St. Joseph County Independent, Volume 19, Number 16, Walkerton, St. Joseph County, 4 November 1893 — Page 2

HARRISON IS SLAIN. Chicago’s Mayor Victim of a Murderer’s Bullets. SHOT DEAD AT HOME. THE ASSASSIN WAS A CRAZY OFFICE-SEEKER. Chief Executive of the World’s Fair City Called from Slumber to Death—Three Bullets Fired at Him in His Own Hallway—No Word of Warning- Is Spoken by the Murderer—The Station Besieged by Indignant Crowds—Chicagoan. Astounded by the News of the Killing. Carter Henry Harrison, Mayor of the city of Chicago. has been assassinated—shot down in the hallway of his own home by an irresponsible crank. This is a shocking announcement to go before the world in these closing days of tne Columbian Exposition. Just when the name of Chicago is on the tongues of all men in every clime, when every mention of the name brings pleasant memories to millions of people, it is a cruel fate that abociatcs the name of the city with the crime of assassination. It was the cherished am- i bition of Mr. Harrison to serve as the i World's Fair Mayor. He had almost j completed the six months covering the l period of the Fair; the papers of the morning of his death had announced the date of his marriage to a most estimable lady: he was at the proudest moment of a most extraordinary career when cut down by the cruel shot of an assassin. The story of the murder seems to indicate that it was committed by an insane or partially demented man. The •Kb, CARTER n. HARRISON. Bpe:;kin^ at tl.e World’s Fair on the day M liis as .a sanation. act was cold-blooded and deliberate. The man had come to the Harrison mansion bent on murder, and whether actuated by motives the birth of an unbalanced mina or not, he did his fiendish work well. Shortly after a 7 o'clock dinner Saturday night, the. Mayor, feeling fatigued from a day spent at the V. orld s Fair, laid down on an ottoman in the dining room of the mansion. There had attended him at the meal William Preston Harrison, Miss Harrison, his daughter, and Miss Annie Howard, his affianced wife. All ol these, save the Mayor himself, had repaired to rooms above. There were two servants in attendance. Mary Hansen and Maggie French, when at 8:10 o'clock the door bell rang, and the former of the two servants named went to the door. A man giving his name as Eugene Patrick Prendergast inquired for the Mayor and was admitted into the hallway. Mr. Harrison came forward at the call cf his name and met the caller near the front door of the residence. Without a moment's warning Prende •- gast drew a revolver and fired three shots in rapid succession. The first shot struck Mr. Harrison in the abdomen, near the stomach, and he threw up his hands and staggered backward. As he did so, another bullet hit him in the left breast near the shoulder and over the region of the heart. Not content with his deadly work the assasin again fired, piercing the left hand of his vic-

*^9 -y. ^oS^h Ac ,'A Wc^ MISS ANNIE HOWARD. Carter Harrison’s Betrothed

Um as he sank to the floor mortally wounded. . A/m.,™. ! Preston Harrison, son of the Maj 01, j when the first shot was fired was in his room on the second floor. lie ian down with all haste and rushed aitei the man as he left the hall. I iendeicast fired a shot at Mr. Harrison, but missed him. The assassin, having completed his work, turned back to the door, the butler of the Harrison household at his heels, fled across the lawn, out of the gateway, and out of sight. The police were quickly on the s P°h Preston Harrison was soon at the side of his prostrate father, the, latter pale and uttering hardly articulate croans.

r I “I'm shot,” moaned the Mayor. “Get I a doctor. Dr. Foster, who lives half a square removed from the Harrisons, hastened to the side of the wounded man. A hurried examination, during which the patient gritted bis , teeth and bore up heroically, and Dr. Foster announced the sufferer beyond surgical aid. “I’ve been shot, ” muttered Chicago's chief executive, and I am going to die. I know it. I cannot live. ” “You're not hurt, father,” returned the son, reassuringly. “You’ll be all right,” with a feigned smile. But the Mayor had caught the look of discouragement from the doctor, and added his own apprehensions thereto. “Yes, I am going to die,” firmly, and then, modulating his intonation somewhat. ho gasped: “Where's Annie?” This reference to her who was soon to become his wife brought the tears to his eyes, and, growing faint at heart as in body, ho fell back on the rudely improvised couch of rugs. “Where's Annie?” he repeated, ais voice now almost still. A convulsive throb, his voice failed him, he choked up with

