Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-07-17
STILL AT LARGE.
The Chances Are That the Ross
lyn Murderer is Safe.
TALK OF LYNCHIN .
Remarkable Utterances From a
Virginia Official on the Subject.
A DETECTIVES NEW THEORY

A DETECTIVES NEW THEORY.
The murder mystery deepens. Each day Of
failure In the search for the murderer Of
veteran Swift reduces the probability of suo-
cess. Every clew, whether 1t promised much
or little, has been trailed down and proved to
be worthless. The wearisome and fruitlsss
hunt is disheartening. The men engaged,
though. appear determined and persistent
They want the murderer for more than one
reason They are full Of state and county
pride and they look upon the murder as . re-
Election on Themselves They are anxious to
impress on everybody with whom they talk
that IL is not the Virginia element which
responsible for the lawless deeds
enacted on h, Virginia side of the river, but
the scum drawn thither from the District.
The reason for this state Of affairs Is the made
quacy OF the vagrancy law. Constable Cornell
told q reporter for The STAR this afternoon that
| he would bet the foul crime was perpetrated
by an emigrant from the Georgetown side Of
who did such awful deeds, but their visitors.
He said that everything that could
DO done toward the capture Of
the culprit was being done, and
tnst when they got the evil door, and they felt
positive they had the right man, he hoped that
Jail at Alexandria. He did not believe that the
people Of the county would permit 1t.
There Is q general feeling that there is al
| ready in existence the nucleus Of . mob, the
| skeleton OF mob organization which could be
given effective shape the very instant that the
| apprehension Is made. Strong anti-mob pre-
cautionary measures should be taken now.
Although time has already worn OF the keen
edge Of the sensation, the current Of excitement
is still deep and strong. In the present oondi-
ger that fatal mistake may be made and the
| wrong man lynched.
| II the people once get 1t into their heads that
| the guilty man has been arrested nothing will
| convince them TO the contrary. II an attack
by mob be made the officers will be too much
offer very determined s 1s 1s.i.t.nRse HRns Tho he
statement of Constable Cornell warrants
this bolief Some sober-minded people are
advising care and caution, and telling their
| neighbors to 60 ahead slowly, but they hnd in
attentive audiences. Lynch is In the air.
| All clues thus far found have been exhausted.
| They have led to naught. The officers are
| scenting around for trail in . wild and aim
less way. The search Is not being conducted
methodically.
vigor and energy, but for all that the man hunt
is being conducted on an eccentric basis. The
law and the criminal are farther apart than
ever, and the gulf widens.
A New Theory.
Detective Burrows Of Warrington pre-
cinct No. 2, and who has bsen taAing intense
interest in the case, believes that II tho murder
was committed by but one person, as II be-
lieved, the perpetrator will not be
caught. II there are two men interested
in the unhappy affair the chance Of successful
m f1rA ro nv nat A,ao a
| think that the case was such . cold-blooded
murder as has been alleged. He theories
on the basis Of quarrel. He thinks
| the indications point this way. The
dead man and the negro with whom he was
seen on the fateful day had an alteration and
| the negro hit his companion with q stick,
commonly carried in the country. So
| far as he could SEQ the wound in
| ficted in the back Of the head was not
Of such . terrible nature - had been, by some.
described. 1t was a bad cut, made by an ordi-
narily vicious blow. The ugly bruise behind
and back Of the right ear he thought had been
caused by the fall when the old man was hit.
He thought that the negro then
| took fright and ran and that
deceased crawled from the roadside into the
clump Of bushes and underground where his
body was found. He did not think that rob-
berry was the incentive, because the man did
not set when alive as though he possessed any
earthly goods, confessed to several people
that he was very poor and in search Of pen
sion and Of work, and then his pockets did not
were exsnAasd at the inquest. He did not
thipk that 1t was . murder in cold blood.
because if the negro had been 90 fendish he
would have completed his work. As
it was the old man must have lived
at least two hours after having been
twigs that pointed passage from the road
into tho gulch indicated the pathway Of .
crawling body rather than that Of Q struggle be-
tween two men. The man who committed the
deed must have had considerable Of o
start, for pursuit in all directions was begun
made.
Officer Nelson Wallace Of Rosslyu, who is also
a colored man, says that he had long talk with
MIR. Swift on the morning of the murder. The
deceased accosted him and complained Of hav-
ing hurt his arm badly by q recent
fal. The lame member hung limp at his side
scratched. Deceased told him that he was from
Connecticut, and said that he lately came
into possession of such evidence as he
thought would secure for him q pen
sion. He said that he had no
place to spend the night, and was in sore need
his arm. Wallace directed him to spply to the
officers Of the seventh precinct for aid and that
they would see that he got everything that
was necessary. Swift then told him that
he had applied for aid at Fort
Myer, but that q sentry had driven him away.
At the fort he had tried to explain his unfortu-
nate position, but nobody would listen to him,
and finally a soldier on duty rudely drove him
away. Wallaces attention was then diverted.
and the next he saw Of the old man he was
trudging along the road .lat leads to Falls
Church. A few hours later he heard the report
Of the finding Of the body.
To BE Released.
Geo. Peterborough, q colored man who was
arrested Saturday on suspicion and committed
to Jail at Alexandria by Squire Trout, will
probably be set at liberty today. There is
absolutely nothing on which to hold
the man, except that he talked a
great deal about the murder and that the
man whom he had seen with Swift had at one time
tried to rob him. Constable Cornell is anxious
that the man be released and returned to
Rosslyn, 80 that il a capture be made Eden
borough may be on hand to aid in the inaenti-
1cation.
The theory that Swift was killed by the negro
harp and banjo player who was seen around
Rosslyn for several days prior to the crime and
has not been seen since is the generally accepted
one The finding Of the peculiar piece Of
wire, said to be harp rest, In the pocket Of
the coat which was found near the body gives
probability to this theory. At present the pros
poets of successful issue Of the hunt are