The Sun. — 1868-04-01 (London, England)

STRANGE MURDER.  Joseph G. Clark was murdered in Wore3ster, Massachusetts, on the 28th February. He was a professional gambler, and was about to start for New Hampshire to bet on the election. Although married, and with a son, it appears that he maintained an improper intimacy with Mrs. Eaton, whom he left after drinking tea at her house that evening. She followed him to his rooms about seven o'clock, where she heard sounds which led her to believe he was at home, although the door was locked. Angry and jealous on failing to gain admittance, she determined to watch. Shortly after nine o'clock two men came from the room, and hurried downstairs. She at once entered, and, in the sleepingroom, saw Clark lying on the bed, which was wrapped in flames. On her alarm the fire was extinguished, and Coroner Rice and the police summoned. In the sitting-room two spots of coagulated blood and brains were disc)vered, showing that Clark had been struck down, strangled, carried to the bed, of which the clothes were saturated with kerosine oil, and set on fire. A large sum of money was stolen, together with his watch, diamond pin, and other jewellery, but $1,400 in Government Bonds lay untouched in the drawer of his faro table. Two men of bad reputation, companions of Clark, were suspected and arrested, Silas and Charles T. James, the former at the Boston and Albany depot that night, when he exclaimed that Joe Clark was the best friend he ever had ; and the latter in Providence, with $9OO and Clark's pin and watch upon his person, who confessed he proposed the plan to his accomplice. While Clark's attention was attracted by the one for whose maintenance he was at the time paying at the hotel, the other struck him with the axe. Clark was known for great generosity of disposition, notwithstanding his gambling propensities. An instance is told of a young man who had lost his last dollar in Clark's rooms receiving back from him the full amount, under a solemn promise never again to enter a gambling den.  I rank Leslie gives the following extraordinary story :—The following is well authenticated, and Mr. Barnum cannot better redeem his burnt-out fortunes than by the capture and exhibition of this feminine Orson : " In the Grand Cane neighbourhood in this country, a short time ago, a gentleman in the depths of the forest suddenly came upon a woman as wild and almost as fleet as an untamed deer. After a brisk chase of some distance, the gentleman on horseback overtook the wonderful creature, when she halted, and he found her to be a medium-sized, middleaged, well-formed woman, with long, dark hair, and clear blue eyes. She was in a state of nudity save a girdle of grey moss about her loins. Her body and limbs were covered with a beautiful coat of hair about four inches in length. She was much frightened, and seemed unable to talk, but must have comprehended signs, as in reply to motions of the gentleman by which he sought to induce her to accompany him out of the wood, she constantly pointed to her own forest home. Finally, the gentleman endeavoured to compel her to go the way he desired, by getting before her, and by threatening gestures with his gun, and she becoming enraged, seized a club, and turned upon him with the fury of a demon, and it was only the speed imparted to his steed by a liberal use of the spurs that ha kept out of her way. After driving off her pursuer, she resumed the direction she had so constantly pointed, and was soon out of sight. The gentleman followed, and after Ong some distance, came upon her home. Three trees, standing near each other, in a triangular form, with the spaces between them walled up with brush and moss, made her moss bed between them secure from the rude blasts of winter, and comparatively secure from the pitiless rain. The only stores that were discovered were a few nuts and some four or five bushels of acorns. 'Very wild stories of this wild woman have been rife in the upper part of the county for some time, but she was believed to be a myth by all except those who claimed to have had glimpses of her. Now, however, her existence, description, and the vicinity at least, of her whereabouts, are established beyond controversy. Her early capture may be regarded as within the range of probability, as a concentrated effort is being made to that end."