The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1902-11-04
.ROAMED WITH DEAD
MULE WANDERED ALL NIGHT WITH
BODY OF GUGIE BOURQUIN.
FOUND TWO MILES AWAY.
OFFICERS EXPLORED UNKNOWN
ROADS AND DOGGY sWAMPs.

Shot From Behind and Never Saw
His Murderer Negro Jumped
From Buggy and Was Also Shot
From Back-Feu Railroad
Track and Train MutiIated His
BOdy-Omcers Are Working on
| Two TheOries-COrOner's Inquest
Brought Out No Additional Facts.
For four hours Coroner ]. G.. Keller
and a party of officers, with blood
hounds, searched for the body of Mr..
| Gugie Bourquin, who was murdered
with his servant, Fred Taylor, on the
Dean Forest road Sunday afternoon.
before finding it.
The body was found stark and stir
in the dead mans buggy at o'clock
yesterday morning. and was brought TO
the city three hours later. when the
| officers arrived almost exhausted. Cor
oner Keller, accompanied by Chief
Deputy Sheriff Sweeney and several
deputies. left the city at 10 o'clock Sun
day night for the scene of the crime.
| With torches and lanterns they
searched public roads and swamps
|
trace of the buggy that carried the re-
| mains of Mr.. Bourquin. The mule
had grown restless and wandered away
| from the place where 1t was seen by
| Mr.. Ed. F. Lowell and Mr.. Harry s..
Dreese, who discovered the double MUIR
der The officers of the law, bent on
| catching the guilty persons, If possible,
fought their way over unknown roads,
| and across abandoned bridges that gave
| no Of f'1x,
loaded wagon. The searchers were
| forced to do much walking, and were
mud-spattered when they returned to
the city.
The Old Servants Body.
| The body of the negro Taylor was
| found after much difficulty, on the
| railroad track where it was first seen
| by Mr.. Lowell and Mr.. Dreese. train
had passed in the meantime, and the
negro was badly mangled when dis
| covered by the officers. The train had
| cut the body into pieces. From that
| point the search for Mr.. Bourquins re-
mains and his buggy was taken up. At
O'Clock the mule was found tied on
! the edge of a road about two miles
away. 1t had wandered off after dark
and had been caught and tied to a
tree by some one who had been inform
ed of the homicide. Because of the
fact that so much trouble was expe-
| rienced in finding the body the blood
hounds taken out by Chief Sweeney
could not be used and the officers re-
turned to the city without any reliable
clue upon which to work.
Was shot From Behind.
Mr.. Bourquin was shot from behind
and 1t is extremely doubtful if he
knew who fired the load of buckshot
INTO his back. There were three shot
in his back, four in his left arm and
one in his head. The back of the
buggy was literally riddled with buck
shot. One of the shot struck the bar
rel OF his gun near the muzzle, leav-
ing a dent. The man who fired
the shots was not in ambush and must
| have been in the middle of the road
when he discharged his weapon. 1t is
| judged from the shot in his head that
MIR. Bourquin heard the man behind
his buggy,or heard the gun being cock
ed, and was turning his head when the
load was discharged at him. The ne
| gro Taylor must have Jumped from
the buggy and run down the railroad
track. He, too, was shot from behind
as he ran. The negro fell on the track
| where later train passed over him
| The soft soil near the railroad tracks
showed that man and dog had run
down the enbankment, probably in
! pursuit OF the negro Taylor.
His Gun by His side.
Some of the wadding found near
where the tragedy occurred showed
that the weapon used was a breech-
| loading gun. Mr.. Bourquins muzzle-
| loading weapon was found about three
feet from his buggy and there was no
evidence that it had been recently
| fired. One who knew him well stated
that 1t was his habit never to load the
gun until just about to go into the
| woods on a hunting expedition. 1t is
not believed that the weapon was
loaded or that he made any effort to
use it on his murderer.
| The last time Mr.. Bourquin was seen
| alive was at noon. One of his negroes
| saw him at that time and he stated
That he would return home in a short
while. He said that he was going to
the home of one of his hands for the
purpose of getting some cabbage plants.
! Taylor was with him in the buggy
then. He must have been killed a very
short while after noon The body was
found by Mr. Lowell at 4 o'clock and
| 1t was then stiff in death.
Slain by an Enemy.
The officers spent all of yesterday
searching for something tangible upon
| which to work, despite the fact that
1
likely theory is that Mr.. Bourquin was
killed by some enemy who CHANGED
| TO come behind him on the road. Had
a man been actually laying in wait
4 for him the shots would probably have
| been fired from ambush on the side of
| the road. One theory is that Mr.. Bour-
| quin killed some hunters dog during
| the day and that the owner to get
even shot the old gentleman in the
| afternoon. The officers are hard at
| work on this theory, too, and expect
to be able to prove to-day whether it
is the correct one.
The Inquest.
An inquest was held last night at
| Fox & Weeks undertaking establish
! ment and two verdicts were returned
to the effect that Mr. Bourquin and his
man came to their death from gunshot
wounds inflicted by persons unknown
to the jury. Mr.. Lowell told the Jury
of the finding of the body, as has al
ready been related in the Morning
News. DIR. Elton S. Osborne who
held post-mortem examination, tes-
titled as to the nature of the wounds
and the causes of death.
The Old Negro Servant
The negro Taylor was about 70 years
old and was continually with Mr..
Bourquin. He was born in slavery and
was slways with his master Mr.
Bourquin seldom went out without
Fred as his bodyguard The murdered
man expected to meet just such a death
/ as he encountered, and so stated to a
/ friend only a week ago He had made