Arizona republican. [volume] (Phoenix, Ariz.) 1890-1930, 1911-02-20
All Were Present in Case
Of H. ". Nicholson
DEAD AND BRUISED BODY
TIL e Instrument With
Which Crime Might Have
Been Committed. But a
Post Mortem Showed that
1t Was Not Murder.

Phoenix was thrown into state
of excitement Yesterday morning by
the announcement that a murder had
been committed. The dead body Of
young man was found lying on
coal pin in a ns rrow blind alley in
the rear of the Capitol chop house.
Ii was discovered about eight o'clock
by man who was passing through
the alley from which the blind alley
leads and thinking that the man was
drunk he Informed the police. Of
ficer Trodthian went after him with
patrOl wagon and found him dead
There was a wound on the lower part
OF tie right temple and blood oozing
from the mouth had trickled down
ove- She side OF the bin. The body
was not Yet rigid; the head swayed
when the body was moved and il
was thought that the neck was brok-
en-.
The dead man was soon identified
as Harry w. Nicholson a young man
who came to Phoenix a short time
ago though re had been here as long
as five months ago and was en-
plcyed for some time with a sur
Vcying OMIT and later was in the
employ of the Southern Pacific. There
were several who knew him slightly
bat they knew nothing of his ante
cedenis.
The body was removed to the
moIgue CT the Arizona Casket COM
pany win re it was stripped. The side
was found TO be bruised as though
the victim had been kicked violently
That there had teen a homicide there
seemed no doubt until DIR. Wylie held
a most exhaustive post norton in
the evening when it was determined
thar death had resulted from oedema
Of the lungs The wound on the
temple was probably the result of
fall: at any rate. an examination of
the brain showed that that wound
could not have been contributory TO
death. Even under the skin there
was no evidence OF a bruise.
There were other circumstances
which seemed to support the homi-
eide theory until the post norton
proved that there could have been
no homicide One of these circum-
stances was the presence of the body
on he coal bin which was five feet
above the ground. A drunken man
could not have climbed upon it and
sober mon would not likely have
done 80.
A murderer would have had no
motive for going to the trouble of
placing the body of a victim there
On p
that he might have fallen from an
overhanging roof. There is such
roof but il is protected by three
foot fire wall. Beside, il one had
faller flcm that distance. while the
fan would not likely have killed him.
il would have carried him beyond the
In, az the bin But the body lay
in an easy attitude. resting on the
left side. a foot thrown over the
other leg: such n position as one
would assume to rest
Another thing that helped out the.
murder theory was the discovery OF
a piece of gas pipe in the coal bin |
II appeared that there had been an
effort to conceal il in the coal me |
niece was recognized as one that had
lain at the edge of the alley for |
weeks.
In the course Of the night there |
had been two fights in the chophouse;
the first was between two well known
young men. and the last one. quite
late at night, between two strangers
whose names could not be learned all
dav yesterday A bystander said
that one of the men looked ike the
dead man. The fighters were sepa-
rated and both went out of a rear
door TO conclude the engagement but
nobody seems to have paid any at
tention to them after that
Nicholson had been seen ABOUT
town AT various times during the
night; as late as one o'clock he was
standing in front of Gass Bros res
taurant and appeared to be under the
influence of liquor
The motive of robbery was sug-
gested but there appeared TO have
been no rifling of the pockets of the
dead man and beside. one or them
contained fifty cents.
Nicholson was about thirty years
of age. a man of good appearance
and fairly well dressed He had
,rohablv been a clerk for he wrote
GOOD business like hand as was shown
on the back of a post card pnoto-
eraph of himself on which his ad-
dress appeared, Harry w. Nichoi-
SON, 26sI Francis street, Baltimore.