The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1897-07-12

street, south Of the Walker House
early yesterday morning is still at the
undertaker's and an Inquest viii be
held this afternoon. Acting Corone.
Margetts and Chief Of Police Paul weI
at work on the case yesterday. tryin.
to find evidence which would throw
some light on the murder, and as
result Of their efforts suspicion points
very plainly TO a saloon rounder and
hard character named c. NJ. Phelps
as the murderer, and it is believed that
he committed the crime for purposes
of robbery.
THREE ARRESTS MADE.
Three persons were arrested in con-
nection with the crime but no charge
has been made against them, and
when they were first taken into
custody the principal reason for arrest
ing them was that they were in the
saloon when Egan IS believed TO have
bcen Killed. Besides Phelps the men
arrested were J. F. McMillen the
night barkeePer and Bob Sleeves.
Sa CON rounder
Il IS matter Of uncertainty as 20
how much Sleeves knows of the affair
but there can be no 6ouT5t that Nc
Millen. the barkeeper, knows how
Egan met his death, but this man tells
a ridiculous story 10 the effect that
he knows nothing whatever about the
matter though he was in the saloon all
night after II o'clock and was within
few feet OF the small wine room
where there is every reason to believe
the murder was committed and from
which Egan's body was dragged into
the back --ard.
FINDING THE BODY.
The circumstances Of the murder. as
Tar as known, were told fully in the
extra edition Of The Herald YESTERDAY
morning. Night Waterman \. y.
Taylor was passing through the aaev
lsAathe rear Of the saloen- shortly Il. er
clock yesterday morning aad tsuTd
Ihe bod. de notified several orner
officers and il was soon discove I'd
that the body had been dragged from
a vine room situated in a corner CT the
saloon. through a rear door along
marrow passage ABOUT 30 or so feet and
dumced in the yard which opens on
1he alley III was easy 10 trace be
course as the marks OF Eean's Re as
he was dTagged along the ground
TO be seen piaiIly and the remov.
evidently been made with greal
and the body handled roughly.
was an ugly prUise cn the mans
head and another on his nose
there was also q severe injury owe e
LEFT temple, the bone being br,-=l.
This was dCu5tless the wound 1nat
caused mis- death and it had every ap-
9ear2nct OF having been inflicted wi L
slunesh0t or some similar weapon.
ROBBERY THE MOTIVE.
II is believed that the only motive
for the murdo- was robbery and il
that was the object the murderer Sc 1
cured very iittle. Egan had been slor;
of money fer sometime. but il is ret
thought that h had been in any *
treme want for he had many friends !
in the city. he borrowed so from one /
OF them some days ago and Ss.--.iay /
he borrowed SO from a friend named 1
Noringa in whose company ne was 1
nearly al Saturday afternoon. They I
visited a number of places together. (
including several saloons and parted (
about O'Clock in the evening.
VICTIM WAS INTOXICATED
Egan was partly under the influence
Of liquor at thai time. but he was not /
very drunk. though he had been drink
ing quite heavily of late. II is not
known where he spent the early part
IF tae evening, but he probably did
not appear al the Senate saloon until !
late at night and ne was doubtless
Still more intoxicated by that time. II
is known that he was located for sew
eral ht7irs in the small wine room Of
the saloon with several chance ac-
suaintsnces and that the party were
drinking freely. Those with him
must have been melted 10 robbery by
The fact THAI Egan had a bank book
sticking out of his nip pocket, which
gave rise to the presumption that he
was man of some means and prob
ably had considerable money with
him. II is probable also that ne had
q very valuable watch and chain with
him. as he was in the habit of carrying
one said TO be worth $500, which was
presented 20 him some wears ago by
fellow employees of the Denver & Rio
Grande railroad. He was not a Guar
relsome man, though he may have
gotten into some alteration with the
rough characters who We're in the wine
room with him. At any rate K is
ing the night Egan was dTugged. fer
an acquaintance saw him stretched
out HELPLESS on the table in the wine
room, with Phelps standing over him.
and the presumption is that Phelps
either alone or with the assistance Of
others administered the drug and COM
niitted the robbery and the murder
Il is believed that his assailant took
advantage of his condition and at
tackled him with a slungshot. But no
matter how quietly all this may nave
been conducted. il could not possibly
have escaped the knowledge of the
barkeeper. who had probably served
drinks TO the party a number CT times
and knew they were there. The police
do not give any credit al all TO the bar
keepers statements that he knows
nothing about the matter The wine
room is practically a part Of the saloon
and the thin partitions do not extend
TO the ceiling. so that almost anything
occurring there can be heard al the
bar, which is only a few feet away.
Besides that. the BODY could not have
been dragged out Of the rear door and
through the passage way without the
noise being heard inside.
QUARREL IN THE SALOON.
As a matter of fact, II rs a
quarrel of some kind in the ffe-