Sg ■ A > i - SCENE AT THE HARRISON RES.DEME i I RiNG THE INQUIST fFNDAY MORNING.

the blood that was forcing up from the . awful gape in his abdomen, a last look about him. and the Mayor of the great Western city turned his head slightly to the right and gasped his last. betrothed Sobs by Her Dead. A few minutes later Miss Howard rushed in, distracted. Sho bogged to be allowed to see the man she loved. She threw herself on his bleeding body and sobbed as if her heart would break. Her piteous cries b. ought tears to the eyes of those near her. Preston Harrison alone stood dry-eyed. He seemed Tmodl-trfilL She nau almostUHTeTorn from the body. Mrs. Owsley, daughter of the Mayor, uttered heartrending cries over her father. Overcome with grief Miss Sophie Harri on fainted near her father's body. The three women were taken up-stairs and the doctors turned their attention to them. There was a sad scene between those thee women upstairs. Mrs. Harrison. Jr., also arrived, distracted at the fate of her husband's father. The four women wept together, con-oling each other by their tears. Miss Howard refused all consolation. The name of her dead lover was on her lips, and she cried that she might die and go with him. Despairing wail; and hysterical groans, prayers, pleadings for the restoration of her lover to li'e. imprecations on the assassin's head, all followed iu disjointed and di.-con-nected sentences. The physicians tried to calm her, but she would not listen to the words of solace and comfort, and eominued her strange actions until tl.e doctors concluded to destroy her ability to brood with a potent and powerful an.vsthetic. Tho drug had its effect, and soon Miss Howard fell off in a troubled slumber. Unconscious of his father's fate. Carter Harrison Jr. was on his way from the World’s Fair when Prendergast tired the fatal shots. The news had traveled fast, and before the son had started on his journey west* ne heard of the ter ribit fate that had befallen his father.

The Assassin Surrenders. Thirty minutes later Prendergast, excited.' out of breath, and panting from his long run, bounded up the steps of the Dcsplaii e < street station, nearly two miles distant, and, handing a revolver across the desk to Sergeant > Barber, exclaimed: “I shot Mayor ; Harrison—l want to give myself up.” The officers were startled by the ex- j clamation, but, being accustomed to I erratic visitors, were not inclined ' 1 to take the man’s words sen- I [ ously until .V\JJ| nf Thev ' ,a vied a revolver m his hand, they immediately placed the man under airest and took the weapon from him. The man said his name was 1 /trick Eugene Prendergast anl that he Imd shot the Mayor because he had be- ; frayed him. "1 wanted to be made j Corporation Counsel.” he said. All the time he acted with coolness and

showed no signs of excitement, no was only about twenty minutes at the Desplaines Street Station when < hie of Police Brennan arrived and oidued his removal to the Central Station as evidences were shown that his stay there was dangerous. oP l served his cm Iness cm the journey to the Ci t v Hall. He repeated the statement that he shot the Mayor because he would not appoint him Corporation

Counsel. He said he was 2u years orn and that he worked a mornm paper route for a livelihood. According to his , statement he bought the revolver in the afternoon, intending to shoot the Mayor unless he was erven some satisfaction to his repeated demands for an appointment. “I a ent to Mayor Harrison's house, he said, “and asked him what he was going to do for me. He woUid do nothino- f wished and what he had promised, and I drew my revolver and shot him. I have done some work in a political way in my ward for the last few campaigns and was for Harrison, and because of my influence Harrison promised me a position if he was elected in the last campaign. I was asked what

