Mrs. Buckthorn was sixty years old and the widow of one of the oldest settlers in the city.
She lived in her small cottage at 2367 Sixth Street and supported herself by means of the restaurant. John Johnson, a street car motorman occupied a room in her cottage. Mrs. Buckthorn was found dead in her bed, in a pool of blood, with two bullet holes in her head this morning. Mrs. Grady, the restaurant cook said, "I became alarmed when Mrs. Buckthorn did not appear as usual at the restaurant this morning and went to her home to find her."
Inquiry showed that Mrs. Buckthorn had drawn $250 from the First National Bank yesterday and her daughter, Mrs. J. D. Jackson, 1548 Sixth Street, says that her mother often kept such sums of money at home under the mattress of her bed. Mrs. Jackson also says that she often warned her mother against such habits. The money was not under the mattress this morning.
Further inquiry showed that John Johnson did not appear for work as usual this morning and was later found by Policeman Patrick O'Hara in the railroad yards. He had with him $223.67 and a ticket to New York. He was known to be hard up but refused to account for the money and was given a berth in the county jail.
Samuel Benson, cashier of the First National, is sure that the two 100-dollar bills which were found on Johnson are the same bills that he gave to Mrs. Buckthorn yesterday afternoon. Johnson will be given a hearing to-morrow but it is already considered certain that he is the guilty party, the evidence being so strong.
(This story may be rewritten for local use and for a dispatch.)
Sparks, resulting from the grounding of an electric wire, ignited a bucket of gasolene and fired the shop of the G. W. Smith Motor Co., at 228, 232 West street last night, five automobiles valued at $5,800 being destroyed and the building being damaged to the extent of 6,200 dollars by fire.
The insulation on the wires of an extension light that Edward Flasch, one of the repair men was using became cracked, the wire grounding as a result. The sparks fell into a bucket of gasolene standing nearby and in a few minutes the entire building was ablaze. G. W. Smith, proprietor of the garage, said that he was sitting in his office at the time of the explosion and tried to put the fire out with sand but could not get the blaze under any control. He then started to run out as many machines as possible.