Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1894-12-11
JORDAN'S DESPAIR.
The Butcher Of Barnes Tries to
Hang Himself,
BUT Is SAVED FOR TIE SHERIFF,

And Precautions Taken to Prevent An
other Attempt-SOme More Details al
the Crime-Policc Theory That the Ma
Connection With Barnes-lsiixt Confesses
Again in the Cling Case.
CHICAGO Dec 1.-THE five persons con-
fined at the Hyde Park Police station on
account of the murder of Janitor Alfred
ID. Barnes passed quiet Sunday, al
though some of them were brought be-
fore Inspector Hunt for further question
ing, and more light was thrown ON the
already well-eXposed case. What the po-
lice are working for now is to establish as
u fact that Edmund Jordan did not kill
Barnes in the heat of passion growing out
OF quarrel, but that the crime was COM
mitted after plans deliberately laid. They
hope to establish by further confessions
that Jordan and Annie Mahoney conspircd
to put Barnes away. Prosecuted by the
man for two years. swindlcd and cajolcd
by Barnes, the woman longcd for ven
gcancc, especially after a scene she had
with Barnes last Monday. Between that
time and Wednesday night she and Jor
dan had several conferences. Jordan may
have feared Barnes, as he claims 1t is
certain that he wanted Barnes place, but
more than that he wanted the friendship
of the woman.
Intended to Burn the Remains.
The method by which Jordan first pro-
posed to do away with his victims re-
mains was never thought out until after
the killing was done. He said: 1t was
my purpose To burn up the body. There
are SIN furnaces in the Hiawatha flats and
intended to cut Barnes into just that
many pieces-one for each of the furnaces.
l also intended to burn up his clothing.
was not able to carry out my plans in
regard to the body because the AK | had
the same one with which l killed Barnes
was dull, and besides he was awful
tough when l went down to do the job
Thursday morning. Then conceived the
idea of putting him in box. The
wounds on his back and limbs were made
by me i'll my attempt to GU: him up, ac-
cording to my original plans l had en-
gagged men to whitewash all the base
mcnt rooms and they were at the build
ing Friday morning. l expected to do
the job myself in the room in which
Barnes was killed, and if the police had
come an hour or two later they would
have found no bloodstains. ! am sorry
was not able to dispose of the body bet
ter, SO that l would have avoided this
trouble"
WOman's Heart Was st celed.
1t would have been impossible for Jor-
dan to have struck Barnes if the men
We're standing up fighting, rs Jordan
claims, for the reason that the ceiling of
the furnace room is so low that it would
have been impossible for man to have
swung an AK therein. Jordan says that
Barnes, at. the time of the fight. was fix
ing plate (which had fallen off the front
OF the furnance, and Inspector Hunt says
his theory is that the plate had been pur-
posely removed, that Barnes was called
down to fix it on, and while he was
STOPPING over mt the work he was dealt
the fatal blow. While Jordan had the
nerve for the task of murder, the police
do not believe he had the brains to con-
coo. the scheme by which Barnes was
lurcd to his death, or the original plans
for doing away with the body But An
ME Mahoncy, the woman, was smart
enough, and she had stcclcd her heart
against all mercy towards Barnes Her
hatred of him became boundless last
Monday when he went there to remov
certain furniture he had there At that
time he tauntcd her in the presence of the
exprcssman whom he had engaged to
haul away the goods and constantly re-
fcrred to her rs the ''old maid -
Let T,,l.x