Omaha daily bee., 1921-07-10
Bloodstained Poker the
Fatal Clue-Scratched
Hands and Woman's
Wagging Tongue.

Wagglng Tongue.
BY NAZARIENE DAAN KANNI'
BELLE.
II was on the night of March II
1866. The Rock Island expires.
pulled out Of track six and was soon
laundering and roaring through the
state Of Illinois at terrific speed
plowing its way through the snow
that had been falling steadily during
the last "a hours.
Joliet was the first stop, which il
reached towards daybreak, where
another United States Express COM
pany car was hitched up to the train.
The mali car, No. $50, was in charge
of single employe of the company,
who continued the sorting of the
packages, oblivious to the fact that
within a short time violent death
was awaiting him. In those days
considerable of the mail packages
that are handled now by the United
States mail were carried by the sew
eral express companies. So natur-
ally the clerk in charge of the ex-
press company did most of his sort
ing on board, the same as the Unit
ed States railroad mail ks..do to-
day. The man in charge had made
that trip perhaps a thousand times,
and naturally to him all its novelty
had worn off.
At Morris, ILL.,, the great express
train once more stopped to take on
still another United States Express
company's mail car. As the COM
pany's men pushed hand trucks to-
wards the mail car, and the con-
ductor in charge and several other
railway officials stood on the plat
form, one of the guards ran excited
ly swinging his arms, shouting,
"They have murdered Kellogg in
the baggage car"
Suddenly the railway station be-
came full of excitement. The en-
gineer and his fireman sprang on
the snow-covered platform. The
station master rushed towards the
little group of railway officials who
were standing by the train, and then
a number of excited passengers left
their cars and rushed to the mail
car where the tragedy had taken
place
"Let me see if | can do anything /
am DOCTOR" shouted one of the
passengers as he elbowed his way to
the scene of the tragedy. He
boarded the car and found the man
in charge lying on the floor. His
skull had been battered by some
heavy weapon. There was bullet
wound on his shoulder, showing that
although he had been shot he had
given battle to his assailants until
they crushed his skull.
1t was not necessary to have a
doctor to pronounce him dead, as it
was too obvious that he had been
done away with beyond any hope Of
recovery. The doctor felt his body
and said: ut is still warm. He could
not have been killed more than half
an hour ago."
Within Halt an Hour.
Schwartz, the guard who had an
nounced the discovery of Kellogg's
death so frantically, made his way
to the group of railroad officials and
the doctor, who was performing an
unofficial autopsy of. Kelloggs body,
and informed them: "We stopped in
Joliet only half an hour a>o. He
was then alive and the murder must
have taken place since we left that
place"
"Let us see if there was a robbery,
if anything is missing" suggested the
station master.
Il did not stop to look" replied
Schwartz. "As l came in l found
everything upside down. l only no.
ticed that the safe had been broken.
Then rushed out"
1t was true that the motive was
robbery. The contents of the safe
had been taken. The thieves were
in hurry and had scattered pack
ages on the floor, every one rihed.
The station master, in the mean
time, had already telephoned the ex-
press company's office at Chicago
and learned that in the safe were
$4,000 in $50 and 500 bills. The
money was missing.
Further investigation showed that
Kellogg had put up great battle
against his assailants. Even after he
was shot in the shoulder he had kept
up the unequal combat until his skull
was crushed. There were pools of
blood on the floor of the car. Pack
ages were scattered everywhere.
The more they examined the dead
mans body, the more they were con-
vinced that a gruesome battle had
ragged between the defender of the
mail car and the murderer, and on
closer examination pieces of flesh
were found under the long finger
nails.
Kellogg was in charge of that
particular car, but Newton Watt was
in charge of the express company's
group of cars attached to the train.
II passed through the train," ex-
planned Schwartz further to the sta
ton master, and discovered the
murder. was looking for Newton
Watt, and as I passed through the
rail car | found Kellogg lying dead
on the floor with everything scat
tered round. We were then half
way between Joliet and Morris. 1t
first came to me to stop the train,
but then / decided that l had better
give the alarm when we reached
Morris"
Newton Watts account of the
tragedy was more dramatic.
II was in the next car to kelloggs,
and was about to arrange the pack
ages, when suddenly l was startled
by the breaking of glass. When /
looked up ! saw the ventilator had
been smashed. Before I had time