Evening journal. [volume] (Wilmington, Del.) 1888-1932, 1892-01-18
SOAKED IN HUMAN BLOOD
Gotham's Throat Slasher Cap
tured by the Police. 5.
CAUGHT AT HIS FIEEDIsH TRADE

He Had just Ripped His seventh victim.
When Arrested He Confessed TO a Mania
for Killing Dutchmen His Family Con-
nected with the Late millionaire Hoyt.
New YoRK, Jan 1s-Jack the slasher
that mysterious individual who since Dec.
10 last has amused himse by cutting the
throats Of drunken men v..h a razor and
has been the terror of night travellers in the
Fourth ward, has been captured red hand
ed. he inveigled his victim, drunken
man, 30 an unfreQuented street. and then,
catching the-san around the neck with one
hand, with the other he drew a keen razor
across his throat He then skunk away, but
81 officer who had been watching him for
some time gave pursuit, and with the aid Of
other officers soon captured the cutthroat,
whose name in Henry @. Dowd
Dowd, the Slasher, Is an Englishman by
birth, and is one of the children Of Patrick
M. Dowd, the civil engineer who was en-
gagged in laying out the Central park, He
is wen connected on his mothers side, his
mothers sister having married Samuel NJ
Hoyt, brother OF the late Jesse Hoyt, the
famous millionaire whose win was vigor.
ously contested by his daughter, Mary Irene
Hoyt All who know the prisoner say they
always considered him insane, and it Is said
that Dowd was once confined in an asylum,
from which he escaped. His habits have
long made him a social outcast and for two
years, at least, be has had no other home
than tho cheap lodging houses which the
Bowery affords. He IL about forty-three
years old
The siasher's Victims.
Inspector Byrnes gave the following as
the list OF victims Of the man who has been
dubbed by the police as "Jaek the Slasher,.
because Of the peculiar methods pursued by
the criminal: John Hefiin, throat cut, Dec
20; Louis Lawson, throat cut, Jan s: John
Clark, Of Elizabeth, N j., throat cut, Jan
o. George Williams, Of Brooklyn throat
slashed, Jan. II; John Carson, the Baltimore
ex-lawyer throat cut from ear to ear found
dead, Jan. 10. Dowds seventh and last
victim rs a man named William Miller His
throat was badly cut and he was taken to
the hospital
All these crimes happening in the same
locality, with the victims all being cut ia
the same place, lod the police to believe that
one man, evidently insane, was their au-
! thor, and they accordingly took extra pre-
cautions 10 run down the midnight assassin.
Two score Of detectives, under the personal
supervision Of Inspector Byrnes, We're placed
about the infected districts with orders 10
keep strict watch and to follow any and
all suspected persons.
I Shortly after o'clock in the morning one
Of these officers, Detective Masterson, was
standing on the corner Of New Chambers
and Roosevelt street when he saw a strange
man approach him from the opposite side Of
7 the street. The stranger had a handxer-
t.N ktrT 4
concealed his features The man came close
70 abe officer peered in the latters face,
evidently to ascertain II he was drunk, and
then walked away. The officer followed at
a respectful distance. The man haunted all
the lonely thoroughfares, and when be-
lated traveller approached scanned him
closely. He finally stood in a dark doorway
al the corner Of Roosevelt and Oak streets,
while the officer concealed himself little
further down the street.
slashed Across the Throat.
Soon man, who from his staggering con
ditiOn was evidently intoxicated, came
along. The stranger IN the doorway imme-
/ diately joined the drunken man, and after
a moments conversation the two walked on
| together with the officer, as before, follow
J ing some distance behind The stranger
/ led the inebriated man into James street,
which appeared 20 be deserted In front Of
/ Sc Of this street the pair stopped and the
officer darted into a doorway He was not
moment too soon, for the stranger gave
furtive glances up and down the street and
then, thinking he was alone with his victim,
put one arm around the drunken mans neck
and with the other he drew a razor across
his throat The drunken man dropped to
the sidewalk without a struggle while the
assassin darted away
The officer by this time was in close pur-
suit and a lively chase followed Other Of
hcers were signaled on the way and all took
part in the pursuit with the result that
they captured their man. The man strug-
gled some, but tap from an officers long
night stick put an end TO his resistance
When caught the prisoner had one hand in
his overcoat pocket and in his hand be held
razor covered with blood.
A Mania 90 KIN putchmen.
At the station house the prisoner was
closely questioned by Inspector Byrnes. He
told very little, and this little was conflict
ing. He at first admitted the cutting, which
he said he did in self defense, but afterward
he contradicted this and said he knew moth
ing Of the affair and that he did not do the
cutting
The prisoner was then conveyed to police
headquarters where he made a confession
Of his crimes, OF some Of them. He said
that the impulse to kill under some circum-
stances was uncontrollable He said that
he wanted to kill all the Dutchmen for
whom he was seeking all the time. The
reason for this was that German had once
ravished his mother at her home in Brook
lyn. The face Of the ravisher still haunted
him, and when he saw a man who looked
like the one he was pursuing he tried to kin
him.
"Why did you kill Carson, he wasn't a
Germanp the inspector asked.
II couldn't help it. was the reply. Then
seeing his error he quickly corrected him
self, saying he didn't kill Carson at all
Dowd's room was searched by the police,
who found bloodstained clothing therein.
The sleeves OF the prisoners shirt were also
full Of blood stains. The stains were not
new and could not have come from the
wounds of his last victim. The razor, how
ever, Is the strongest link connecting him
with the murder Of ex-Lawyer Carson, OF
Baltimore who was found dead on Christie
street Friday morning with his throat cut.
As no weapon was found near the body the
police presume that it was a case Of murder.
At the autopsy of Carson's body, the physi-
clans found that the wounds had been made
with knife or razor whose edge was slightly
ragged. The weapon found on the prisoner
has jagged edge, and the physicians who
examined Carson's body, when shown
Dowds razor, said the wound of Carson had
been made with a weapon like the one be-
fore them