Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1892-01-21
- asLAsnER" oAueAr.

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 mis- latest crime Inspector
Byrnes told Sunday afternoon how
DOwd came to be arrested. and estab-
lished beyond a doubt that he was
a homicidal crank and that he
was guilty of slashing William
Miller early 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 %. The vic
Tins were:
Dee. 2s-James Helfin-The mucles of his
neck were severed by single blow OF knife
or razor.
Jan. 2-George Wison-yVas found lying in
Oliver street with his cheek laid open He told
the same story of a mysterious assailant that
HELM had told.
Jan s-Louis Lawson-Early in the morning
a policeman discovered him bleeding from a
cash across his nose and cheek He could tell
no more about his injuries and the way in
which they had been received than Helm and
Wilson could of theirs.
Jan 10-John Clark-He was found uncon-
scious from loss Of blood. He was slashed
deeply in the left cheek and on the neck.
Jan 15-John Donohue-He stated that he
had been stabbed Just below the heart He
showed the wound, which was not serious.
Jan 15-John Carson-FOund dead with his
throat cut from ear to ear. This was the first
fatality in the series
Jan 17-William Miller-Throat siashed.
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.
OConnor's command who was sent out
Saturday night disguised as an ordi-
nary citizen was William II. Masterson.
He was watching at New Bowery and
Chambers street shortly after 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 Roosevelt streets
he saw him fix his attention on man
whose gait proclaimed him to be intox
icated The drunkard staggered and
supported himself by putting his hand
on a railing. The man with the
handkerchief looked in every di-
rection for several seconds and
then slouched toward the intoxicated
man.
In the next three seconds Masterson
saw the man with the handkerchief
seize the other around the neck with
his left hand, make quick motion with
the right hand, and dash across the
street, while the drunkard fell to the
walk Then came a summons for help
from Masterson, and he started in pur-
suit down Batavia street, followed by
Officers McCrary Weidemeyer and
Carter. The fugitive was soon caught.
When his right hand was drawn from
his pocket it clutched 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
a cash in the throat. which was pre-
cisely the same, but not so deep, as the
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. 326 Cherry
street.
Dowd was not disposed to talk at
first. All he would say was that he
acted in elf-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 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
Pm 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 a 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
Ign that Dowd had been confined in
the Flatbush insane asylum 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 fve-year
term for cutting man in New York,
but had been pardoned through the in
tercession of some prominent people in
New York after he had served a two
wears term