The times., 1898-06-27
FIVE CHASTITY CRIMES.
Last Week Unique In the Criminal
History Of Washington.

Last Week Unique In the Criminal
History Of Washington.
l Since last Wednesday the city has been
! startled with new murder or attempted
murder every morning, and the details
of the homicides and assaults open new
chapter in the criminology of the Dis
| trict. The murder record of last week
! shows two murders, one infanticide and
| two attempts at murder the victims of
which will probably die. OF the murders,
both were committed by white men, and
| the cuts and bruises received by one of
| the human wrecks in the hospital was
| also perpetrated by white man. Prob
ably the most brutal of all these, the
| killing of a two-months' old babe, was
done by a cOlored man, as was also the
| case of woman who lies between life
| and death at the Emergency Hospital
Two of the crimes are the result of
| jealousy, two for the purpose of roo
! that the victim annoyed his murderer by
| crying.
| Wednesday morning Fannie Douglas,
| colored, left her two-m n his -old son,
| Frank. under the care and protection of
| Samuel Williams, also cOlored, as she
| had done many times before. At 4
| o'clock in the afternoon Williams called
at the place where the mother was work
! ing and told her that her babe was very
! i'll. Mrs. Douglas returned home and
| found the child dead. 1t had been thrown
| upon the floor and stamped on an eye
witness told the coroner and the man is
now in Jail, pending the action Of the
| grand jury. The only reason given for
! committing this crime is that the child's
| ANS md ha
this effective means to stop it.
Thursday evening the residents in the
! neighborhOod of Twenty-Second Street
| and Pennsylvania Avenue were startled
by the report that William II. Brooks,
| a veteran of the civil war and his aged
wife had both been foully dealt with. In
vestigation proved that the old couple
| had been entced into a small store room
/ and their heads beaten in with an ak,
killing Brooks and intiicting six terrible
wounds on his wife. The police at first
thought they had a case OF suicide and
murder, they said that the old man
had attempted 10 Kill himself several
! times before.
! One of the witnesses positively asserted,
| however, that the door leading into the
room where the bleeding bodies of the
aged pair were found was locked from
the outside, and the coroners assistant,
| who made an examination of the dead
body, said the blows could not have been
! inflicted by the man himself The po-
! lice discovered that a large sum of mon
| ey was supposed TO be concealed on the
| person of the woman, and the condition OF
| her clothing when she was discovered led
| them to believe that robbery might have
| been the motive of the murder.
An investigation disclosed the fact that
| Frank Funk. a carpenter. had been loaf
| ing about the house for about week
! previous to the murder and that he had
often expressed desire TO get hold of
| a sum of money nearly equal TO that
supposed to be in the possession Of Mrs.
! Brooks in order that he might go TO the
klondike gold fields 10 was also learned
that ne had enticed the two daughters of
| the house away from home late Thurs
| day afternoon and after that completely
disappeared He was Immediately sus-
pected to be the guilty party and dill
| gent search was made for him, but 100
late. His bloody clothes were found at
| a cheap hotel Saturday morning and
| the police think that about clinches the
! last link in powerful chain OF circum-
| stantial evidence that has been woven
| about the missing carpenter and the
| country will be secured till he is found
and brought back to this city to pay the
penalty for his crimes.
In the meanwhile, Mrs. Brooks is
| hanging onto life with a tenacity that is
remarkable for a woman with five de-
pressed fractures of the skull beside
smaller wounds about the head and face.
Her ultimate recovery is doubtful the
! surgeons say, though they are doing all
| they can for her.
On Thursday evening also. occurred the
third number Of this revolving catalogue
of crime. Samuel Mason and his wife,
! both oolored, went to Motley Hail on
! Sunday-school excursion. and while there
/ Mason tried TO wipe out an old grudge
| against his wife by hitting her in the
head with a large stone. The woman was
brought to this city for treatment and
the husband locked up at the Hail. At
the Emergency Hospital it was found
| that Mrs. Mason had sustained a large
depressed fracture of the skull and the
| trephining operation was found neces-
sary Friday night the woman's condi-
tion took serious change and death is
| looked for at any time.
Friday evening the people who fire.
quent Armory Square were aStOunded by
ehe atrocious murder of Jane Nicholson
by ex-Policemau Horton. Horton had
been intimate with the woman for sew
eral years. in fact, was dismissed
from the police force on her ac-
count and had heard that she had
received attentions from another man.
In fit of jealousy while passing through
the park he drew penknife from his
pocket and slashed her across the throat,
cutting 1t from ear TO ear, and almost
severing her head from her body Then
as if not satisfied with his work he knelt
beside the bleeding body and inserted
his finger in the cut he had made in her
throat, pulled out the arteries one by
one and cut them as if they were cords.
Horton was arrested and taken to the
Sixth Precinct station, where he remained
till after the c0roner's inquest Saturday,
when he was taken TO the Jail. His de-
meanor since his arrest has been per-
fectly cool; he has not the slightest trace
of nervousness. and delights 10 talk
about his crime. He has repeated the
story to the newspaper men who have
called on him a number of times, and
each time tries to add some new feature
that makes his crime seem more revolt
ing.
Altogether 1t was a remarkable week
and the police officials hope they will
never have another such.
He MuzZIed the Ducks.
From the Chicago Journal)
The hero of this tale is a baggagem n