The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1907-06-24
Unknown Man Killed and Body
Placed on u. p. Tracks.
Had Been Shot Twice and
Throat I'll Orribly Slashed.
AT THREE BRIDGES.
Dead Man Found Near Scene OF
Last Weeks Crime.
Officers Have No Clue to
Identity of the Victim.

A second murder within a week S
time came to light early this morning
which is surrounded with a shroud OF
mystery. And the evident scene of the
crime was within a hundred yards of
the lonely spot on the Kaw river bank
where was found the murdered body of
William Morkinson. the fruit peddler,
and whose murder is placed by the
authorities at the door of William Van
Horn. a hackman.
The dead body of a man, with the
upper mart of the head and face mu-
tilated almost beyond semblance of
human form. was found this morning
between the double tracks of the Union
Pacific railroad just the other side of
the three bridges and within a hun
red yards of where the GrantV1lle
road crosses the Union Pacific right OF
way. The place where this body was
found is Just about one hundred yards
due west of where MorkinSOn's body
lay when it was discovered on Wednes-
day noon last by some section men on
the Union Pacific.
At first glance it was thought that
the man, whose body was found this
morning. had been struck and killed
by a passing train There is no doubt
but that his head was struck and
crushed by a passing train, but 1t took
only a cursory examination of the
body ana the place where it was found,
murdered and then placed where a
train would hit him.
In the center of his chin was an evil
dent bullet wound. and a 81 cahber
bullet was afterwards found in the
skull There was another bullet
wound in the left armpit. Then there
was an ugly wound, or long deep gash,
in the throat extending from the left or
the center of the chin down through
the laryny and to the oesophagus. The
knife that made this wound had sew
cred the jugular vein and all OF the
large arteries in the neck and throat
And the conclusive evidence that the
man was first murdered and placed on
the track was found in the fact that
there was little if any blood around
where the body was found. When the
side rail of the westbound track, there
was a little splotch of blood, which
had evidently trickled from the wound
in the SnrOat. Where his body lay,
some twenty feet further on from
where it had been placed on the
track and where 1t had been thrown
by the train, there was no blood on
the ground Had the man been alive
when the train hit him, the immediate
vicinity would have been red with
blood. but there was every evidence to
show that his circulation of blood had
long since ceased when his head was
placed on the track.
Negro Finds the Body.
WlllldIn II 6enQTlckSOns negro
employed in the barber shop at the
corner of Ninth and Kansas avenue,
made the CHASTITY find on the tracks
this morning Hendrickson lives out
near the Calhoun Bluffs and 1t is his
custom to walk into town each morn
ing on the Union Pacific right of way.
He had passed the point where the
Granville road crosses the railroad
tracks and it was then about six
o'clock in the morning A hundred
yards farther on he came upon the
body. He took one look at it and then
turned and ran to the farm house or
Ed Gof, a fruit raiser, which is near
by. Mr.. Gon communicated with the
police and county authorities.
DR.. H. H. Keith. the coroner, ]. NJ.
WilkersOn. the sheriff and Josiah Ross,
police sergeant. hurried to the place
in DR.. Keith's automobile. A hurried
examination of the body on their part
convinced them that the man had
been murdered and then placed on the
railroad track and the police officers
and the sheriff and his forces got to
work on the case Immediately. while |
Dr. Keith had the body removed to |
Shellabarger's undertaking rooms