.fsxy,,l5. Nst preies tonal burglars, who acted
ulFs't ieq wfy hgst the money paid for
ffeiEkD af,Ssh = Always heavier on Monday
than als, 'iasr day OF the week. was in the
| safe. aud they determined to have it.
Oun arrest was made the police taking into
| custody on suspicion q man giving the name
Of q. +. Scsnlan, who is detained in the city
prison. Seaman had no story tell. He sim
r., Fry S''a ''A' ne n'a gone there to see the
There are many theories advanced but APP
parently the only plausible one is that there
was desperate attempt at robbery
The cash drawer of the safe was secured
and it there was nothing of any consequence
Delivery Clerk Caverly says that there
could not have been over 900 worth Of
freight in the building; but it was very near
| ly all lost. He had succeeded in sending out
all outward bound freight, except small
quantity for Blossburg, and the city freight
is always promptly delivered by the com
pany.
The entire loss to the road is probably
$4,000
Large numbers of freight cars were on the
sdetracks but engines were hurried to the
scene and the cars were removed before the
fire could reach them,
A reporter called at the Lunsford, where
young Russell had been taken, and found
him suffering great agony. Dr. Sexton was
present and giving him all the relief in hi.
power. He was unconscious from the pain
which was caused by the terrible blow on
the head he had received and a blow in the
stomach, which had fractured rib and
raised great hump The doctor pronounced
the wounds dangerous and the condition OF
the young man critical though his examin
alton at that time had necessarily been incom
plete.
Young Russell is son of Mr. j. H. Rus
sell, prominent farmer aud most worthy
citizen OF Uniontown, Ala. He has been
here for some years and no young man in
Birmingham stood better than he A tele.
gram was sent to his father last night
At that hour of the night there are always
great many people on the streets of Br-
mingham, but last night the streets were
crowded with the thousands who were re-
turning from the Baptist convention and
from places of amusement These crowd
ed the Twenty second street bridge
from end to end, and through the unfinished
! Twenty first street bridge. ron the former
there were probably ten thousand people
gathered, looking on at the raging fire below
The few who heard that Russell had been
sandbagged were filed with horror and in
| dignation, and the villains who were guilty
OF the horrible crime had been caught thew
| probably would not have lived through the
night.
1t was the most sensational fire in the his
tory of Birmingham.