Democratic Sentinel, Volume 12, Number 4, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 February 1888 — MURDER MOST FOUL. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

MURDER MOST FOUL.

A Chicago Millionaire Shot Dead in His Own House by Burglars. He Is Awakened by the Noise Hade by Forcing a Door and Confronts the Intruders. The Latter Fire Two Bullets Into His Body, Either One of Which Would Hare Proved Fatal. ! Chicago special.] Amos J. Snell, the millionaire real estate owner and acknowledged wealthiest landed proprietoron the West bide, was shot dead in the hallway of bis brown-stone residence at the oornerof Ada street ar.l Washington boulevard, Wednesday morn ng, at about 2 o’clock. Two bullets entered his body, one in the brain and the other in the heart. Either wound wouid have produced instant death. He was fouud

where he fell, five hours later, at the head of the front hall stairway, stretched at full Jeugth near the top step, lying in a pool of blood. His pistol, within a lew teet of his head, showed that one shot had been recently fired. <lhe wounds in the head and heart were produced with a 3-i-caliber revolver, and the shots were evidently fired at short range and while the dead man was facing south, thus exposing the left side to the murderer or murderes whio were ransacking his parlors. BURGLARS BECOME MURDERERS. The crime is one of the moot desperate and sensational which have been recorded for years in Chicago criminal annals. It was the direct •outgrowth of an atteiflpt— a successful one—to loot the residence of a wealth? c.tizen, who, in his foolhardy bravery, ran unconsciously into the very arms and revolvers of his desperate visitors. Contrary to the usual sensational and mysterious murder, there is but one theory connected with the crime, and that is that in robbing the house the thieves were surprised by Mr. Snell, and to escape committed murder. Who they are—lor it is generally believed that at least two were concerned in the crime—is not known, and thus far thero is not evon the slightest clew to their identity. The perpetrators of the crime are the only living witnesses of the tragedy, and thus necessarily the work of the police will be slow and in all probability futile, despite the fact that two man are now locked up in the Lake street police station suspected of knowing something of the murder. There were but five persons, besides the thieves, in the mansion when the crime was ■committed—Mr. i-nell, Miss llose Berkstaller, tho < ook, and Ida Bjorns tad t, a Swedish wait-ing-maid. Two grandchildren, Chesttr and Mildred Coffin, were as'.enp on on upper floor. • *: hkaiu) the shots fired. Miss Berkstaller was the only one who was nprisei of the bloody doings below-stairs, she Teing suddenly awakened at about two o’clock by the heavy report of a revolver and hearing loud cries of "Get out 1” “Leave hero 1” Another shot was fired and a moment later four other-* followed in rapid succession. She ran to one of the front windows, and, looking out, sought to call for helm The window-panels were frozen and she was unable to raise it. Keturning to her room, she aroused her companion, Miss Bjornstodt, and informed her in a frightened manner of what she had heard. Again she went to her doorway, calling out loudly, “Mr. tinell. Mr. Snell,” and, receiving no answer, 1 closed her door and went to bed. In answer to the remark that her conduct seemed very cool she said that she thought “Mr. Snell had fired his revolver during his sleep." Quiet being

restored, the two girls aver that they, after a short conversation about the exciting events of the previous moments, soon fell asleep, and •were not awakened until morning, when the shouts of the coachman apprised them of the murder, STUMBLING OVER THE DEAD BODY. It was about <> :50 o’clock when Henry Winklehook, the family coachman, came from his home to the barn, about titty feet in the rear of the house, and started across the yard toward the kitchen door, it being his custom to start the fires in the morning. As he pushed open the storm-door his eves tell upon the jagged hole in the door leading into the kitchen, and he immediately surmised that a burglary had been committed. The door was locked, but, passing his hand through the aperture, he drew back the bolts and entered the house. The first thing toat met his astonished gaze was the family silverware piled up in a promiscuous heap on the dining-room taole. Without pausing an instant lie hurriedly ascended the stairs to call Mr. Snell and notify him of the burglary. As he reached the landing at the head of the stairway and was about to proceed to the sle« ping-rooms above, his foot struck some obstacle lying on the floor in the hall, and in the dim light he beheld a signt which almost paralyzed him with horror, t ying on his back in a pool of blood,with his white face upturned, .lay the dead body of his master. He was clad only in his night-shirt and trousers, and by his side lay a huge revolver. From two bullet holes, one in the head and the other through the left breast, blood was slowly oozing. Hor:ritied at what he saw, Winkel’book stepped over the prostrate form and rushed up the second flight of stairs, shouting at the same time to awaken the servants who were sleeping on the fourth floor. Hurriedly dressing themselves, the two girls descended to the parlor floor, and after a quick glance attue form of their employer they took possession of the lower part of the house while the coachman ran to the Lake street police station and informed the police of the murder and burglary. DETECTIVES SWARMING ABOUT THE PLACE. Beveral officers were quickly dispatched to the.scene of the tragedy, among them being Lieut. Hei ;aw, chief of detecthas. The body was placed on a stretcher and removed to the