I wanted and I said that I had a scheme for the elevation of the railroad tracks. I wanted to be Corporation Counsel so that I could push this scheme. I was told that I might have the position. Since election I have asked for the office again and again, and have been put off repeatedly. The office was given to another. The Mayor had betrayed me, and I resolved to have revenge'. I have had it.” It was learned that Prendergast had for some time been pestering-the Mayor with letters asking for the position of corporation counsel. The letters are described as the production of a person of unbalanced mind. Crowd at the House. Friends had rushed to the house as soon as the news spread around the neighborhood, to offer what help they could. The police alarm had brought wagons dashing to the house from all directions. It was a riot alarm, for the horses sped like lightning along the streets, landing many officers at the hou-e. But the deed was done when the officers arrived. An angry crowdgathered about the house and them were threats of lynching if the as--

; tassin could be found. When tho news came that he had been arrested, one man declared that ho would lead the crowd to the Dosplaines Street Station and drag the murderer out. When it was known that the Mayor had been assassinated the whole city was aroused. The people came fr >m all directions, both in cabs and i n foot. They gathered on the sidewalk in front of the house, and er wded into the large fren’ ^vard. A few tried to enter the hom-o. The police, however, prevented this, and so; n a guard was sob .?.♦ ‘.Wm’ tr*- । । crowd lin^uixd, pressing against “ "froii* fcnccx^ Politic* Focko:ten io Sympathy. The news spread to a big Republican 1 campaign meeting being held at the 1 North Side Turn r Hall and the meeting terminated suddenly. The men ’ wore wilil enough to rush to the jail and hang the murderer to the n-'are-t lamp post. Another crowd gathered ■ around the Desidaines street station. I ■ but the police were all out and Piemen . were kept back. ' Prendergast was taken to the City ' I Hall and examined by Inspector Sh ai land three other officers. He uavej ; a clear s'atemont concerning his ‘ ! | deed. From his ov. n account iit was a cold-biooded action. delil»o- ' i rately planned and ca riel out. Here, ’ I again, an uh -r crowd waited to catch | ■ a glimpse of the mu de. er. After the . " i examination the murderer wa- kept at - ? the City Hall under a heavy gua’d. t > I . prevent any demonstration. The crowd 1 soon di-pci’s d, but it would have b xlcd ill for Prendergast if he had been taken j Lack to tlie Desplaines street Station, r Threats of Lynching:. 1 While the civilized world wondered ' at the infamy of the de d and the law- ■ abiding cit Lens paced the streets and ‘ asked each whether lynch law was not I justifiable under certain circumstances. 1 the cringing wretch cowered in a cell

I /M ' (I .csutA 1' ! hr lift AfSASSIN ATION OF MAYoR H AHlttSO p WWJ H \LLW \Y.

at the Central Station. Ho had made ; a bold front before C hies Brennan and | In pector Shea, but when thrust back into his cell he slunk into a corner like a beast at bay. It was nearly midnight then. A crowd had gathered in the street. It gathered with the primal object of hearing authentic news of the assassination and when the verification

of the rumor came to them there were hotheads who talked of lynching. CHICAGO IN SORROW. Sijhs of Mourning Everywhere Show the Grief of the Residents, Chicago passed Sunday in sorrow. For the first lime since the terrible fire of twenty-two years ago the metropolis of the West mourned for a blow struck at its very vitals. The city recovered slowly from the shock of the assassination. When the dawn first broke far across the gray waters of Lake Michigan the now day pushed Way the darknes < of a night stained by so b ack a crime, and was welcomed with relief by the the usands cf citizens whom the exei ement i f the murder had kept fr< m their a< custr med beds. But the cold and cloudy morn came as a harbinger of evil to the vast majority of the leddents. The hoarse shouts of the tireless newsboys as they penetrated nnuy street and avenue of the city, Jft d roar, brought the awful tidings first time to hundreds of thouwh > had gene to their homes

Saturday night before tho num rs of the assassination reached tho downtown hi tris and icsorts. Awakened by theie unwonted cries all Chicago knew long before church time of the irreparable disaster that had befallen it on the night before. The churches were ail crowded in the morning with the regular parishioners and strangers eager t> hear whatever eulogies or *^o ggt/ I ** < EVGENE pATKIi K rKENDEHGAST. other refe:ences that might be ma le i by the pastors t । the dea l Mayor. The Inquest. 1 ive bullet w< unds were found in tho lbdy of the murdered Mayor. A coroneriu4H4'y. composed of C. C. Kohl- | saat, Ulrie King. S. A. Scribner, W. .1. Chalmers. P. R. O'Brien, and Charles F. Ehaes, impaneled by Coroner McHale, rendered a verdict of murder without delay. The inquest was held at the Harris on mansion Sunday morning. The assassin was present unde • aheavy guard and a line of stalwart

