Rensselaer Republican, Volume 26, Number 10, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 November 1893 — ASSASSINATION FOUL. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

ASSASSINATION FOUL.

•11 EDER OF MAYOR HARRISON OF CHICAGO. Shot Dov.-n in His Own House Without Warning. The A»!uts4lii Surrender* to the Police World'* Fair City In Mourning— A lloart-lCendlng Crime. Carter 11. Harrison, Mayor of Chicago, was assassinated at liis own home in that city. Saturday evening. Three of the four shots fired by the assassin tookeffcctrirthe body of the Mayor. One bullet entered the abdomen, another pierced his body to the right of the right nipple, plowing its way through the axillary region, and a third lodged in the palm of the left hand. After the assassin had completed his work he turned back to the door, the butler of the Harrison household at his heels, .. lied -across the law n-and out of the gatcway leading io Ashland boulevard, north on that thoroughfare to Adams stret, and east on Adams street out of sight. Forty-five minutes later Patrick Eugene Prendegrasc, excited, out of breath, and

panting from his Jong run, bounded up the steps of Desplaines Street station, and, handing a revolver across the desk to Serieant Barber, admitted the crime and was locked up for it. Shortly after dinner, Saturday night, the Mayor, feeling fatigued, laid down on an ottoman in the dining room of the mansion. There had attended him at the meal William Preston Harrison, Miss Harrison, bis daughter, and Miss Annie Howard, his affianced wife.

All of these, Save the. Mayor himself, had repaired to rooms above. There were two servants in attendance, Mary Hansen and Maggie French, when, as near as any one can approximate the time, at 7:15 Fclock the door bell rang and the former sf the two servants named went to the loor. Standing between the glass and norm doors, his hat pulled down pretty well over Iris eyes, was a stranger. “I want to "see Mayor Harrison.” he mid, in response to the servant’s inquiry.. “Mr. Harrison is sleeping,” answered the girl, "and cannot be disturbed.” “But,” insisted the caller," I must see nim. I have important business with the Mayor and cannot be put off.” The girl insisted that she could not »rouse the Mayor, but advanced the opinion that lie would of his own volition iwaken in half an hour or so. The caller had barely gone before tiro Mayor did awake and began to walk about the room and around the dining table, with his hands folded behind him, as was his habit when in : a meditative mood. In answering the bell the second time Mary found the same stranger, and again inside the storm-door inclosure. She bade him enter, and, as she, admitted him across the threshold and turned to call the Mayor, she states that the latter had already walked into the hall and was approaching the door. The stranger doffed ais hat and with extended hand was walking toward the Mayor. The latter had accepted the proffered greeting as the girl closed the door of tho servants’ room in tho far end of the hail after her. Five minutes must have elapsed after the stranger had been admitted, Mary states, when she heard three shots in rapid succession. An instant latter a fourth shot was fired. This shot was discharged on the lawn, and was aimed at Mayor Harrison’s butler, who, after the first shot was fired, divined the truth, and grabbing

his own revolver made for the hall just as the assassin had leaped out of the house and was making for the street. Seeing that ho was being pursued, the murderer turned about on the butler and fired one shot. The bullet flew wide of its mark, as it was dark under the shadow of the trees and shrubbery, but the butler returned the fire, which proved equally ineffective. Preston Harrison, son of the Mayor, was soon at the side of his wounded father, who said “I’m shot, get a doctor.” Dr. Foster, who Ilves a half square distant, was hastily summoned and made an examination, during which the patient boro up heroically butsaid ho was doomed to die and called for his aflianced wife, Miss Annie Howard, but that lady had already become irresponsible frqm grief and excitement and the Mayor shortly .expired without seeing the one fur whom

he was most solicitous in his last moments. *' The assassin is a news carrier, aged about twenty-five. He claims that the Mayor had promised him a position as corporation counsel as a reward for his influence in his ward, as he had always been for Harrison, and that the position had beer, given to another. He shot the Mayor in revenge for what, he considered unfair treatment. Close questioning by the police would, seem to indicate that Prendergast is mentally unsound, but not sufficiently unbalanced" to escape the law’s avenging hand. Corporation Counsel Kraus said in an interview, Sunday; ‘T have had some experience with this man Prendergast. I regard him as crazy, but not too crazy to hang for what he has done. Shortly after I was appointed corporation counsel this Prendergast began writing me threatening letters in red ink. He warned me that 1 had better get out of mv office, as he wanted the place foi himself. At first I paid no attention to the man. as he seemed about half crazy, and I did not. give his letters a second thought. One day. recently, Prendergast came to my office and took a seat just outside my private office. 1 heard he was out there, and thought I might as well go out and send him away. He then told roc that I must resign as corporation counsel so he could get the place. To humor him I told him that a good lawyer could not afford to give up a lucrative practice for the position, but ho insisted that he wanted the place Then I told him all .righty he could have it. and asked him if he wanted me to resign right off. ‘Oh, no.’ he replied, ‘you seem to4>e a-protty good fellow, so don't be in any hurry about resigning.’ Carter Henry Harrison was born near Lexington. Ky., on Feb. 15,1835, and may be said to have inherited his taste for political life. His great-great-grandfather was tho ancestor of President William Henry Harrison, his grandfather a cousin of Thomas Jefferson, and he himself a cousin of John C. Breckinridge. His political career has been confined to one term in Congress and he was serving his fifth term as Mayor of Chicago at the time of his death.

Mr. Harrison spent the summers of 1874 and 1875 in Europe with his family. Ho was elected Mayor of Chicago in 1879,1881, 1883, and 1885. Against his own desire he was nominated for Governor of Illinois in 1884, and during the fall of that year conducted a most energetic and brilliant canvass which resulted in cutting down the Republican majority of 37,033, enjoyed by Governor Cullom to 13,500. Mr. Harrison was married on April 12, 1855, to Miss Sophy Preston, who came from a distinguished Southern family. Ills wife dying in Europe in 1876, he married in 1882 Miss Marguerite E. Stearns, daughter of one of Chicago’s oldest and most respected and wealthiest citizens. The second Mrs. Harrison died in 1886.

CARTER H. HARRISON.

PRENDERGAST—THE ASSASSIN.