River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1908-12-31

| ly travelled up the state in search of
Miss Gray. By a certain humorous and
yet grotesQue coincidence, 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 a vehemence that threat
ened to turn an unusually affecting
tragedy into a roaring farce. Dolly,
however, who weighed 800 pounds,
calmly washed her hands of Stirling
and declined to assist in proving his
alibi
Donaghy 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 fence were still visible in
the soft earth. The right shoe was re-
moved from Ivory's foot and the heel
and toe fitted to a nicely into the foot
prints in the railroad yard. The marks
were there as clearly as though they
had been stenciled.
In the meantime evidence was pill
ing up in other directions. Mrs. Mary
Boyle, who was employed as a wait
ress in restaurant near Thirty-second
and Market streets, testified that she
had served all three of the men on
the day of the crime. This was import
ant as establishing the fact that they
were together But this was not all.
A gardener, named Lutz, said that
earlier in the evening all three of the
negroes had surrounded him at point
five or six blocks from where the
White crime was committed. They
did not use violence toward him, sim
ply, as he put it, "acted suspiciously."
He managed to elude them, however,
and thought no more of the incident
until he read of the arrest of the ne
of Prof White.
Within three weeks after the muir
der Ivory broke down and confessed
everything. He said that Perry, Stirl-
ing and himself had met at the Buff
falO Bill show that afternoon and, COM
pairing notes, had resolved to get
money at any cost. They crossed the
Girard avenue bridge and went along
the river drive until they came to
Thirty second street. They had intend
ed assaulting Lutz, the gard er, but
when he ran away they were too in
dolent to follow him. They little
dreamed that the man had nearly a
thousand dollars in his possession, or
he might have been the victim instead
of the unfortunate professor. Finally
Stirling picked up the iron bar near
the Powelton Avenue station. They
resolved that he should assault the
first prosperous-looking man they
met. Several persons were permitted
to pass unmolested. At last Prof.
White was seen coming along the
dark street. Stirling turned to the
others:
There's guy looks as if he had
money"
They agreed with him, and the
three black-hearted scoundrels fol-
lowed the unsuspecting teacher. At a
favorable opportunity Stirling let the
iron bar come down with a crash on
the skull of Roy Wilson White. The
man sank to the sidewalk with a
groan. The big brute continued using
the iron bar until the face of the vic
tim was unacceptable. Then they
went through his clothes and got a
few dollars in money, ring, and a
gold watch. The assassins went to a
nearby lot and divided the things. The
watch was Perry's share of the loot
Perry corroborated the confession
of every detail. Stirling denied it until
the last but weakened within the
shadow of the scaffold. All three were
tried, convicted and hanged.
Their arrest and conviction was
big accomplishment. Most people gave
the credit to James I. Donaghy. He
smiles, shakes his head and says 1t
was simply good team work" on the
part of the police.