The record-union., 1894-07-31
NO MORE LIGHT ON TIE MYSTERY.
Inquiry Into the Killing of Charles W.
Craddock.
The Chinaman Killed at the Same
Time-Thomas Slack Repeats
His Former story.

| Coroner George Clark, Sheriff O'Neil.
District Attorney Ryan, Court Stenog-
| rapher w. J. Davis and County Physi-
clan G. a. White went out yesterday to
| the scene of the murder of Charles w.
Craddock, who was killed while in bed
at his home on the Marysvilie road on
the 8th instant, where Coroner Clark held
an inquest.
Thomas Slack, the elderly man who
was in Craddock's employ at the time,
and who was shot in the face by the same
unknown man who is supposed to have
murdered Craddock and Chinaman who
was working near tue house, was the
| chief witness at the inquest.
Craddock told the same story he related
| to the newspaper reporters and the Sheriff
on the day Of the shooting. He did not
witness the killing OF either Craddock or
the Chinaman. A strange man entered
the roadside tavern, and while Slack was
pouring him glass of beer the stranger
shot HIM and then went TO the room
! where old man Craddock, the proprietor,
was lying on bed, he being partially
| paralyZed.
| Slack was able to leave the house. and
alarm. He said he feared Craddock had
been killed by the mysterious visitor
who shot him.
At the inquest the fact was developed
that the first person to enter Craddock' S
| house was farmer named firman
Stahl, who was on his way to this city.
| He found Craddock horribly beaten
about the head. but still alive. The in
Jured man was not able to talk, however,
/ a laH \ foy lot
| The next day the neighbors began to
| inquire about Chinaman who had been
working garden close by Craddock' IS
house, but he could not be found. 1t was
reported a few days later that he was
seen in tue vicinity of Wheatland, and
Sheriff % Neil went there to find him.
That same day his body was found par
| TALLY concealed in ditch near the house.
| There was a wound on his forehead, and
his throat was cut. The Chinaman had
been seen near the house about an hour
| before Slack was Shot
/ The inquest therefore developed no
new facts, and the identity of the muir
! derer, his purpose in committing the
! three-told crime, and what became OF
him, constitute mystery that may not
| be solved for a long time TO come.
| The first theory-and what still seems
| to be the more plausible one-was that the
murderer was one Lovelace, an escaped
! prisoner from the Yuba Jail, but who
ever he was he has disappeared as COM
pletely as 1.-THE earth had opened and
swallowed him.
The probability is that the Chinaman
was disposed of before Slack was shot and
| Craddock murdered, as the murderer
would not have had time to kill him,
half bury him and make his escape be-
/ fore the neighbors appeared on the scene.
Slack's story is straight enough, but
there has been no explanation of the con-
dition OF the barroom, which had the ap-
pearance of having been the scene of a
riot The glasses and bottles were
smashed, the clock broken, and the wall
behind it bore mark or dent as OF a rock
having been hurled against it, while on
the floor was found the trigger-guard OF q
| broken pistol, covered with blood and
matted hair.
The probability is that after numbering
Craddock in his bed the assassin returned
to where he expected to find the corpse OF
Slack, and then set to work To wreck the
bar in order to make it appear that Slack
and his employer had light, and that
| the murder was the result.
| But both Slack and Craddock were old
and feeble men, and could not have made
much of fight had they tried to. And
even if they had, that would not explain
/ the murder Of the Chiuaman, which
neither of them could have accomplished.
| The fact that no money was taken may
be accounted for by the fact that Slack
flight, after he was supposed to have been
| killed, caused the murderer to cut short
his stay in the house,
Taken altogether it is quite a mystery,
and one OF the worst crimes ever COM
mitted in the county.