bedroom es the dead man, the police assuming control at everything until the arrival of the Coroner who was immediately summoned. Meanwhile the Central Station detectives were sent for, and on their arrival a careful survey of the premises was made. Upon investigation it was found that the burglars—there were two of them, as the footprints in the snow would indicate—had attempted to force an entrance into the house of George B. Brooks, who lives at 431 Washington boulevard, three doors west of the Snell mansion. The supposition is that they had made a mistake in the house they intended to burglarize, and retracing tneir steps the tell-tale snow clearly showed that they climbed the intervening fences and entered the yard of Mr. fcnell from the rear, climbing the fence elcse by the barm The stO'm door was unfastened, and with a halfinch bit several boles were bored in the thin Eine panel close to the safety latch. With a eavy instrument the weakened spot was broken in. and it was bnt an easy matter for one cf tbem to insert his hand in the opening and pull back the bolt and the latch. Once inside the murderers made their way to Mr. Snell’s office, a small room in the front of the building, facing Washington boulevard, and commenced their work on the safe supposed 1 3 contain Mr. Smell's valuables. CLEVER MEN IN THEIR BCBINEBS. It was here that their work clearly denoted that they were experts in their line of business, Two holes were drilled in the door of the safe iust below the combination Before drilling the second hole clear through, the burglars discovered that the safe was not locked, it being the custom of Mr. Snell to leave the door unfastened, as whatever valuable papers he might have on hand were kept in an inner compartment—a small, soft-metal affair a trifle larger than a cigar-box. The rivets were cleverly removed and the face of the compartment taken off. In this box were 82,000 worth of Cook County warrants and two < hecks, one for 82,507.04, drawn in favor of Mr. Snell by A. J. Stone, his son-in-law. Mr. Stone is the manager of Mr. Snell’s property, and it is his custom to collect all the rents, which he banks in his own name, giving his father-in-law his own personal checks for the amounts. These were taken by the thieves, who next went into the dining-room, and after searching the closets they socured all the silverware, which they p led up in a heap cm the diningroom table so that it_ could easily be carried away in case they were disturbed in their operations. MR. SNELL AWAKENED BY THE NOISE. . A visit was then made to the parlors on the second floor to search for more valuables. The doors of the parlor were fastened, as Mrs. Snell had left lor Milwaukee a sow days before, and for years it has been her custom to lock the parlors whenever she intended to leave the city. A jimmy was applied to the front parlor doors, whicn gave way with a loud crash under the heavy pressure brought to bear on them. It is bolievei that this noise aroused Mr. Snell, who is a very light sleeper and who has for ' ears been on the lookout for midnight marauders. At all events he slipped into his trousers, and, seizing his revolver, started down the stairs m his stocking feet to investigate the cause of the noise. THE Hi ROLARS AT BAY. It is thought that he surprised one of the men in the open doorway, who quickly jumped inside, slamming the door shut behind him. Mr. Snell then fired a shot through the door at the

retreating tdief, which was immediately answered by two shots from the inside, one of the bullets burying itself in the plaster in the hall, while the other plowed a short furrow in the woodwork of the door Mr. isnell, who wag a large, powerful man, about 64 years of ago, and perfectly fearless, evidently started through the hall to the rear parlor door t« intercept the flight of the burglars. This piece of daring cost him his life. Tne rear door was opened from the inside by the men seeking to make their escape. SHOOTING THE OLD MAN DOWN. Two shots were fired in rapid succession, both of which took effect in the bo ly of the aged man, who doubtless fell dead. One bullet entered the left side of his head and buried itself in his brain The other entered tlio left breast and passed through the upper part of the heart. The murderers then were cbmpelled to stop over the body of their victim, and doubtless made their way down stairs and out through the kitchen door, as there is no evidence to show that they made their exit by any other door. The bcdy of the murdered man lay in the hall until it was discovered by the coachman about five hours later. HEARD SHOOTING, RUT DID NOT INVESTIGATE. Rosa Berkstailer, the cook, who was awakened by the noise of the shooting, but who had failed to investigate the causo or make an outcry, was interviewed by a Daily News reporter. She is a German girl about 2d years of age, and speaks fairly good English, but with a strong foreign accent.

