Year: 1873

On the 18th of September, IsGS, farmers
boy discovered on the banks OF White
River, about three miles north of the city
of indianapolis, the dead bodies Of Jacob
Young and Nancy Young, his wife, two
reputable citizens of that place. The post
mortem examination disclosed the .act
that Mrs. Young had been killed by pis-
tol shot, the ball entering the back part of
the head and coursing upward through the
brain until it lodged upon the inner sur
face of the frontal bone. The ball proved
to be a cartridge pistol ball. Mr. Young
had been killed by discharge from
double-barIelled shot gun, which was
found by his side, with one barrel eXplod-
ed he other barrel heavily charged with
ten buckshot, and standing cooked. The
position and course of the wounds upon
Young and his wife proved conclusively
that they had heen murdered. No pistol
was discovered. The day after the discov-
cry of the murder, il was ascerained that
the shot gun found by the dead bodies had
been purchased from pawnbroker in In
dianapois on the day of the murder. The
gun was identified by means Of n broken
thmble and eculiarity about the locks,
and the man who had purchased it was ac-
curately described by the pawnbroker and
a negro servant who was present when the
purchase was made. At the time of the
murder, gent eman and his two children,
who were fishing some distance below the
scene Of TIE murder, heard the report Of
firearms in the direction of the place where
,l,n ha
fore the report was heard, the children saw
the deceased and another woman walking
on the sand bar near where they were kill
ed. A farmer and his son, driving along
the road within few hundred yards of the
place, heard two reports, one loud like a
shot gun, and the other sharp like pistol
aud SO near together that it was difficult TO
distin eush them. man and his wife,
living a quarter of mile from the scene,
heard two reports and a scream between
them. The witnesses agreed that the time
was about A o'clock p. m. The horse and
buggy of the deceased were found htched
in the road near by.


On examining the neighboring ground,
the well defined tracks of a woman, wear
ing a new number three gaiter, making
long steps as If in flight, were traced from
point near the dead bodies, through the
woods to place where they intersected the
track of a buggy, going in the direction of
indianapolis, and drawn by an animal
wearing smal-sized interfering shoes.
The tracks OF the woman and the horse and
buggy were all accurately measured.
These were the clews, and the questions
arose: : Who bought the gun? Who was
the woman seen in company with the de-
ceased? Who drove the buggy in which
the murderers fed from the scene of the
tragedy?


The pawnbroke sold the gun at O'Clock
in the morning. Between the hours of
eight and nine, three applications for the
purchase Of a secondhand shot gun had
been made at as many auction stores and
pawnbrokers' shops, by a man having
sandy hair and complexion, and at the
third place he had inquired of bright lit
tle girl, who took him to the door, direct
cd him across the street, and saw him enter
The establishment where the gun was pur-
had slain Young. Five witnesses ident-
fled William j. Abrams, a reputable car
penter Of indianapolis, as the man who
purchased the gun. Mr.. Abrams was ar
rested, and attention was then directed to
the subject of the horse and buggy tracks.


The afternoon of the murder Sllas Hart
man had hired horse and marc from