The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-02-12
THEY CUT HER HEAD OFF.
STORY OF THE MURDER MYSTERY
AT FORT THOMAS, Ky.


AT FORT THOMAS, Ky.
The Victim Was Pearl Bryan. Far
mer's Daughter-Identity Estnb-
Iished By the shoes and Clothing
on the HeadIess Corpse - Two
Young Men Arrested - Develop
mcnts Up 10 Date.
The Cincinnati papers contain further
particulars OF the Fort Thomas mystery
than those contained in the dispatches Of
the Morning News. The following are add
ditional facts: on the morning Of satur-
day. Feb. J. the headless body Of a young
woman was found lying on the side Of a
quiet country road within a short dis
lance of Fl. Thomas. Ky. This discovery
was the prelude to the unfolding of a
crime. infinitely more brutal, CHASTITY and
oold-blooded. than any which has ever
occurred in the vicinity Of Cincinnati. A
week later the victim had been Identified,
and the supposed murderers were under
arrest
AT S O'Clock on that Saturday morning
John Hewlin. a boy employed near Fl
Thomas, three miles southeast Of Cincin-
natl. started across the fields TO his en-
ployers house. He climbed a fence which
bordered on driveway connecting High
land avenue and Alexandria pike, at the
very edge Of the farmers yard. At this
point there is a steep bank fringed thickly
with privet bushes. AS Hewlin jumped
down from the fence and turned around
he saw at the foot of the bank the dead
body of a woman, headless and lying in
a pool of blood.
Horror stricken, he ran to the house and
gave the alarm. Farmer Lock at once re-
sponded. and word was sent to the New
port police and TT. Thomas. The body
was not disturbed, and Coroner Tingley,
ex-Chief Of Police Dave Locke, Sheriff
julie Plummer and other Newport officers
were soon on the scene. A few broken
branches, foot prints in the soft SOL
and the blood stains spattered about, told
mutely the tale of the murder The body
was at once taken to the Newport mOrgue,
and then the work of running down the
murderers of the girl began.
At first glance the detectives and Sheriff
Plummer inclined to the belief that the
woman had been crimlnally assaulted. Inc
clothing, with the exception on the ne, SHOES
was Of the cheapest description. Ihe cor
set, marked by bloody fingers, was al
most new. The shoes We're black cloth
tops, size No. 3, and upon them the mark
of Louis q Hayes, Greencastle, Ind, ="
was stamped This proved TO be the most
important clew found, and IL the alleged
murderers now under arrest are convict
ed the mark upon the shoes worn by their
victim will have played most import
ant part in that result.
1t was found that the poor girl would
soon have become a mother. The man
ner In which the head had been severed
from the body seemed to Indicate that
the wretch who had done the work had
some knowledge of surgery. II was con-
cluded from all the developments on the
first two days that the woman was MUIR
dered on Friday night or early on Satur-
{ a OF
mined whether she had been killed some
where else and carried to the spot where
the body was found or butchered on that
lonely road at an hour when all decent
people were asleep. The people in the
vicinity, even those at the fort We're in
utter ignorance Of the affair. None OF
them had heard any particular commo-
ton. The death cries OF the poor girl
did not disturb the peaceful slumbers or
the sparsely settled community.
L. d. Poock. a shoe merchant in New
port displayed more than ordinary in
terest in the case. His professional eye de-
tected popularity about the shoes that
led him to believe they had been made in
Portsmouth. Inquiry at Portsmouth de-
Veloped that the shoes, in fact the entire
lot, of which they were a pair, had been
made there, and shipped to Greencastle,
where they We're sold. Monday morning
following the discovery of the body. De-
tectives Grim and McDermott and Sheriff
Plummer left for "Greencastle. They took
with them the girls clothing and the
shoes. At the store of Louis & Hayes it
was found that the entire lot of shoes,
one dozen pairs and been purchased by
them from Portsmouth. Nine of these
pairs had been sold, and all but two pur-
chasers were readily accounted for. Then
an attempt was made to locate these two
pairs, one of which had. without doubt
been worn by the murdered girl. This
seemed impossible for a time
The detectives were about to give up in
despair, when A. w. Early, a telegraph
operator at Greencastle, sent for them
and related peculiar story. He said he
was a friend of viii Wood, a young man
Methodist minister. Wood had told Early
that he had received letters from Scott
jackson. of Cincinnati, concerning the in
teresting condition of Pearl Bryan. Wood
said that II was necessary to have an op-
Grafton performed, and that Pearl was GO
ing to Cincinnati, where Jackson said he
would have friend, a surgeon and chem
list, he said, take care of the girl
With this information which was really
the key to the solution of the awful crime
and for which Operator Early should be
rewarded, the detectives took the unfortl-
nate girls clothing to the Bryan home
stead, near Greencastle. There a most
pathetic scene was enacted. Every particle
of clothing was identified as belonging 10
Pearl Bryan. The dress had been worn by
her sister Jennie who died last June. Pearl
her folks said had left home a week pre-
vious to visit a friend at Indianapolis and
had not returned. A letter was sent to In
dianapolis, to which the reply came that
Pearl was not there, and had not beer
there. Then the awful truth dawned upou
her aged parents and her brothers and sis.
ters. The murdered girl was Pearl Bryan
Her parents, Mr.. and Mrs. Alexander
Bryan, are among the pioneers. of this sec
ton of Indiana. They moved in the very
best circles of society, and not a shadow