Jamestown weekly alert. [volume] (Jamestown, Stutsman County, D.T. [N.D.]) 1882-1925, 1894-11-08
A Brutal and CoWardly Affair.
The Perpetrators Likely
to Be Caught.
Body Thrown In a Pig Pen and
Structure Fired to Con-
Ceal the Crime. .
Peter SteIing of New Rockford.
the Probable Victim. Two
Men Arrested.

The Third ward was thrown into ex-
cltement Tuesday by the finding OF
the charred remains of an unknown man
IN the ruins Of Josiah Pearson's pig pen,
which burned shortly after midnight.
From the evidence collected it
is surmised that a murder occurred and
the body thrown in the pen and set attire
to hide all traces of the crime. ..
In the ashes OF the pen, lying face
down among the blackened bodies OF the
hogs was found an armless and legless
body of man. Nearly all semblsnce to
ahuman being was obliterated and had
it not been for remnant of his clothes
which were underneath his body, all
means OF Identification would have been
entirely destroyed. Upon turning the
dishgured trunk over Il knife, two house
keys and three fiat keys on keyring, a
pair of tweezers, u portion Of check
shirt, and the upper portion of dark
pair OF pants, dropped off. These we're
carefully saved as means of identitica-
tiop. No money or watch or other
valuables were discovered although the
ashes we're thoroughly searched.
Following trail as of some object
having been dragged 10 the dust of
roadway which led down and
along, the river bank, large
pool Of clotted blood was discovered.
This was evidently the place where the
murder, for such it appears to have un-
doubtedly been, was committed. From
this point to the river bank, distant
dozen feet, d bloody trail was seen which
led down to the edge of the river, where,
10 the soft earth, could be seen the I'M
PRINT of human form and OF the clothes.
Near by was found piece Of string and
number of matches, indicating that
the pockets we're here rifled Of their con.
tents In the soft mud were the foot
prints CT man and also smaller ones,
which might have been those of a woman.
This, however, is uncertain.
Here. it seemed to be apparent, the
perpetrators Of the deed hesitated as to
the manner of disposal of the body and
did not, as was their first intention, cast
it into the river, to do which they would
have had to break thin ice, which GOV.
cred the river. The body WAS accord
ingly lifted to the top Of the bank-about
six feet-and dragged through the brush
- ho fraI
Gated. up the road to the pig pen, which
was heavily covered with straw and set on
fire. A comparatively new briar-wood
pipe was found in the trail leading from
the river. s...
Coroner Thorold, who was immediately
notified this morning, examined what
was left of the charred remains, but
could discover no signs of violence
SO complete had been the work of the
fire. The clotted blood, found in the
road and at the river bank, was taken
examined under microscope and ascer-
tained to be human blood.
TWO MEN JAILED.
From inquiry it is believed that the
murdered man is Peter Sterling, labor
ing man from New Rockford, who arrived
in the city Monday. He showed abou,
$50 and early in the evening, it Is said
was under the influence Of liquor He
left the hotel early in the evening and
was not seen again except in some gam
bling rooms towards midnight. The
police this afternoon arrested W. L
Peverett, a gambler, and another man
either E. McDonough or P. w. Jones
the latter popularly known rs "Tex.'
For various reasons satisfactory to th'
police, suspicion attaches in their direc
tion, though it may be entirely without
foundation. Peverett came to thil
city October 10th, has stopped Al
the Commercial hotel registering from
Rounthwait, Manitoba. He is cool
by trade and has worked at either San
born or Valley City McDonough il
@ from Cincinnati and arrived on Oct. 2lst
while ''Tex" is from Devils Lake, ar.
irving on the Goth 0: October. Th'
police are dong no talking but plenty o
work and hope to ferret out the mys
terry.
A trail OF blood has been discovered
leading from the large pool near tn
river, north towards Fourth street on, o.
near, which il 10 surmised that the frs
murderous attack Was committed.
It 10 rumored that the man who Mon
day bought the old bottllng work