Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1898-12-09

ION AND Is NOW IN JAIL-MRS.
HARDEN WAS CHOKED INTO IN
SENSIBILTTY BY HER ASSAIL-
Ant.
Yesterday morning about o'clock
some unknown colored man entered
the home of Mrs. Rebecca Harden, at
947 Main street, and entering Mrs.
Harden's room, choked her into in
sensibility. He made his escape by
jumping from the window of Mrs.
Harden's room, which is in the sec
ond story.
Miss Bessie Taylor, who boards at
the house heard Mrs. Harden scream
and Immediately awakened Mrs. DR..
Aschmann, daughter of Mrs. Har-
den. Mrs. Asehmann went to her
mothers door and knocked on the
door, but not for perhaps a minute
after Mrs. Aschmann had knocked did
the man discontinue his brutal assault
and make his escape through the win
dow. AS soon as an entrance could
be made to Mrs. Harden's room and
her condition was discovered, a ply
stefan was sent for and proper medical
aid rendered. Mrs. Harden was I'M
conscious for perhaps three or four
minutes after the assault. Dur
ing yesterday morning she was
unconscious at times, but last
evening she was doing very we'll.
Her neck is badly swollen and
bruised, the inside of her mouth is
lacerated very badly and on her left
cheek are some marks which look very
much as if her assailant had bitten
her. When first an entrace was gain
ed to her room Mrs. Harden was found
lying on the floor. Her face was per-
fectly black, the action of her heart
had stopped and she was to all APP
pearances dead. 1t is the opinion of
the attending physician that had Mrs.
Harden not received medical aid when
she did, it is not doubtful but that the
assault would have ended in muir
der.
Mrs. Harden's story of the affair is
as follows: Her room is in the back
of the house on the second story. At
about 2 o'clock she was awakened by
a noise at her window. The blinds
on the windows were pulled down and
the electric light under the arch of
the suspension bridge falls directly on
the windows of her room. She turned
in bed and looked in the direction OF
the noise and saw the figure of a man
reflected on the window blind. She
supposed the man was outside on the
window sill. Jumping from her bed
she ran to the door and succeeded in
slipping back bolt used IN fasten tho
door. She was endeavoring to open
the safety latch on the door when she
was grabbed from behind by the I'M
known intruder and thrown to the
floor. The brute kneeled on her, and
using IIS tnuLibS o1l lCl IhloIt, pun
ting two fingers in her mouth and
closing her nostrils, began to choke
her. Before he got good grip on her
throat she said to him: Let me go
and I will give you all the money |
have" Her assailant made no re-
ply. The room was perfectly dark,
but Mrs. Harden knew her assailant
was negro, as her hand had accident
ally struck his woody head.
Miss Irwin, boarder at the house,
can see the window in Mrs. Harden's
room from her room. She was awak-
ened by the commotion in the house
and getting up, looked out of her win
dow in time to see a man drop from
Mrs. Harden's window to the ground
and then disappear around the back
of the house
Police Officer Alex. Gardner was
called, and in questioning several peo-
pie at the house found that the man
had left shoe behind. On looking
at the shoe Gardner thought he
remembered having seen it be-
fore worn by a negro, Mar
shall Darlington mot Harrington,
as published in an evening paper),
who lives at the corner of Eoff and
Eleventh streets. Gardner, going into
the back yard, discovered fresh tracks
in the snow in which the shoe fitted
perfectly. From the tracks it was
found that the man had entered the
yard by coming in through the drive
way of the Vance property, which is
Just north of Mrs. Harden's home, and
climbing the fence on the property
line.
The man must have climbed right
nm the side of the house in order 10
gain the window of Mrs. Harden s
room. The kitchen window is always
down a little from the top for ventil-
ating purposes, and it is thought that
| he got a foot hold ON the top of the
| sash and reached the window sill
above and thus gained entrance to the
room above. The only other alterna-