The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1892-07-29
A STRANGE CRIME RECALLED.
Death OF the Son of a Banker Whose
Murder Is at a Mystery.

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Death OF the Son of Banker Whose
Murder Is Y at a Mystery.
From the Neto York Times.
The death Of Washington Nathan at Bou-
logne, France, Monday ends a most I'M
happy career. The tragic death Of his
father. Benjamin Nathan, at his mansion,
10 West Twenty-third street. July 20, 1870,
made Washington Nathan an outcast No
proof was ever brought to light that be
wished his fathers death, or had any part
in 1t, but from having chosen evil associa-
tions and having started upon a wild course.
from which his fathers pleadipgs could not
turn hip. he fell under suspicion that was
never shaken off.
The object of this suspicion furnished no
aid toward its removal, for he plunged still
deeper into dissipation after the tragedy.
No one charged him with the crime, BUS
intimations In that line were so abundant
and the young name life continued to be SO
| erranc that those who might have been his
friends summed him.
After some years of friendlessness at home
he quit the country entering upon life
almost equally friendless and abandoned
abroad.
The Nathan murder was one Of the most
horrible in criminal history. Mr.. Nathan
had taken his family to their country home
at Morristown, N. J. He remaiped in the
| city that night, intending to spend the next
day in fasting and prayer, as was his custom
on July 90, the anniversary of his mothers
| death. His city house was in the hands Of
renovators, and when he went home the
the night Of July Is, his housekeeper laid
mattresses for him on the floor OF the re-
ception room, adjoining hall bedroom on
the second floor, in which he kept family
papers and treasures. His sons. Frederick,
broker, and Washington, then a young
man Of pleasure, were at home that night,
the former returning before midnight, when
the father retired and the latter afterward,
when he had fallen asleep.
The three had arranged to rise early the
next morning, Washington was the first
| to descend to his fathers room, at 6 o'clock.
| He called his brother the instant he looked
in there. Lying upon the floor was the
fathers body with the skull crushed and
gashes and bruises all over it. The room
bore evidences of a fierce struggle. There
| were bloodstains over the carpet and walls,
and the furniture and Bedding were in great
disorder. The safe and desk in the hall
room had been ransacked, a valuable watch
| and chain had been taken from under the
pillow, and diamond studs from the old
bankers shirt front.
The police professed never to be able TO
| grapple with this case. Their course proved
| one Of its elements of mystery. Various
| arrests were made. but they ended in moth
! ing. Suspicion fell upon the housekeeper's
| son, William Kelly, and ex-Supt Walling,
| in his "Recollections of New York Chief
of Police" favored the theory that Kelly
killed Nathan with the aid of confeder-
ates whom he let into the house. One or
two persons secured free transportation
| from the Pacific coast on the strength of
bogus confessions, made for the purpose Of
| reaching New York.
The murder was committed with an iron
instrument known as a dog, used by
carpenters in keeping timbers together.
No evidence appeared that the rtding yielded
| large value. This lent strength to the
theory that robbery wss not the motive for
the murder The police failed TO develop
| anything that looked like proof, and the
murder soon passed into the realms Of mys-
terry.
A singular incident in the case was fur
nished in the death of John Jourdan, super
| intendent of police. He began to fail soon
| after the murder and never rallied Mr.
Walling had theory that Jourdan solved
the mystery, but for some reason kept his
secret and it killed him. II is certain that
while Jourdan had the case in charge i'm
portant evidences of the crime disappeared,
| the room being at once dismantled and
cleaned. Even the dog that struck the fatal
museum at police headquarters is merely a
| fac smile.
The Nathan family gave up the Twenty
| third street house and moved into Fifth
\ avenue, where they maintained an expen-
sive establishment for some years,
| Washington Nathnn's habits aud associa-
lions continued to be evil. In 1879 he
| figured in a newspaper sensation, when
| Fanny Barrett. a weli-k9owp woman, shot
him in the parlor of the Coleman house,
where he was calling upon Alice Harrison,
an actress. The bullet entered his neck,
lodged in the muscles of the jaw and was
| never removed.
| Nathan's mother died in 1879, leaving
| 81, 600 900. Her will provide a trust fund
of 100000 for Washington, OF which he
| S., 200 yearly. Sheriff Flack, ia behalf of
creditors. brought suit in 1891 for $500 and
| tried TO levy upon this income, but Judge
| Barrett decided that it must not be touched
as it was not more than sufficient for the
needs of a man of Nathan's training and
| education. Besides this income he received
in specific requests $75, 600 from his fathers
estate, $4,000 from his grandmother and
| $4,000 from an aunt. He saved nothing,
and in his later years. with only bis trust
revenue for income, he thought himself in
| hard straits.
Nathan went abroad in 1884, having mar
| ried Mrs. Arnots, daughter of Col Maple
son. He lived in a suburb of London and
in Paris. Ip the latter city he was fire.
| quenter Of the Chatham hotel, q resort for
Americans. He never seemed to find COM
pany there, being always alone and unat-
tended and wearing upon his face the ex-
preston Of man utterly desolate His hair
in his exile turned entirely white. He was
A years old.