The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1892-01-21
THE "sLAsAER" CAUGHT,

The "SlAShER" CAUGHT.
The Perpetrasor or Many Mystsrioas md
bloody Grimes inNew York Arrested 81
His sassulnsry Oocupat,on-Hs H.a ,
Mania for Cutting tho Throats Of
! Drunken Men. #@ 90 .9
| New YORK, Jan. !8.-William Dowd
was arraigned in tho Tombs police
court before Judge Duffy, charged with
cutting the throat Of William Miller
| at $3.50 o'clock of the same
day, and was committed with
out BAIL There is no doubt
whatever that Dowd is the mysterious
man who has come to be known
in the vicinity of Oak Station house as
"Jack the Slasher." Unquestiohably
| it was he who early Friday morning
murdered John Carson in Christie
street. Carson was found lying lifeless
on his back, his throat cut from ear to
ear. -
Dowd was arrested, red-handed, with
in two minutes from the time he COM
mitted his latest crime. Inspector
Byrnes told Sunday afternoon how
Dowd came to be arrested, and estab-
lished beyond doubt that he was
a homicidal crank and that he
was guilty of slashing William
Miller earl y Sunday morning and John
Clark January 9. He expected to prove,
he said, that he killed Lawyer Carson
in Christie street last Friday. These
mysterious assaults ON intoxicated men
began in the lower part of the eleventh
precinct and the upper part of the
fourth precinct December 81. The VIC
Tins were:
Dec. 28-James HelAn-Thc mucles Of his
neck were severed by single blow of q knife
| or razor.
Jan. 2-George Wilson-Was found lying in
Oliver street with his cheek laid open. He told
the same story OF II mysterious assailaEt that
Helm had told.
Jan. H-Lou1s LawSon--Early In the morning
o policeman discovered him bleeding from a
cash across his nose and cheek. He could tell
no more about his injuries and the way ia
which they had been received than Helm and
Wilson could Of theirs:
Jan. 10-John Clark-He was found uncon-
ious from loss OF blood. He was slashed
aeply in the left cheek and on the neck
Jan. 13-John Donohue-He stated that he
had been stabbed Just below the hearts He
showed the wound, which was not serious.
Jan. l5-John Carson-Found dead with his
throat cut from ear to ear. This was the first
fatality in the ser:es.
Jan. l7-William Miller-Thro.t slashed.
After Clark had been sIashed plan
to capture the slasher was agreed
upon. Twenty detective sergeants and
details of men in citizens clothes were
put on watch. One member of Capt.
OConnors command who was sent out
Saturday night disguised as an ordi-
nary citizen was William II. Masterson
lie was watching at New Rowery and
Chambers street shortly after 8 o'clock
and saw man slouching along warily
and watchfully on the other side of the
street.
The officer Swallowed him until at
the corner of Oak and Rooseveltstreets
he saw him fix his attention on a man
whose gait proc aimed him to be intox-
icated. The drunkard staggered and
supported himself by putting his hand
on railing: The man with the
handkerchief looked in every d.
recticn for several seconds and
i then slouched toward the intoxicated
man.
In the next three seconds Masterson
saw the man with the handke rchief
seize the other around the neck with
his left hand, make a quick motion with
| the right hand, and dash across the
street, while the drunkard fell to the
walk Then came summons for help
from Masterson, and he started in pur-
suit down Batavia street, followed BY
Officers McCrary, Weidem EYER and
Carter. The fugitive was soon caught.
When his right hand was drawn from
his pocket it clutched a razor that was
wet with blood
While Masterson rushed the prisoner
to the Oak street station house, near
by, the other officers attended to the
drunken man, who was bleeding from
cash in the throat, which was pre-
cisely the same, but not so deep, as the
f.! wound on Lawyer Carson. The pris.
! oner had given his name as Henry e.
Dowd, while his victim was recorded
| as William Miller, of No. 32G Cherry
! street.
Dowd was not disposed to talk at
first All he would say was that he
acted in self-defense. Some man jostled
him; he feared violence and used the
razor.
Inspector Byrnes had several talks
with him and finally Dowd made
the admission that he was
possessed by a mania that he could
not control, and that was to kill "a
Dutchman." He repeated this several
times, and his most emphatic declara-
ton was: The only reason have for
doing this is to kill Dutchman, and
I'm looking for them all the time
But while at one time Dowd admit
ted that this homicidal impulse made
him attack Miller, and after admitting
not only that Clark's Identification Of
him was just and that he
found drunken man lying in
Christie street Friday morning and cut
his throat, and that he. had COM
mitted many such crimes and had
recorded them by day and date, and
that some day he would make full
statement, he recanted and denied hav-
ing committed such crimes or having
made such statements.
Inspector Byrnes learned in Brook
lyn that Dowd had been confined in
the Flatbush insane asylum a mum Der
OF years ago, but had escaped and had
not been recaptured. He also found
that he had been a prisoner in
Sing Sing, sentenced to a fve-year
term for cutting man in New Y ork,
but had been psrdoned through the in
tercession of some prominent people in
New York after he had served a two
years term.
WORLDS FAIR FIGURES
A Summary of the Receipts and Expendi-
lures Of the Columbian Exposition to