The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1892-05-20

| the finding of the cOroner'S inquest, from
| the PittSDurg Sunday Leader:
I'm the story of the death of John Nc
/ Clarren. of Summerhill. Cambria county.
| as revealed by testimony of witnesses at
! the INQUEST in the coroncr's Office IF this
coutv Yesterday afternoon. there are
| strange revelations. Strange because ru-
! morS that he had been killed by officials OF
! county or state were wholly and entirely
| diSSipatcd. and because the truth is really
! more astonishing than We're the sensation
al reports which first gained currency
| Magistrate McKenna acted in Coroner
| McDowell's stead. Inside the rail of the
room were the elder Thomas NJ. Marshall.
! William Reardon. Thomas ]. Donahoe-
| DrS Hutchinson and Graham. of DiNmont,
Charles Fagan. James II. Scott. t.Mayor Rose,
of JohnStown. Sheriff Sheriff Shumaker. OF
| Cambria county. and other well-known
| professional men and numerous witnesses
Outside the rail the lobby was filed with
| spectators.
As the case progressed the spectators
| first saw sensational possibilities in connec-
tion with deccascd'S treatment while in
| custody disappear: bu: subsequently their
! morbid sentiment was satisfied aS they
heard the story of how ne went TO the
| place Of death and received his mortal
| wounds by being hammered with such a
| commonplace and dOmeSticated instrument
! a. potatO-maShcr- He had demanded q
! girl AT the hands of her kinSmen: threat
| eupd death when he was refused. and in
| ScIf-dcfcnSe they killed him. But John
! NcCIarrcn. though married, does not go to
| diShonored grave: he was mad when he
! made his demands. The story i best told
| by the witnesses.
c. r. Grfbble an cmploye of the Penn
| Sylvania Company. sworn. | never saw
| deceased until | saw him on train. Two
men were with him. They didn't abuse
! him from the time they got on the train at
| Union station until he was taken off at
! DiXmont.
J. NJ. Shumaker. Sheriff of Cambria
| county. tcstiicd-I saw John McClarren
! first Wednesday evening. He was brought
to Cambria county jail at EbcnSburg on
| Tuesday night ! was not at EbenSburg
| when he was brought there. Wednesday
! night the Warden notified me that the man
| was there. and | went down. and to his
! cell. ! noticed that his head was tied up,
and | asked the Warden why. He replied
| He has a hole in his head which he got in
| a fight down at Summerhiu." Next morn
| ing McClarrcn was quite bad. and | took
| two prisoners. the Warden. doctor and
| myself and went to the cell. McClarren
was on his hands and knees on the floor
! pouring water down through cracks be-
! tween the boards. The Warden opened the
| cell door and one OF the prisoners. color
| ed man. rushed in and secured him. Then
we put a Strait-iacKct on him. took him 10
a wagon. hauled him to the depot and put
| him in a baggage car on chair. 10 which
! | strapped him. and i'm this way he went TO
| CreSSon. the iuction with the main line of
| the Z. T.. Il. When the train for PittSburg
| arrived we took him in the baggage car
| where hc was strapped 10 a chair aS
before He had called frequently for wat
! cr and was somewhat noisy. but he was
not violent. We had him ShackIcd as far
| a PittSburg where they were removed
when we boarded Fort Wayne train for
| DiNmont. Arriving there, no bus met Us,
| and we tclcphOncd up for il. McClarren.
the Warden and myself started to walk up
the road, but had not gone far when the
! bus met Us. When the physician at Dix
mont took charge of the patient | told him
that had heard at Wilmore that he NC
Clarrcul was choking a man TO death, and
that il was necessary 10 club him to get
| him off. lie was not abused while under
arrest.
| James 7. Young, Warden Of the EbcnS-
| burg jail. described how he was
| brought 10 the Jail in wagon:
that he appeared rational enough to tell
the contents of two pocket-bookS which
were found on him. He was quiet enough
until bet wcen twelve and one o'clock that
night May - when he appeared crazy and
| I
| better, but later he had another spell. and
another before We took him TO DiNmont.
| Between PittSburg and DiXmont NcClar-
reu told me how long he had been rail-
road man and an about himself, but a few
minutes before we got there his mind left
him. and he imagined he was shooting
birds. but he was not violent. lie was
wounded when he came to Jail. and the
officers told me he had jumped out Of a
window and choked a man until rescuerS
beat him of with club. He was choking
a man named Bunton.
DIR. +. c. Jones affirmed saw John
McCIarrcn in the Ebensburg jail. I saw
that his head was wounded, and when |
looked. ! saw what | considered large
scalp wound, but it appeared to be healing
and did not make an examination. He
| told me had been hit with Il club.
James ID. Snyder af1irmed-He is con-
ductor on the EbcnSburg branch of the
Pennsylvania railroad. The deceased was
quiet on the trip Fl ON EbenSburg te Cres-
son, the length of his run.
| William Stone. of GrccnSburg, bag ggage-
master on the Pennsylv ania railroad. tes-
| titled that McClarrcn was brought to Pitts
burg in his car May 5th. Il saw cut on
the top of his head an inch and a
half OF two inches long. 1t appeared To be
a few days old. There was no violence
whatever used in the car
Joseph \. Topper miner at summer
hill, atfirmcd-I knew deceased. He came
10 my fathcr-ia-law's house one Saturday
night and got in the house. and said he
was going to get his daughter and marry
her in five minutes or kill us. He seized a
shovel and a potato masher, and when he
made a break for the door to the stairs, !
struggled to prevent him from opening the
door and he hit me with the maSher: again
he hit me and again made a dash for the
stairs, but ! was there with him. and he hit
me with the shovel, grapplcd with me. and
got a death grip on my throat. Then
Charley Burton, the eighteen year-old son
of my tathcr-in-law. got ;he potato-maSher
from McClarren and hit him three times on
the head with it, Then he IooSed his
grasp: he had been stunned. When he
left his home, half mile away, he jumped
through window. knocking out the sash
and fell eight feet to the ground.
Thomas AldenS. the next witness. had no
important testimony.
Dr. q. &. Graham, Assistant Supcrin-
tcndendent of Dixmont Hospital, related
the story of the manner of McClarren's ar
rival at the hospital and graphically and
clearly described his examination of the
the wounds of the deceased. The wound
on the head had not been dressed at any
time. The wound was quite large The
| man was Menk. He Mas fnrnrish and &