New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1903-09-22
ON TRACK OF ASSASSIN.
TRAIL FROM WOODPILE.
Business Nan Said to Haze Had
Grudge AGAINST Derter.

mere q
the body of Orlando P. Dexter who
dered from ambush while driving near his Adj
rondack home on Saturday was the declara-
ton by John p. Badger. of Malone. y. Y, Mr..
Dexters lawyer and lifelong friend. that the
sheriff is hot on the trail Of the assassin. and
that the murder not committed by of
the timber poachers against whom Mr.. Dexter
had waged perpetual warfare. but that indica
lions pointed TO the crime being the result
OF hatred engendered by a grudge Of long stand
ing in the breast of a man to whom Mr. Dex-
ter had refused certain privileges Of advantage
to the formers business.
The belief Of Henry Dexter. the father Of the
murdered man. is strong that indications point
TO this theory the correct one. He said yes
terday. he confident the sheriff. who is
working along the line that a certain man was
known to cherish Hostility Of the kind already
described toward Mr. Dexter, would soon have
his hands on the murderer The father init
mated that If the assassin not in custody
the day Of his sons funeral Thursday he
would increase the reward for capture to $40
Ooo and he declared he would expend his en-
tire fortune in trying TO bring the ambushe- to
Justice
Mr.. Badger. who had arrived with the body.
left the city IN the afternoon to assist in
ming down the assassin. Before going however
r. a
Henry Dexter at No. - West Fifty sixth-st.
the home OF Miss Marietta Sanford
HIRED MAN HEARD SHOTS.
AT 1910 D. m. on Saturday" said Mr. Bad
get. MIR. Dexter left the house with horse and
buggy. to drive to Santa Clara. some four and
a half miles distant. in a northeasterly direction
from the cottage and where he had some sort
Of business to transact. Five minutes later one
Of Mr. Dexters men. Bert Russell. prepared
to leave the cottage in a heavy wagon, also
bound in the same direction. While Harvesting
the horse Russell heard two reports from a rifle
in such rapid succession to sound almost like
one.
Three minutes later Russell, attaching no
significance to the firing, started. He had not
gone fifty rods from the house before he no
tced that his horse showing unusual symp-
toms Of fear. repeatedly turning his head to the
left and snorting Russell whipped up the ami
NAL. and before he had travelled another twenty
rods he discovered his master lying dead on his
back in the road, his head pointed toward the
cottage According to measurements since
made, the body was exactly seventy-eight rods
from the cottage.
'Horrorstricken, Russell called one Of his
fellow hands from the stable and. after sum-
moning the coroner, the two remained with the
body until that official arrived. Dexter had
been preceded only few minutes before by a
man who was going to Santa Clara on business
but who had heard seen nothing of the shoot
ing of the murder. The coroner found that
the bullet had passed through the back Of the
buggy seat. about an inch in thickness. includ-
ing the upholstery. and had entered Dexter's
shoulder pursuing a straight course through
his breast, and lodged in his horsees back
When / left Malone the bullet had not been ex-
tracted."
In Mr.. Dexter's pocket was found S3i. His
watch was found few. feet distant. and his
cap fully thirty feet nearer the cottage than his
body. strewn about the road were a number
Of small pocket articles belonging to the dead
man, all apparently flung out by the violence Of
the fall.
These facts" said Mr.. Badger. seem to me
effectively to dispose of any theory that rob
berry the motive for the murder Blood was
found on tree leaves strewn on the road, sew
enty feet nearer to the cottage than the place
where the body was discovered.
TRACKS BEHIND wOODPILE.
IT believe that Dexter when he was shot at
was nearer even than that. because the small
bullet wound could not have caused the heavy
pool of blood in the buggy had not a longer
time elapsed between the time the bullet struck
him and his death further down the road.
think that the bullet because OF the small hole
made by it through the wood and cushion Of the
buggy seat was only a 80 calibre. I believe il
is now thought to have been Of .3s calbre
Anyway. It must have been a steel covered bull
let because. were il Of lead, IL would have
mushroomed on the solid wood OF the buggy.
Sheriff Steinberger reached Mr.. Dexter's
home, accompanied by myself. at o'clock the
same night, after a long thirty miles drive.
The inquest was held the same night. Bright
and early the next morning the sheriff began
his examination OF the scene of the tragedy and
his search for the assassin.
The first thing he noticed was, twenty rods
from the place where the body was discovered.
a nile of cedar fence posts 10 feet wide by some
feet high Behind this pile he discovered the
tracks OF A man. leading from the pile to the
road Owing. however. 10 the fact that the
ground at this time of year is covered with
fallen leaves the tracks were not distinct.
may say thzt throughout this examination ac-
compap!ed the sheriff as a witness
Although the tracks were somewhat indis-
tint we found We were able TO get exact
measurement OF the heel-marks. II q wide
heel No or No. 10 belonging to a coarse shoe