Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-02-09

given Buddy" the watch to pawn for
him.
The strange negro was promptly To-
Gated and arrested. He proved to be
William Perry OF Georgia. Perry was
not very communicative at first. but
finally admitted that he was in the neigh
borhood of 32d street on the night Of the
murder. He said that third man had
been in his company. These admissions.
while important, were not conclusive.
There were still links to be fitted In the
chain.
At this period of the investigation a
new character came on the scene In the
person of John Leary, an employe of the
city water works. He had been reading
great deal about the murder. and he felt
fmpelled to step forward and give his own
experience on the night of the murder. He
had quit work at midnight and was cross
ing the Girard avenue bridge when he met
two colored men. They stopped and one
of them asked him for match. One of
these men answered the description of
Ivory. Perry he did not recognize.
While the authorities were browsing
over the evidence they had on hand they
received word that a number of suspicious
looking negroes who had been picked up
on the railroad near Trenton were now in
the Mercer county workhouse. Donaghy
New Jersey capital and look at the men,
They took young Hartman and Eeary
with them for purposes of Identification
The colored men were lined up In the
workhouse just as they had been In the
city hall in Philadelphia. One of the
negroes was a tall. stumbling fellow. He
was stoop-shouldered and knock-kneed,
and otherwise lacking in symmetrical
beauty. Both Hartman and Leary inn
mediately picked him out as one OF the
I'D 40
tragedy He had given the Trenton au-
thorities the name of William Fields. but
afterward admitted that his right name
was Amos Stirling.
Stirling was taken from the line and
brought into a private room. Here he
was stripped, and it was found that his
underclothes were covered with human
blood. When his attention was called 10
this damaging fact he said unconcernediy
"Oh that's nothing; my nose was bleed
ing"
Stirling was not in the state where the
crime was committed. Hence legal Tor
malities were necessary before he could
be taken to Philadelphia. Donaghy made
an attempt to break the record In the
matter of acquisitions. He took speciaa
train to Harrisburg, went to the executive
mansion and reused Gov. Stone from a
sound sleep in order to get his signature
on the papers. From Harrisburg he has
tened back to Trenton, only to f1nd that
some owe rwilling lawyer had filed an OBJ
lection to the removal of the prisoner
Although trivial, it took several hours to
overcome. But in spite of all the OBJ
stacles, Donaghy complied with all the
formalities and had his prisoner In the
Philadelphia city hall in just thirty-two
hours.
Three prisoners were now in custody.
Could they be proven guilty? Two were
silent. Stirling loudly protested his tnno-
cence He said that If he were free he
could prove an alibi.
I'm free rejoined Donaghy. land II
you'll give me the nam of your wit
nesses. I'll work 1t out for you. III It's
any good I'll be the first to admit it,
The negro finally said that certain
lady of color. named Dolly Gray. who
lived in Harrisburg. could prove that he
was at the state capitol on the night of
the murder. Donaghy patiently Travelled
UP the state in search of Miss Gray. BY
a certain humorous and yet grotesque CO.
incidence, the hand organs at that time
were grinding out Dolly Gray" by the
ream, and as Donaghy came to the little
street where the Dolly Gray of another
color lived, two street pianos, on either
end of the thoroughfare struck up Good
bye, Dolly Gray. I'm going to leave you
with vehemence that thr aten d to turn
an unusually affecting tragedy into a
roaring farce. Dolly. however. who
weighed 300 pounds, calmly washed her
hands of Stirling and declined to assist In
proving his alibi.
On the very day of Ivory's arrest Dona-
ghy had taken him to the scene of the
murder. The street where the body was
found was little-traveled thoroughfare
and the footprints where the men had
escaped by leaping the little iron fenc.
were still visible in the soft earth The
right shoe was removed from Ivory's foot
and the heel and toe fitted to a nic.ty
into the footprints in the railroad yard.