“I don't know exactly what time it was when I woke up, and heard the shooting," she said, “but I think it was a little after 1 o'clock. I jumped out of bed and ran to the door of my room, and thought I heard Mr. Snell down stairs saying 'Get out!’ 'Get out I’ Then there were three or four more shots fired. I wag terribly frightened and ran to the secon-d-girl's room and woke her up, telling her that 1 thought there was trouble down stairs. While she was getting out of bed I ran back to my own room and endeavored-to open the window, to make an outcry. The sash was frozen fast and I could not move it. I listened a moment, and then, hearing considerable noise in the street, I scraped the frost from the glass and looking out saw several carriages moving up

and down on the street I heard some one calling out something in a loud voice and once distinctly heard the words ‘Humber 25.’ Then I went back to Ida’s room and n gain said that something was wrong down-stairs and I would go and see if Mr. Hnell was i a his room. I went to the head of the stairs and listened,

but heard nothin* more. I called Mr. Snell's name several times, and would have gone only I knew that Mr. Snell often walked in his sleep, sometimes even carrying his revolver with him. He was always afraid of burglars and would talk of them in bis Bleep. Ida said that I had better not go downstairs, as I might meet Mr Snell in the hall and he might take me for a burglar and shoot me by mistake. I was still very much frightened and so was Ida, bnt after listening at the stairway a few minutes longer, and hearing no more noise, I went back to bed.” THE MURDERED MAN. Amos J. Snell was a native of Little Falls, N. Y.. and was 65 years old He had lived in Chiand vicinity since 1814, and had accumulated a fortune of at least 83,0 Jo,ooo. He was the owner of net less than 400 substantial residences audl business houses on the West Side, many of them of handsome design and exceptionally expensive. As the city grew he Improved his property, and now it is asserted that almost every foot of it is improved and bringing in handsome revenues. Nearly all of his property consists of marble stone fronts, of which he is thought to have owned at least 350. Man vof them are located on Ada, Randolph. Elizabeth. Sheldon, Fulton, and Madison streets, Washington boulevard, Milwaukee avenue, and Ogden avenue. His own residence, corner of Washington boulevard and Ada street, where he was murdered, is one of the handsomest on the drive. He has been known to say that he did not know how

much he was worth, but supposed that it was more than 83,00J,0.X). Be was a close business man, and, although in his later years ho became worth millions, he looked after his cents as carefully as when he was worth but a few hundreds. It mattered not how small the debt one owed to him, if only Si, he made it a practice to collect it when due, and demand it emphitlcilly if it were not promptly forthcoming. Besides the real estate he owned in the city, he possessed large tracts in Jeffersou, Bark Ridge, Schaumberg, and in the State of lowa. PUBLIC SENTIMENT AROUSED. The murder of Mr. Snell seems to be the logical climax of the series of bold, and in many cases desperate, burglaries which have been committed in Chicago. The crime has aroused the people from their supinehess. In every quarter of the city the dreadful tragedy was the chief, and for that matter tho only, topic of cbnversation. In the clubs, at the restaurants. and at the fireside the details of the assassination, as far as known, were canvassed to the minutest degree. The whole system of municipal police and demand for greater home protection were discussed in every direction. But in no locality was the dreadful theme more vigorously handled than in the immeiiate vicinity of Mr. Snell’s residence. Public sentiment was so aroused that the people talked of little else than vigilance committees and frequent holdings of court by Judge Lynch as a panacea for the lawless era that had come upon them. A number of suspicious characters have been arrested by the police, but it ie not believed the guil*y parties have vet been -eeured. More arrests are to follow. The detectiies are absolutely without a clew.

AMOS J. SNELL.

CRACKING THE SAFE.

MR. SNELL FIRES THE FIRST SHOT.

THE THIEVES RETURN THE FIRE.

THE FATAL SHOT.