The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-02-11
INDICATIONS ARE
 MAN WAS ROBBED
Face and Neck Bore Forty-five
 Clashes.
Coroners Jury Held Long Investiga' tion and Adjourned UntiI Tues day--Fave Negres Held
 sy Montgomery
 Police.

John Austin Finley. a clerk in the store of H. M. Austin and Company, was fouiiy done to dessh between some hour late Saturday evening and o'clock yesterday morning.
 With his throat cut. and his head covered with gashes. he was found iy- ing on the ground at the side of It, ! tie road 200 feet west of the extension of Cleveland Avenue, quarter mills beyond ths intersection of Cleveland Avenue and Mill Street. by negroes living in the vicinity. When found yesterday morning his body was stiii in the rigor that follows death. his head. which was lying in his hat, was one mass of cuts and gashes. and his face and upper part of his body were so covered with blood as to make him unrecognixable.
 Beside the body. on the blood-soaked earth lay two receipted bills, pass to the passenger station. made out in the dead mans names letter from sis fer with several addresses scribbled over 1t, two pencils and fountain pen, A pin. showing him to be member of the Dramatic Order Knights of Khoras- sans. was found on his vest. The right hand pocket dS his trousers in whica he is supposed U have carried watch was turned inside out, and about the pockets were the marks of blood as though hand had fumbled inethe dark for the pocket and any yvaiuables 1t might have contained. Several cigar ette papers of rice paper quality, and q tobacco sack almost wnoIiy empty were found on the ground nearby
 These few arricIes wvrS the onlA fhings upon wnlcn the police, so tai sas Is known. have sapoa hltlcn to worA IS evidence. me mute lips, the stiI- tened bOdy. the horribly disrSpred head, furnished all the evidence Upon which the police nad to bHse their et- forts. There was no other clue near where the body was found. The corpse ttseIr, staring through unseeing, blood diinmed eyes, in the morning light, bore startling evidence of the terrinIe work of the nights darkness. It stood alone.
 Wrapped fin Mystery.
 How John Finley met his death is < problem which bids fair to surpass in the difticulty Of solution anything with which the Montgomery police depart msnt has ever hau to cope. Who struck the blows which were raIned upJn the unprotected head Of Finley Is a matter shrouded in mystery. Whether there were two of his assailants. or wheth- CT the deadly work was that of one man remains still to be discovered. {F,ls. rrrs.a n the spot where his body was found or carried there after his death Is also a matter which is puzzIing the police. If this part of the comp.ex problem Is solved, perhaps the greater part of the work may have been accomplished.
 That the death of John Finley was not that of a suicide, there is no dou'ot in the minds of the police or of hls friends. pr. M. B. kirkpatrick, d physician. who made an examlnation oi the body at the establishment of Coro- ner W. Il. Tiee. yesterday made d sworn statement to the Coroner's jury that the wounds, CouId not possibly have been inflicted by his own hand.
 The coroner's examination showed that there were forty-fve wound about the head. All but a few of these were on the right side of the face and neck. One great, jagged gash. extended across the throat. The instrument with which 1t had been made had severed the Jugular vein. the windpipe and the pneumogastri nerve. This wound alone, of all those on the head of the dead man, was sufficient to cause death. After this wound, however. according to the statement of Dr. Fitzpatrick. the victim could not have lived more than i've minutes
 Face hacked To Pieces.
 Ruf although this was ina onIv in jury sufficient to have caused death, the face and neck of the corpse were liter ally hacked to pieces. The cheek was slashed into shreds. the left eye was nearly goused out. and on the forehead and the 'op of the mans skull. were made evidently with the sharp point of knife, which frustrated from full effect by the hardness of the skull had torn away the skin until there was not A square half inch that had not been in so ne way mutilated. It was as though, after killing his victim, the murderer had, In demoniac fury. vented his rage upon the helpless clay.
 The details of the struggle in the dark may never be known, but from the apearance of the body when found the blows must have rained upon the dead man like hail One peculiar fea
 
 assailant struck half hundred blows at his victim. there was no mark of the knife upon Finley's hands Upon the hack of the right hand there appeared one lone scratch. which might have been made by a finger nail as well as by knife or other weapoR. Either the man was in condition which rem dered him helpless and unable to de- fend himself, argue the police or his arms were held so that he was unable to ward off the blows whica brought chou. his death. From this, 1t Is thought, there may have been more than one implicated in the awful crime
 .If the movements of John Finley the last night of his life, only fragmentary evidence had been secured by the police last night. At 6:3O o'clock. he left his employer, H. M. Austin. at Court s1uare. At that time he was perfect Iy sober At 7:30 o'clock, he entered the drug store of w: E. Kelley on Dex- ter Avenue and paid bill. At this lime he is known to have had at least