San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1894-12-05
A BEAUTIFUL WOMAN BRUTALITY
BATTERED TO DEA TIL.
Her Body Found In the High way
Covered With Dirt and Her
Clothing Blood Soaked.
No Clue as to Whether Jealouy,
Lust or Greed for Gain Was at
the Bottom of the Horrid
Deed.


the most mysterious and sensa-
tional crime in the history of the
northwest, Is the murder Of Miss
Catherine Cling. Miss Cling was a
dress maker, was 20 years OF age
and ofstriking beauty. Her bruis-
ed and tortured remains lie cold in
death upon a marble slab at the
morgue in this city, victim
either Of a diabolical crime, or of a
Jealous lover. The features of the
dead woman seem mutely appeal
ing for the pity denied her by the
fiend, who seeing that bullets had
failed entirely to snuff out the
spark of life, completed his fearful
work with the butt OF pistol.
Last Tuesday night young
farmer returning home from the
city met a horse and carriage,
driverless, travelling at rapid pace
toward town on the lonely road
which runs through swamp just
west of Lake Calhoun, in the out
skirts of this city. Being unable
to stop the maddened animal he
began a search for the missing oc-
cupant Of the vehicle. A short dis
lance further up the road he came
upon a horrible sight. Face up
ward in the road lay the dead body
of Miss Cling, her head literally
beaten to jelly, the ground being
soaked with blood and dirt and
oIot+od blood hos n ri m ar hor hair
and clothing. Mortified, the young
man fastened to the nearest police
station and detail Of officers was
quickly dispatched to bring in the
remains. When the woman's
body was taken to the morgue it
was found to be that of Miss Cling,
and that the cause OF death had
been a pistol bullet which entered
her head back Of the right ear.
passing through the brain and
lodging in her left eye. Numerous
cuts and bruises and Commissions,
evidently made with the butt Of
pistol, were found all over her
head, face and neck, and under her
chin were plainly visible the deep
imprints Of fingers where the dast-
ard had clutched his victim while
beating her senseless form. An in
vestigation was begun at once and
the police are still actively en-
gagged on the case, but 80 far no
light has been thrown upon the
mystery. 1t is known that in the
morning Miss Cling had hired
the horse and carriage and drove
away alone. This was the last
time she was seen alive by any
one so far as yet known. Late in
the evening the horse walked back
to the stable drawing the empty
carriage, which was found to con-
tain a pool OF blood, the seat cush-
ions being also saturated. The pO-
sition of the body when found in
the road, the location OF the wounds,
the blood in the carriage and
bloody marks on one of the traces,
all go to show that the woman was
murdered bp some person who had
been sitting beside her in the car
riage and that this person had then
thrown the body into the road. A
young man named Harry T. Hay
ward, who was said to have had
business dealings with the MUIR
dered woman, was examined by the
police in most rigorous manner for
several hours last night. He admit
ted having had dealings with Miss
Cling and said he had loaned her at
various times large sums OfmOney.
He held her personal notes for So
600 and states that she had not
long ago taken out an accident in
surance policy of $1,000 which was
assigned to him. Beyond this no
information Of note was secured
from Hayward, who strongly pro-
tested his innocence OF any know
ledge of the crime. Miss Cling,
who has connections in Auburn,
n. ", has been in the city some
time and as before stated has
worked up lucrative business as
dress maker. She had been known
to carry large sums OF money on
her person on several occasions Of
late. One of the important facts yet
learned is that she drew, $1,000
from safety deposit vault Mon
day and no trace Of this money can
be found. This strengthens the
theory that she was killed for
money. Others think it was love
affair and that the murder was
prompted by jealousy. No arrests
have yet been made. The police
are bending every energy towards
locating the murderer. Mayor