I policc^/ w .funded thehous? guarding ei V gate and door. Theie were but fe ; hotnesses to examine, and the proca ngs occupied a short time. i Previ to the inquest a post mortem exami ion had been made, and the testin y of the surgeons was the only inforn ion differing from th at printed in Sin ' a papers.

CLOSE OF AN EPOCH. END OF THE WORLD'S COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION. Oration and Song Give Way to Prayer and Dirge at the Finale of a Joyous Season— Exercises Heid in Festival Hall—List Day Shrouded in Gloom. Now a Reminiscence. The end came at sunset on Oct. EO. The great Columbian Exposition faded as quietly and sadly as an autumn day, and when 1 he belching cannon had sent a score of shots to hqaven and pelted the domes and pinnacles with a million echoes the giant had died. Silverthroated chimes tolled the knell, murmuring fountains sang the requiem, white el tds hung ai the shroud. The nightstole on, the breakers slept, the lagoons grew as calm as painted ponds, the lights blinked i ut and it was over. It passed us gently us the withering of u sun m r r, so, to leave a mem ry as sweet as t e fragrance of rn incense pot. The mighty organ groaned and wept, the preacher prayed, the whizzing pulleys censed their jangle, the rattling wheels hung si'ent, the throttles w< re choked. The waning moon looked down at midnight upon a wildeinc. s of beauty awaiting the assassin sax. Columns, towers and turrets, portals, peristyle and pakces, Dianas, mermaids and lieroes, archers. Neptunes and pyramids, sculptors' groups and arti t? panels, treasures of genius and marvels of brain, all stood mute at the altar side, awaiting the torch to make them ashe;. It was a sight sadder than a funeral and as melancholy As a winter f- rest. The wind sent shafts to the marrow and ratth d grewsomely in the withered leaves and frosted boughs, and from end to end the fairy acres we. e as somb.u’as the valley of the shadow of death. 'i he End i'omoi in Woe. There wo - e no page int-. no long lines of g rpe ms ats. no noisy processions. Neither bombs n>r m irtars rent the sky. nor were sizzling rockets ioo ed. There were no merry ban jueters, no concerts, no jubilees. The trumpeters vho heralded iho Fair were silent, and the thousands who sang tho patrlo ic hyms a half year ago were hushed. The flaming fagots that flared under the ribs । f the gilded d unewere unlighted. There were no epics read, no striding mi ters uu oiled, n > majes- ' tie ba - s blown by the wind. Teere I were no eh: pe tux. no epaulets, no 1 ga’heiing of the nati m's great. No | orators rea'ed the height-; with eongr; tu'ate y eloqvence, no gt nfalon fell I at the signal of a potentate. All tho fetes I ee,-me funeral pyres: rejoicing I hymns were turned to songs of sadness, ar.d triumjihant sti-ains w -re drop] ed !to death marches. Tears ran wnero i smiles wore wont and sorrow tilled breasts where prhb was due. I’ity for i the end became grief for the calamity i and all the thousands mourned the ■ tragedy which ei d d the grandest . event of four wonderful contnrtes. : Fnfe 1 ~l 1,. .. . 1 .mil in its unkllldno ; had mhl ul aj ui luc eua I wns twofohl find the gioat Fair wen* I out under a double cloud. I The final function wa; in Festival 1 Hall. Preside- t Palmer held the c n- • ter of ine line of hon -r. arid on e;t tier i side were Pieddent 11 iginbot ham and I Pirei t r General Dav’s. Behind them sat d :-t in a u ished men. whose h m •, : r ake a circuit of the earth. ? fter an . inv cation In Mr. I la-row s and an address by Mr. Higinho ham. President Pa ' e- (■ ui iliy ox cutei! the edict of I I o 0 I'e .s. -Ai He in the . xtreme wen? the ।cb .-ing aet-. The war ship and revoI nue sioup loos d their guns and all ah 'it tl.e giounds rolled the roar of । the la l aet. Sailors were stationed at i eueh ilag mast, and when the first shot echoed lo the ■ h re the halyards were i drawn and He o i.biems of sixty natii ns wen- foiled. The streamers on j tin? : tails of honor in the main court came down so earth, the dream was over and the World's Columbian ExpoI si> ion became a memory. Overflow of News. P. H. Brown, a banker of Portland, | Me., is deal. Lady Henry somerset sailed for ■ England on the Teutonic. Col. R. D. Frayser, banker and | lawyer of .Memphis. Tenn., is dead.

