The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1903-04-28
CLOAK OF MYSTERY
COVERS ASSAULT ON PARTRIDGE
HARM LAST WEEK.
WOMAN WAS WITH HIM
AND BOTH TELL STORY THE PO-
LICE DON'T BELIEVE.

Bryan County Man Badly Stabbed
While with Mrs. George Meyer,
nee Mrs. n. II. Thornton, Last
Thursday Night-Afray Was Kept
From the Ears of POIfce-Mrs.
Thornton and Man Named
Evans Arc Under Arrest-WOman
Says Negro Used Knife and Evans
Denies All Knowledge of Crime.
Mrs. Thornton Claims Cutting
Was Done in the Street, but That
There Was no Cutlery.
Believing that he is going to die. but
claiming not to know who assaulted
him, Hartridge Harm, member of
well-known Bryan county family, is at
No. 574 Bay STREET west, with a knife
wound in his right breast that may
terminate fatally.
Although he was stabbed last Thurs
day night the ARRAY was not known to
the police until yesterday morning.
Shortly after it was learned that Harm
had been seriously wounded Mrs.
George Meyer, known now as Mrs. n.
H. Thornton, living at the Bay street
address, was placed under arrest by
Detectives Stark and Bostick She
was with Harm when he was cut and
the statement that she makes does not
satisfy the police. s.
h. b. Evans, who Is known to the
.pokce, WAS ARRESTED about the same
s1crak Nftt
ARRAY and declared that on the night
in question ne did not see Harm!
When searched at the police station
house a knife was found ON Evans and
one of the blades had stains that the
officers think was made by blood.
Evans is not charged on the police
blotter with having cut Harm, for the
reason that the police have no evidence
Of the fact, beyond their suspicious.
WOmnn's Queer story.
Mrs. Thornton says that the assault
was committed on Lumber and Rail-
road streets and that the man who
used the knife was a negro. Her
statement of how 1t occurred is borne
out by the wounded man, but it is
discarded by the police. To the of
ticers the story told by the woman
seems queer.
She relates that between 8 and 10
o'clock Thursday night she was walk
ing with Harm and that they were at
Lumber and Railroad streets when the
Bryan county man was attacked. Mrs.
Thornton says that his assaflant first
struck him in the head with a billet
of wood and knocked him down. Harm
carries the mark of the blow. She re-
lates that the unknown man then
| jumped on him and began using the
l>knife. 1t was Harms custom to carry
| a loaded revolver e. in his side coat
pocket and Mrs. Thornton was aware
| of this fact.
She Grabbed Revolver.
When Harm was knocked to the
ground Mrs. Thornton says she
grabbed his revolver and tried to hand
| il to him. The man with the knife.
| however was the stronger, and she
claims that she could not get the weap-
on into the hands of her companion.
| She declares that she was too badly
| frightened herself to shoot the pistol.
| The woman relates that there were
| no screams, and that not a word was
said during the struggle in which Harm
was so badly cut. This is one of the
| peculiar parts of the story to the po-
! lice. Mrs. Thornton says that she as
sisted Harm in getting to her house
] about half a mile away, after which
] Dr. ]. G. Crowther was sent for. No
report of the cutting was made at po-
! lice headquarters, and the police heard
the story for the first time yesterday
| through Patrolman Jernigan, whose
| wife is related to Harm.
| ShrOuded in Mystery.
Harm told practically the same
story and the affray appears to be
| shrouded in mystery. Both plain
clothes men and uniformed men are
working to unravel the tangled skein
of evidence in the hope of getting hold
i of something tangible. The officers
feel certain that either Harm or Mrs.
| Thornton can clear up the mystery
i If they wish to. Just why the truth
should be withheld, however, has not
| been stated
Evans, who admits that he has a
family in Mississippi. denies stren-
! uously that he has been visiting Mrs.
Thornton since December. He had a
falling out with her at that time he
| claims, and laughs at the suggestion
| that Harm had won her affections and
1 made him jealous. Evans admits that
he told Mrs. Thornton that he would
! get a divorce and marry her after
she had secured divorce from
| Meyers, but claims that he was only
joking with her.
Explains Blood stains.
i Evans explains away the blood
stains on his knife by saying that he
was duck hunter in January and
that he frequently ran his knife blade
through the heads of wounded ducks
He doubted If the stains were fresh
] although he said il was possible that
he had cut raw beef with the knife at
his boarding house on West Broad
I street.
Mrs. Thornton's sons were examined
by the officers without the securing OF
any additional information. The po-
/ lice were examining witnesses al po-
/ lice headquarters until a late hour last
| night, and We're still working on the
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