Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1904-10-27
ARREST SUSPECT
IN WO0DC0CK CASE
Man Giving Name of Thos. Kennedy
Arrested at Jacksonville, III.
THE MAN DENIES THE CRIME
Further Details of How Pretty Flea
nora WoodcOck Met an Awful
Death at the Hands of
n Ftend.

Waterloo, ILL.,, Oct. ga stranger
giving his name as Thomas Kennedy
was arrested at Harrisonville, Monroe
county, ILL.,, IA miles west Of Waterloo.
Friday afternoon, on suspicion OF beins
the assailant and murderer of Nora
Woodcock, the beautiful 1~S-year-ole
girl. whose burned and bruised body
was found at two o'clock Thursday
afternoon 200 yards from the home O.
her brother, nine miles west of Water
loo, Monroe county, Ill, rs miles souts
of East st. Louis.
The man denies that he committee
the crime, but will tell nothing of him
self. It is stated that the officers a
Harrisonville have evidence that HI
was near the scene of the murder
Thursday. The arrest was made b!
Constable John Snider, who says thu
man was acting suspiciously.
There are no bruises or scratches OF
the mans face, such as the officers ex'
pected to find on the person with whom
Nora Woodcock struggled so long n
desperately, mol is there any mark CT
a conflict on his clothing. He is being
held until Sheriff Thomas Ruch, who
has been notified, can take steps in the
matter.
BI%ood-Stained Iron Crank.
Friday afternoon searchers in the
vicinity Of the spot where the dead
girl was found discovered a blood.
stained iron crank to q grindstone, a
black bone button from a mans coat
and four matches. 1t is believed the
iron crank was the weapon with which
the girl was knocked unconscious be-
fore the effort was made to burn her
body. The button was evidently torn
from the murderer's coat during the
struggle with his victim. The matches
were probably used by him in lighting
the heap of hay and brush with which
he tried to burn the unconscious girl.
Three of the matches had been lighted;
one, with a long, square stick and
capped with a red preparation, had not
been struck.
The iron crank was identified as one
which had been attached to a grind
stone at the house, and it is believed
the murderer began his murderous at
tack at the house, and that the spots
of blood found zeal the house were
from wounds inflicted by him before
the frightened girl began her losing
race with him.
Story of the Crime.
Miss Eleanora Woodcock, Is years
old, daughter of Richard Woodcock, a
wealthy farmer of nine miles west OF
Waterloo, was assaulted, her skull
crushed andher body burned to a crisp
on the farm of her uncle, William
Tryor, three-quarters of a mile east OF
her parents place, Thursday morning
Richard Woodcock, Jr, oldest broth
er of the murdered girl, also lived al
the Tryor farm, where she kept house.
The fiend crept upon the girl while
she was at work in the house, dragged
her out into the open, where a terrific
struggle ensued, the girl fighting
against superior strength to save her
life and honor.
She was found about so yards from
the house by her brother, Richard.
upon his return from town, near q
straw stack.
An armful of straw had been pulled
from the stack by the murderer, placed
over the body of the partly conscious
Young woman, and ignited by a sui
phur match. The clothing worn by
Miss Woodcock caught fire, and was
completely destroyed. Her body was
burned from her neck to her feet, her
face escaping the flames.
While enveloped in the fire, accord
ing to the evidence, the girl, in her
dying agony, recovered sufficient
strength to crawl from beneath the
burning pile, a distance of IL feet
away, where she died.
The body of Miss Woodcock, found
four or five hours after her death, and
the charred fagots and bits of cloth
nearby tell the rest of the story.
Marks about the throat and under
the eyes indicate that the girl was
choked and beaten into i~nsensibility al
the place of the final struggle, and thai
her a%ssailant, either believing that she
was dead or in such a frenzy as tt
complete his crime, carried hay ant
sticks of wood, piled them about thu
body, ignited the pyre and fled.
The flames ate away nearly all of the
unconscious girls clothing, and evil
IDENTIFY aroused her, too late to save-her
: self, from her condition Of unconscious
ness.
She dragged herself, on her hands
and knees, from the midst of the fir
to a spot IL feet away. There he
weakness overcame her and she fel
and died.