Omaha daily bee., 1896-02-17
HUMAN BUTCHERS
Pearl Bryan's slayers in Danger Of Mob
Violence.
Cincinnati People Growing Restless
Last Link in the Chain of Evidence
Against the Accused Fur
nfshed by a
Negro.

CINCINNATI. Feb. 16.-The excitement In
this city and vicinity over the atrocious muir
der Of Pearl Bryan has been intensified by
the astounding developments made last night.
People had time for reading the papers to-
day. Feeling tonight is Of the silent but
ready sort that portends danger. No out
bresk is anticipated, and a successful one
would be out of the question. with the pres
ent efficiency Of the police and the military.
Every other man one meets expresses the
opinion that short work should be made Of
such men. The people, however, believe In
depending on the courts to mete out justice
to the prisoners. 1t is now probable that
they will be taken to the Covingten Jail,
which is very strongly guarded and we'll
situated to resist a siege. The Jail in New
port is weak. The detectives have a clew
to the surrey that was employed to carry
the human tigers and their victim to the
scene of the slaughter. They think they
have found the surrey on Walnut Hill. and
they are trying to identify 1t.
The special circumstances that give weight
to the testimony Of George II. Jackson. the
negro who drove the surrey to Fort Thomas,
is the high name he bears among all his
employers. Mr.. Rebstock, a liveryman, for
whom he worked four years, said. 'He is
the best and truest all round negro l ever
have seen. 1 owuld trust him with any
thing"
Major w. s. widdekind of McGregor ave
nue.. Mount Auburn, the Negroes present en-
pioyer, says: George H.. Jackson is highly
intelligent. very reticent. has no bad habits,
never drinks liquors or uses tobacco. is COM
| petent, trustworthy and efficient as an EN-
ploye, and is an active member Of Zion
Colored Baptist church. He takes two daily
papers. and is a man Of more than ordinary
Intelligence. I have the most complete con-
fdence in his veracity and integrity"
JACKSON WAS SILENT.
Major Widdekiud has noticed that he has
been unusually silent since the murder. and
that he has lost his appetite. Another cir
cumstance in his favor Is that there is an
offer Of $500 reward for the discovery Of the
cab driver. George H. Jackson has not
made any claim for this reward, nor has
he even spoken Of 1t.
In his statement last night, he said he
found in the surrey, instead of a round
hitching weight a piece Of railroad rail, about
a foot long, while waiting for the return of
the two men who had gone away with the
girl, at the place Of the murder. 1t had
two holes through it. A leather strap was
fastened to one of the holes; that he ueed
it for a hitching weight, and then ran away
as fast as he could run. Right here Is the
point in the chain Of the circumstances.
II was Just precisely a piece Of railroad iron
that was wrapped up In Jackson's bloody
coat when it was fished out of a sewer catch
basin at the corner of John and Richmond
| streets several days ago. What emphasizes
this evidence is the fact OF his coat being
wrapped around a piece OF railroad iron has
never been mentioned in the newspapers.
Another circumstance that supports George
n. Jackson's story that the conveyance used
was a surrey. and that George H. Jackson
| abandoned it In fright on the tragic night 10
| the fact that a gentleman Of Newport, driv-
| ing toward Fort Thomas on that Saturday
morning, at 8 O'Clock, met a surrey drawn
| by a gray horse, with two men on the front
| seat and collided with it. He got out and
| the men in the surrey drove on
| toward Newport at q furious rate. This
mans name is not given, but he will be on
hand when required as a witness.
L AT THE SCENE OF CRIME.
To clinch the matter, a procession Of car
riages, containing policemen and reporters.
started at 1 o'clock to. Fort Thomas last
night. George H.. jackson drove the lead
ing carriage. The procession struck the
murderers route at Vine and Third streets,
and, with George H. Jackson for a guide, fol-
lowed 1t to the bloody ground.
A halt was made at the Newport bridge
to seek another link in the awful chain that
binds these men to the guilt of Pearl Bryan's
murder.
Toll Collector Tarvin said he remembered
the surrey driven by a colored man passing
over the bridge about 1 o'clock on the morn
ing of February /. 1t contained a man
and a woman, and there was a white man
with the negro driver on the seat. The
procession was led by George Jackson
through unfrequented back streets In New
port and by a long circuitous route OF mud
roads, in the darkness under a cloudy SKY
and finally into the Alexandria pike. near
Fort Thomas. After driving a short dis
lance. George H. jackson stopped just where
a blind lane set out from the road and
stopped.
Here" said he, sis where they took the
lady, telling me to turn the carriage AROUND
and wait"
Jackson has not been to the scene OF the
murder since it was committed. Where he
stopped in the darkness last night was ABOUT
200 yards from the spot where Pearl Bryan
was found dead on the morning OF Feb
REPEATED THE STORY.
George Jackson is a man Of few words,
Here on the spot where the too confiding
girl was led to her cruel death and at about
the same gloomy hour of that tragedy, the
colorcd man repeated his story OF the events
of that fatal night. There was a dramatic
realism in the simple unaffected recital that
moved all present ms no counterfeit pre-
s~,ntation on the stage can move men. The
settings OF the scene aided in Its enect.
When the negro described the strange no sc
and the sounds Of a scufle in the leaves
dEu DuSntS diohs wan ISIS
fright and flight, the bystanders sluddered
and almost imagined they could hear the
rustic Of the struggle Of Pearl Bryan for
her life.
The route to Fort Thomas was about five
miles out by the Licking pike and then
by dim country roads to the Alexandria pike.
1t was about twice as far as the drive to
the fort by the nearest route. The ANNA
ton of the twenty or thirty men in a semi
circle at the Jail last night by Jackson was
dramatic in the extreme. Walling stood
near one extremity Of the arc. The negro
began his inspection at Walling's end Of the
line. He examined everyone. man by man, |
till he got to the end Of the line. Then he
turned, walked briskly back and halted in
front Of Walling. All this tine he had net
spoken a word. Viewing Walling all around,
like a man examining a horse. he was about
to buy. he stepped in front of him and
said. |
POINTED OUT THE MURDERER.
"That Is the man that sat OH the seat |
in front with me-" |
There would have been an outburst OF
cheers had not the proprieties Of the place
and the occasion forbidden. Jackson was
Identified as to size and partially as to
the sound Of his voice. The negro's extreme
caution gives force TO his evidence.
He said: IL don't want to make any mis- |