The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1901-06-25
MURDER AND ROBBERY.
CAPTAIN CASTOR PRICE NET A HORRl-
BILE DEATH SUNDAY NIGHT.
HIS House at Navassa was Entered and
His skull was Beaten to Pieces-He
was Robbed of all the Money on
Hand.

A telephone message received about |
s o'clock yesterday morning by Dr.. c..
D. Bell, the coroner brought 'the news |
of a horrible murder and robbery al |
the Navassa Guano factory, five miles |
up h Cape Fear river from the city. !
The victim was Captain ]. CASTOR |
Price, an old resident Of this city, a
man who is said to have had not an
enemy in the world.
DR.. Bell left about s o'clock for Ma |
vassa on the tug Navassa, and when !
he got there he found Captain Price |
lying on the fioor in the front room of |
his three room cottage, horrobly beaten |
over the head and unconscious. His |
eyes were closed and terribly blood
shot, and his head was beaten into
pulp n greatly swollen. He put the
injured man aboard the steamer and
arrived in the city with him at 10
o'clock a. m. He was Immediately TAX |
en- to city hospital where DR.. A. II.
Harriss, assisted by DR.. w. d. McMil-
Ian. DR.. G. D.. Bell n DR.. Ed j. Wood, /
performed a operation. Captain Price
was breathing very hard, owing to pres
sure on the brain, and the surgeons
"SAl " "OIh dl OllIC ~ CpIlllc lie
skull. They found a compound frac-
ture on the right side and a bad frac-
ture on the left side. They removed
several pieces of bone and the breath
ing became less difficult but the patti
ent died about 4 p. m.
Captain Price was the step father of
Mr.. c. w. Stewart, who resides at Fifth
and Red Grass streets and who is en-
plOyed at the NavaSSa GuanO Factory.
Yesterday evening at n n'Plnok whQn
the steamer Navassa came down from
the factory, a Messenger representa-
tive met her at the wharf and obtain
ed from Mr.. Stewart all the particulars
known of the brutal murder. When he
got to Navassa yesterday morning he
went on to the factory and began work,
and between Z and 8 O'Clock, Caroline
Waddell, a colored woman, went to the
factory and told him that something
| was wrong with Captain Price. She
| stated that while passing his house she
heard him moaning but the house was
locked and h could not ascertain
| what part of the building he was in.
Mr.. Stewart and Messrs. l. L. Boon
| and j. G. McEachin went Immediate
ly to the cottage, which is the third
| house from the bridge and just opposite
the factory. They ound the door lock-
ed and all the windows fastened down.
| They broke open a window on the piaz-
"a and when they entered a horrible
spectacle met their view. In the front
room, Captain Price was lying or his
back in one of the corners and a great
puddle of blood had run from his
wounds. Blood was all yer the floor,
and near the body was a bloody axe and
a piece of hoe handle about four feet
long. h handle was covered with
blood and to all appearances the deed
had been done with it. Mr.. Stewart
Immediately telephoned for DR.. Bell.
who went out as heretofore stated .
The evidence was plain that robbery
was the motive for the murder. A
canvass bag in which Captain Price
left his change was found empty lying
on the floor near his body. His chest
had also been priced pen and ransack-
ed as also was every place in the house
where money might have been kept.
A trunk in his bed room had also been
~ransacked. The burglar or burglars had
fastened down the windows and after
committing the deed locked the door
and threw the KEEP away. The key was
afterwards found in the back yard, and
tracks of considerable size were dis
covered in the yard, constituting the
only clue to the murder.
The house where the deed was COM
mitted has three rooms and Captain
Price had beeen living there by him
himself for a few months, using the
front room for an ice cream and cool
drink stand. There was a small coun-
ter in one end and the business was
carried on behind it. When the body
was found it was lying outside Of the
counter. Captain Price a on only
underclothes, and hal evidently pre-
pared to go to bed yet the bed in the
back had not been disturbed,
showing that he had not laid down.
The theory is that the murderer
knocked on the door with the pretence
of getting a cool drink n when Cap
tain Price let him in he committed the
diabolical deed. 1t is also believed to
have been done Sunday evening be-
tween 6 and 10 o'clock, as Henry Moore,
colored, informed Mr.. Stewar that he
passed the house about 10:30 Sunday
night and heard Captain Price moan
ing. He, however, generally moaned
when sick and he thought nothing OF
it until the tragedy was reported in
morning.
Just how much money the fiiend got
Captain Price changing money says
he had s25 or $50 in his sack
and that on Sunday he took in from s.
to 81 at his stand. He was seen to
change S. for someone.
About two weeks ago Captain Price
sold a little house and lot in the city
located on Third street between Davis
and Parsley streets. The deed was re-
corded in the name of j. B. Elkins anC
wife, and the consideration was $500
1t is not known whether he had any OF
this money with him or not. The bur.
glar did not carry off Captain Prices
bank book, which Shove deposits OF
over $500. 1t is not known whether hi
had another deposit or not.
Captain Price was a native of Joh
ston county and came to Wilmington
in 1869 on the United States revenue
cutter Moccasin from Beaufort, N. c
He has since resided here and married
Mrs. Stewart mother of u esteemed
townsman, Mr.. c. w. Stewart. Sh,
passed away several years ago SO b,
left no near relatives here. His stel
son and his family, however, were de
voted to Captain Price and he hat
many friends here. The deceased wa.
a generous, warm hearted man a n