Nathan Strauss, a New York merchant. committed suicide by shooting. W. S. Routh, of Fergus Falls. Minn., is under ariest on a charge of bigamy. IN ten years Bo ton has erected 17,920 new buildings at a cost of 7110,003.459. The failure of .1. Jaeolucci, the Italian banker of New York, was due to 1< s es at poker. CEO. Baker was found murdered at Browning. Mo. Five bullets had been fired into his body. j The twcuH ku auuivertsary of the order of the A. O. I’. AY-. - br«♦ y^'on W ELT,, a cattle man, shot and killed C. H. Creed in a quarrel over a deer hide near Be Beque, Col. FULLY a third of the corporations of Illinois have failed to make the affidavit required by the anti-trust law. , John Gannon's residence at Pittsburg was destrqyed by fire and two children, aged 4 and 9 years, perished. , In a freight wreck at Harrisburg, I Pa , four tramps were crushed to death, i They were riding in a box car. LONDON discount rates rose, owing to a scare over the Indian loan and the shipment of gold to America. Naval officers are inclined to think Admiral Stanton was warranted in saluting Admiral Mello at Rio. W. J. Keeley, a New York diamond brokt r. is under arrest, charged with stealing S9OO worth of diamonds. Fire at Willamette, Tenn., destroyed the breeding stables of J. B. Ewing, and twenty horses were burned. H G Gray was arrested in Philadelphia, and will be taken to Chicago to answer to a charge of bigamy. Owing to the prevalence of smalh i ox the schools of Muncie, Ind., will remain closed by order of the Council. Cart. H. H Sivekd was murdered at Winfield, Kas., while arresting a man charged with running a -joint. ’ Mr . J. N. Lawson, who was caught in the big prairie fire at North Enid, O, T., died in great agony at Kremlin. :

