The Norfolk Virginian. [volume] (Norfolk, Va.) 186?-189?, 1896-04-19
HIS SKULL CRUSHED In
A CoId-Blooded Murder Committed on a
Schooner In the Harhor.
MURDERED MAN THROWN OVERHEARD.
With an Old Axe George Bess, n Color.
ed Waterman, is KiIIed-The Mur.
derer Steals n SkiG i'm which He
Makes His EscaDo-Ko Clue to the
Murderer Obtained.

The most cold-blooded murder commit
ted In Norfolk in many years came to
light yesterday morning. and unless a
greater ehort Is made than was dis
played by the authorities yesterday the
murderer will never be known
The victim of the awful deed was Geo
Bess. colored, employed during the. past
three or four years as a driver for Hem
lngway d Bro, oyster packers, Allan
tic City Ward
The weapon used was small axe
The scene of the crime was OH the
deck OF the schooner Caroline D., lying
In the dock to the south and west of the
City.
The motive for the foul deed is as YET
u mystery. and will probably remain
SO. If 1t was robbery, the murderer
failed in his object.
Three weeks ago the oyster schooner
Caroline ID. was brought into port and
laid up for the winter. The vessel be-
longs to II. L. Hemingway. George
Bess. the driver, was allowed to stay on
board of her at night for he had no
home in Norfolk. His wife is in Cape
CHARLES. BY staying on board at night
1t was thought that he would protect
the vessel from the river pirates who
have for some time infested the har-
Dor. He is represented by his employers
as having been temperate and reliable
and he made his home on the vessel
cooking his own meals on the little stove
In the forward part of the schooner.
On Friday evening he boarded tho
boat about O'Clock, using 16-foot sllifr
painted white, to transfer him to the
Nessels side. He tied the skiff to tho
port side ana disappeared into the cabin
whether he came ashore later IS no;
known. but no one says positively that
he saw him. One or two men believe
hANr 1T,
store about o'clock. If so, there is
no one who saw him go on board later
Ihose who know him think he did not
again come ashore.
Yesterday morning Captain Daven-
ant. of the schooner Joseph Allen, which
WAS !ylng alongside the wharf, fifty feet
distant from the Caroline d.. sent a COL
ored hoy on board the latter vessel TO
tell BesS he had load he wanted de-
hVered. When the boy looked over the
vessels side he saw a sight he will never
forget. The deck was bespattered with
blood, and some of the brain of the
unfortunate Victim lay near the com
panionway leading to the cabin The
boy climbed over thd rail and looked
about the vessel but Bess was not there.
he at once raised an alarm and Captain
Wm II. Fentress, who commanded the
carolina ID when she was in service
went on board. a trail of blood led to
the port side. 1t was evident that the
Watchmap had been murdered and his
body thrown overheard and Captain
Fentress instituted n search. He secur-
ed pair of oyster tongs and eventually
found the body in twAve feet of water
about SIX feet from the vessels side
The corpse was brought to the surface
and tied and police HEADQUARTERS noti-
fed. Chief King secured Coroner Char
ters and. with a policeman. visited Ghe
scene
Deputy Constable Meaning summoned
jury of inquest and after viewing the
remains had them taken to the station
house. The members of the jury were:
w. +. Beane. James Lilliston, C. A
Beane. A. b. Lecato. w. H. Webster and
F. G. Story, Jr
At the police station the Coroner held
an autopsy. The skull of the murdered
man was shattered. fifteen pieces of bone
being removed. The remains were turn
ed over to an undertaken for burial
The skiff which Bess used In going to
the vessel was missing when the murder
was discovered and 1t is in this boat
that the murderer escaped. Not a thing
on board was missing.
AS to a motive for the murder there is
a mystery. When the BODY of Bess was
brought to the surface of the water II
was dressed In underclothes only. This
leads to the belief that he had retired
for the night and was awakened AS
ne started on deck ana Wnile IN the
companlonway he was dealt blow from
behind with the blunt end of an axe
The skull was crushed. The position of
the blood stains show that the murder
was committed as the man came on deck
Circumstances also point 10 the fact that
two men were concerned in It,
1t Is evident that two men rowed out
to the boat; that one of them probably
remained in the boat which they used
to reach the vessel. while the ether
boarded the Caroline D.: that the sleep
ing watchman was aroused by the noise
of the man on deck and started out OF
the cabin when the fatal blow was
dealt. The man in the boat seeing what
had been done. became alarmed and
rowed off. leaving the actual murderer
on board. There was only one way .or
the murderer to escape and that was by
way of the small white painted skin
which lay alongside. Into this he
jumped and hastily rowed off into the
Elizabeth River
But where is that skiff now? This Is
question which the police are not
ready to answer, and Captain Fentrees
says that little or no effort has been
made to find out
Chief King told very little of tho
crime yesterday. He had the axe with
which the foul deed was perpetrated
but that and the body was "A bout the only
evidence secured that murder had