Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1896-08-01
WAS HE MURDERED z
CIRCUMSTANCES INDICATE THAI
FRANK DosNEILA WAS SHOT.
HIS BODY NON III RICHMOND.
1t Was Drought Hero Last Might,
and There Is n Wound In His
Breast-Newport News Ccrener's
Jury Pronounce the Case Murder.

Was Frank Donnella, the Richmond man
who fen or the pocohontas last
Sunday morning. murdered2
HIS relatives and friends think so; the
coroners jury. Of Newport News say
so, and there are circumstances that
would indicate that Il Is 50.
DonnelIa, It will be remembered, was
a passenger on the Pocahontas on her
Cobb's Island excursion and was lost
overheard not far above Newport News.
about o'clock Sunday morning He had
been with party OF friends and had ems
gagged in a drunken brawl and II IL
possible that he received HIS death wound
then.
DEEP HOLE IN HIS BREAST
1t was thought, however, that be had
died an accidental DEATH Until his body
was found, and IT was ascertalned that
there was a deep hole in his breast just
below his neck. DR.. ). II. Craffofds
Coroner OF Newport News, as soon as he
was summoned to view the body ems
panelled a jury and began an investiga-
ton. They examined several witnesses,
and post-mortem examination OF tha
body was made. and the jury finally rem
dered q verdict that "the deceased came
to his death by wound received at the
hands Of some unknown person."
Donnella's brother-in-law, Mr.. George
w. Grant. OF No. Sil north Seventeenth
street, as soon as he heard that the body
had been recovered, went TO Newport
News. but ere he got there 1t had been
placed under the ground. He bad It
exhumed however, and summoned Mr..
Joseph W. Blley. who went down aEt
embslmed the remains and prepared them
for burial They were then placed ON
the train and brought to Richmond, and
are now at MIR. Grants residence. Tha
face and hands have been mutilated by
the fishes. but that portion OF the body
which was covered by clothing, was COM
paratiyely well preserved.
INDICATIONS OF MURDER.
Mr. Grant had a talk with Coroner
| Cranord. who assured him that there was
every indication that his brother-in-law
had been murdered. AS yet SIr. Grant
| has been unable 70 ascertain any Of the
| particulars Of the fracas which occurred
| on board the Pccahontas. but no Is firmly
convinced that young Donnella received
his death wound from somebody on
board that boat Saturday night, and he
Will call upon Commonweaith's-A s-Att0rnes,
Richardson this morning. with q view
| 10 having steps taken looking TO the ap-
prehension Of the guilty pacty.
| 1t Is known that a man was sitting on
the rail OF the boat very close beside
young Donnella, when he fell overheard.
and In some quarters II Is believed that
this man killed him. though no one seems
to know who the alleged murderer IS
4 Donnella's wound may have been ira
ficted with knife. but Il is more rro-
bable that it was given with platoi. fq
the hole is small and round, and iust
such a wound as a pistol ball would make.
III a pistol was fred on that crowded
boat some one on board would certa4nis
have heard Il. and therefore. n the casc
be murder there ought not to be a grs AZ
deal OF trouble in probing to the bottom
/ Of IT,
Don0eila's remains will be Inferred this
morning at 10 o'clock. end a curious CO.
incidence is that his funeral will take
place on the twentieth anniversary OF
{ HIS birth