Rock Island Argus., 1895-12-05


Kelly. the housekeeper, crying hyseericsl-
b. He pushed open the door and saw the
Dead ana blood stained body Of the old
banker.
The murdered mans feet-he was in
his night clothes-rested on the threshold
Of the small room. The left leg was bent
and the right arm extended as If in de-
tense.
The officer felt the body, and thinking
1t was yet warm he cried out: "I don't
think he's dead! Send for q doctor!''
Throwing on some clothing, Fred dashed
across the street to the Fifth Avenue hotel
and sumcmned a doctor. but il there had
been any life in the old man when the on
GER entered it had departed by the time the
doctor arrived.
Within n few minutes Captain Henry
Barden and Officer Roland reached the
house. They were soon Joined by Super.
intendent John Jourdan and Chief Detect
i've James J. ke.so. both of whom had ss
that time a national reputation.
After detecting crime of this kind the
first duty of the police is to discover the
motive that led to il. A short investiga.
tion convinced the superintendent and the
detective that robbery was the motive.
There were IL wounds on the body. Any
one of the four on the head would have
been fatal. They were evidently made
with blunt iron instrument, and the
fact that the old man had defended him
self was shown by the broken fingers Of
his right hand.
Before retiring Mr.. Nathan had placed
his clothes on q chair near the bed. The
pockets of these were turned inside out,
and the keys and many other valuables he
had carried on his person were gone. The
safe in the private Office had been unlock
ed, and all its drawers opened. 1t had been
Mr.. Nathan's habit to keep in this safe
$500 or 5000 for household expenses, in
addition to which there were a lot of rare
coins, whose intrinsic value was estimated
at about 5000. The murdered man had
carried gold watch and three diamond
studs, valued at about 500. All these
were missing, and that the studs were
taken after the murder had been commit
ted was proved by the fact that there
were bloody finger marks on the shirt
front.
While the officers were yet examining
the house Fred discovered in the front
yard an iron bar 90 inches long, with
curved ends. 1t was a tool knownto car
penters and lumbermen as a dog, " and
that it was tho weapon with which the
murder was done was shown by the fact
that it was covered with blood, imbedded
in which were many gray hairs from the
old mans head.
Although it was midsummer, and most
Of Mr.. Nathan's friends were away from
the. city, the news of his murder was
known before "a hours in every hamlet of
the land. The mayor of the city, the gov
ernor of the state and the many societies
to which the murdered man had belonged
within a week had offered $45, 600 in re-
wards for the capture and conviction of
the murderer.
These great rewards, in addition to the
universal indignation, converted every
man into a detective.
Mrs. Kelly, the housekeeper, had q son
OF rather disreputable character, who was
| in the habit Of visiting her, and at first
suspicion fastened on him, but he had no
difficulty in proving that he could not
have committed the crime, as he was in
the lookup for an assault that night.
The most skillful detectives after q care
full examination of the case were of the
| opinion that it was ian inside job''-that
| is, done by some person who had free ac-
cess to the premises. Although very Ger,
tain of this, every man who could possibly
have committed the crime was arrested,
only to be released. One man, John T.
Irving, some two months afterward con.
fessed in California that he had commit
ted the murder. He was brought on from
San Francisco, and it was-then discovered
that his confession was lie, and that he
had made it in order to get free transpor
tation to the east. Among the men arrest
ed on suspicion was the well known bur
glar, George Ellis, who was wanted also fol
another crime. After having seen the CHIEF
Of police, Ellis said to Detective Dolan,
who had him in charge: "I'm not in this
case, but I'll tell you the man that killed