BIG LOSSES BY FIRE. WASTE FOR NINE MONTHS GREATER THAN IN 1892. Many Concerns Forced to the Wall and Several Others Preparing to Go Out of Business—Doss Is Already 826,000,000 More than Last Year. Insurance Companies Quit. Fire losses in the United States during the first nine months of 1893 were $26,840,000 greater than for the corresponding period of 1892, and not less than a cozen strong companies are preparing to go cut of business between now ujid the Ist of January. Low rates, heavy losses and onerous State legislation are driving capital into safer and more profitable fields of employment. The active companies have paid out over $9,0 0,( 00 from their aggregate surplus funds thus far this year and the January statements > will show an enormous shrinkage । in the securities held by the coml panies. It has b -en one of the ■ toughest years in insurance annals. 5 The fire w’asto in this country from ■ Jan. Ito Cot. 1 footed up $121,832,700, a monthly average < f $13,537,000. The ■ loss during the corresp nding nine months of 1892 was $94,992,350, a monthly average of $10,594,700. For the corresponding period of 1891 tbo lo swas $98,960,670. If t‘ie percentage keeps up during November ml Deceml erat the same rate a- during the preceding ten months the total waste from flame for the calc: dar year will approximate $162,k)0,(i00. Tne less by months with c mparisons with previ- ■ ous years is as follows: 1893. 1892. 1891. January $17,!5<,400 $12,564,9C0 $11,230,000 February.... 9,91 ’.900 11,914,0c0 9.226,500 March 16,(;62,35C 10,648,000 12.540,750 April 14,669,900 11,-.58,500 11,309.000 May 10.427,100 9,485,000 16.660,895 June 16.344,!150 9,2 5,5:0 8, '87.625 July 12,11-,7C(, 11.'30.0C0 9,692,5C0 Ausxust 13,222,710 1 ,145,310 9.055,100 September... 10.; 08,700 7.879 800 10,658,200 Total ....$121,832,700 $94,892,350 $93,960,670 Many Companies Fail. The total numb or cf sound insurance I companies doing business now. foreign and home, is about 225. They actually 1 aid 884,0 O,(X 0 in losses last year, again t $81,0^0,000 in 1891. The earo in addition an unknown and decreasing number of wildcat comnan es which insure anything that will pay premiums, ar.d that n ver pretend to pay losses. Since Jan. i, fli rty-five tired, weak, or wildcat companies have gone to the wall. Not less than $100,000,0(X) is in- ' j vested in the stock of fire nsurance ic< mpanies. This amount of m< ney is I pledged to indemnify owners of propj erty worth nearly $17,C00,000 against I loss, and last year the premiums paid i for in-urance footed up about $163,500,000. The stati'lics for 1893 have not 1 I been brought down to date, but the ag- | gregate of value of property insured ' j and of premiums paid runs above rather than under 1892. WINTER is IN SIGHT. Prof. Wic/crJnH Tnr»&.j.or* I Prof. ’Wiggins, the Canadian earthquabe and cyclone man, went into his annual fall spasm the ether aay and instructed the chief of the weather works to give a pull to the cold-wave lever, with the result that the first chilly snap • f the season was turned loose up< n the country. The wave was i hitched up at Calgary, in the Bow River valley, a grazing district near the so. thill; of the Rocky mountains. Snow came down from the mountains and at Calgary the fall was three I inche-. F: om that point the wave traiekd southeast through Manitoba, Montana, Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, and Northern Texas, where it wheeled about- to the northeast and made headway through Missouri and up through Illinois. Continuing it skirted the we-tern sho; es of the lakes and had fin with the ha’f-breol population north of Luke Superior and south of Hudson's bay.

Freezing in lowa and Nebraska. News that freezing weather prevailed in lowa and Nebraska drove the farmers heme from the World’s Fair, and many of them have since rolled their pumpkins into cellars. It was snowing in some parts of Minnesota, the Dakotas, and Montana, and while the cold was less severe eastward, it made its way north of the Ohio River to the Atlantic, where it was swallowed up in a rainstorm which has been drenching the coast from Halifax southward for nearly a week. Edmonton, the most northern point on the continent from which intelligence is received at the weather bureau, sent , word that the thermometor regisi tered 30 degrees above zero, just 10 degrees colder than in Chicago; Battleford registered 24 degrees, ■ Qu’Appelle 14 degrees, Winnipeg 22 degrees, and Minnedosa, a town in Manitoba, was shivering at 10 degrees. The points above mentiongi^j^o north -4i^he international nbufck was'the coldest town in Uncle Sam's country Tuesday morning. The mercury flew down to 18 degrees above. At Morehead it wa; 26; St. Paul, 28; Des Moines, 32; and Valentine, Neb., 20. The wave was felt at all points south to Arkansas and Tennessee. The little lakes in Wisconsin, Minnesota, the Dakotas and Manitoba all bear a thin covering of ice. Pelicans are leaving their breeding grounds at Shoal Lake, Man., and flocks of wild geese are making day and night hideous with their screeching as they travel southward for the winter. Telegraphic Clicks. TWO prisoners escaped from the county jail at Lima. Ohio. Two men were caught robbing the post office at Albuquerque, N. M. W. W. Fairbanks, a bridegroom of two days, disappeared at San Francisco. The Appleton Mills at Lowell, Mass., have resumed operations, employing 2,000 men. Hundreds of people are out of employment and suffering for food at Pottstown, Pa. Bishop H. C. Potter will take a trip along the Mediterranean. Mrs. Potter will accompany him. Gen. Schofield, in his annual report, recommends a reduction cf the term of enlistment to three years. George M. Storrs, son of Emory Storrs, who has been in a New Ycrx asylum, has regained his sanity.