The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-04-13
MURDERS BEAUMONT
SERIES OF CRIMES SAID TO BE
 WITHOUT PARALLEL.
At Least . Dozen Strangers Lured to a Den and Murdered in Two Months-Bodies Thrown
 Into River.
New Orleans correspondent of The New

 New Orleans correspondent of The New
 York Sun.
 All the indications are that the mys- tery of the bodies found floating in the Neches River near Beaumont. the Texas oil town, has been solved. and that the story, when all of 1t is brought out, will be one of the most grewsome tales or murder ever heard, not even excepting the Burke murders in Edinburgh, or the human slaughter house of the Renders in Kansas. The six murdered men whose bodies were found in the river at Beau mont in the last six mouths were only half the victims of the gang and prob ably 400 other men were robbed py the gang and escaped murder only because they did not wake up at the wrong mo- ment.
 Such wholesale robbery and murder has never before been known. The po- lice have nine persons under arrest as implicated in these crimes. six white men, one negro man and two negro wo- men. Other arrests arc expected.
 For the exposure of the crime the po- lice deserve little credit. The story men involved could no longer stand the strain of the guilt and become frightened for her own life. Previous to her con- fession there was n. not ,ns even ar,ras suspicion
 
 When the first body was found Tn the Neches River. January 2, the beiief was entertained that it was a case Of suicide How many bodies foated down the river to the Cuff before this discovery no one can know. A second and then third body were found and 1t was evident that murders of an unusual character were being committed. Each body had the merely in underclothing.
 Having decided that the bodies must have been dumped into the Neches at a certain point, the police watched that point night after night in the hopes Of catching the criminals. In spite Of thls watch more corpses appeared in the river.
 able considering the condition of affairs in Beaumont, and yet of disturbing character, was that the murdered men were all unknown fin Beaumont. Clad as they were in their underclothing, there were no papers or other means to
 identify them, and no one Of the nun
 dreds who looked at the bodies could remember having seen the victims: f1n-
 ally no one reported any missing friends or relatives
 There has been a steady rush of stran- gers to Beaumont ever since the oil dis coveries there. It was among these strangers that the murderers had oper- ated. They apparently operated with great judgment and discretion, taking visitors of the middle class and not dis turbing the well-to- -do, over whose dis appearance there would have been some | excitement. or the tramps who could yield nothing In the way of plunder.
 There was some reason to follow the | French detective's advice, cherchez la | femme, but the detectives could scarce | ly be expected to find that the murders | were committed a milo away from the | river in which the bodies were dumped | in the very heart of the city. only a hall | square from the Court House, railroad | eta nd nrinoinal hotels
 | It was the confession of mulatto wo- | man. Matte Bennett, that exposed the | gang of murderers. The woman confess | es to have been the stool pigeon in the | murders, but denies all part in the actual | crimes, which she seems to have regard | cd as altogether unnecessary. It IS prop | able that one motive leading to the con- fession was the fear that the gang would | kill her to prevent her from exposing them.
 | The investigation of the police left nc | reason to doubt the woman's story. only | one other of the nine persons arrested | has shown any disposition to talk, and l he, a negro, does not seem to have been | one of the active criminals. but merely | a tool of the gang Mary Jane the other negro woman, will not speak
 | Hattie Bennett cannot tell all the story or even estimate the number of murders | and robberies committed in her house, | but she thinks that about twelve men were killed there and between 300 and | 400 robbed. And this is how it was done. Mattie Bennett mulattress, and Mary Jane, young negress, occupied house on Sabine Street, almost in the centre Of Beaumont. The place was of i'll repute | but there was no special reason why the | police should interfere with it. Among | the frequenters of 1t were Jack Welsh,
 man known around town as Puncn l Prim," Joe Herd and others.
 These men began bringing strangers ] to the Benett house. They waited around | the station for new corners, ingratiated
 themselves with the strangers. stood a
 drink or two. and finally. proposed going
 to the Bennett house, where they could | get more liquor. Only forty feet from | Matte Bennett's was the saloon of Jack | Quinn, from which drinks were ordered
 well filled with knockout drops. The stranger soon fell asleep and was | robbed of his money and most of his | clothing and then left on the street to wander around. The Punch Prlm gang | counted on escaping prosecution for these l robberies through the fact that the vic | tims would be unable to remember what
 had happened or would be ashamed tu prosecute.
 | The game was simple robbery at first, but 1t soon became a greater crime. One | of the victims was not very much af- | fected by the knockout drops. He was
 and showed fight. Ee was knocked OH | the head with a pair of brass knuckles | and carried off by the gang. Matte 1 Bennett did not know whether he was I
 This incident of murder occurred again | and again. Matte insisted in her con-
 tession that murder was not intended ir
 any of the cases, and that the gang ire quently expressed disappointment if not
 regret when they had killed one of thei! l victims; but it was not easy in strug'
 sling with desperate man to hit hin
 On the head with a club just hard enough
 to silence him and yet not so hard as
 to kill. The blow frequently exceeded
 the necessities of the case, the victim
 fell with a cracked skull, and the mur. l derers carried him off.
 Mattie's confession does not go beyond 1 the robbery and murder of the strangers l She had a natural suspicion that the
 bodies found in the Neches River were | those of men killed In her house. but | how they got there she did not know.
 On that point there is still some vague
 ness. but a negro cab driver arrested in
 Houston sheds some light on the point.
 He says he picked up party of white l men with a drunken companion in front | of the Bennett house and drove them to
 the nelghborhood of the point where the | bodies were thrown in the Neches. There | is, of course, every indication that the
 friend was one of the murdered men.
 It is natural to suppose that the bodies
 were carried in a cab or cart to where
 they were thrown into the river, but
 1t is scarcely conceivable that the mur- dLrerS should have taken the risk of hail.