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Was he Poisoned?
The Blow Did not
Kill John Sheedy
Horrible Disclosures
The Murdered Man's Brain In A
Healthy Condition
Monday McFarland Confesses to the Killing of Sheedy, and
Tells A Terrible and Thrilling Story of How the Deed Was Planned and
Accomplished-He Implicates Mrs. Sheedy and Her Alleged Paramour, A.H. Walstrom,
and Their Arrest Follows-Great Excitement in Lincoln
The Mystery
Unraveling
Through the untiring energy, ability and persistence of
Detective James Malone and Marshal Melick, the mystery surrounding the death of
John Sheedy, a week ago bids fair to be unraveled. The skein is indeed a
complicated one, but now that the end has been found it is only a matter of a
short time until it is all unwound.
The first arrest was made late
Saturday night by the officers. The man was William alias Monday McFarland, a
negro barber in this city.
The detective's suspicions were first aroused on
Monday last, the day after the murder, when McFarland was on an extended spree.
He apparently had plenty of money, and while he was drunk persisted in talking
in a maudlin sort of way about the Sheedy murder. That same day he went into
Levy's pawnshop, on North Tenth street, and in an excited and flurried manner
shoved out a bran new revolver, and asked to be given a dollar on it. This was
done, and the gun is now in the possession of the police. Other information was
obtained by overhearing a conversation between two colored girls. It was also
learned that five days before the murder the cane(?) had been purchased of
Pawnbroker Goldwater by McFarland.
These, taken together with several
other circumstances, among them the finding of Sheedy's shaving cup in
McFarland's effects, he having secured it from the barber shop of Dick Sweeny,
presumably to shave the dead man on Tuesday last, convinced them that they had
the right man. He was put in the sweat box and put through a course of
questioning by Mayor Graham, Marshal Melick, Detective Malone, Officer Kinney
and others. He at first stoutly denied any knowledge of the crime, but was
unable to give a truthful account of his whereabouts at the time of the assault.
Gradually as link after link of the chain was slowly forged about him,
he lost his head, and breaking down confessed the whole details of the tragedy.
The confession was made in the presence of the officials named and was taken
down by a stenographer. If what the negro says to be true, the plot is indeed a
diabolical one, and the murder will take its place in the sensation annals of
American crimes. Briefly stated it is as follows:
McFarland has for years
shaved Mr. Sheedy, and has also repeatedly gone to the house to dress Mrs.
Sheedy's hair. An intimacy sprang up between the barber, who although black as
the ace of spades, is not a bad looking man. He says that Mrs. Sheedy made
advances to him, and submitted to his caresses. She told him that her life with
Sheedy was unbearable because of his jealously, and his constant espionage.
She
appeared to have so fascinated the negro that he adored her, but his adoration
was not unmixed with fear. He even says that she sustained criminal relations
with him, so as to get him completely in her power.
Along about the 22d
of November he was at the house on one of his hair dressing expeditions, when
she made a proposition to him to kill her husband, offering him $15,000, $500 to
be paid after the deed was committed, and the balance when she got the estate.
He refused to do it, whereupon, he says, she drew a revolver and threatened to
kill him, compelling him to get down on his knees before her, and promising to
do the job. She made him promise that he would kill John before Christmas, and
on the evening of December 19th, he nerved himself with whisky, and taking a
revolver hid inside the front gate of the Sheedy grounds. He was mistaken in the
direction from which Sheedy, who had gone out with his wife, was coming, and
consequently was badly excited when his victim appeared from the opposite
direction.
To avoid arrest he shot into the air and skipped, eluding the bullets
Sheedy sent after him.
Afterwards he says she sent for him, and told him
he must make another attempt. He bought the cane at Goldwater's and hid it under
the steps leading to the P Street barber shop, where he worked.
Shortly before
dark of Sunday evening he took the cane, and going to the house met Mrs. Sheedy,
on the back porch. She gave him money to get whisky, and gave him instructions
as to how he should act.
He went to a drug store at Twenty-third and O
Streets, got the whisky and drank it. He returned and hid himself in the
kitchen.
He weakened again, and it was not until she drew a revolver and
threatened to kill him, telling him he knew too much and had gone too far to
back out. She gave him a big slug of whisky and told him that Sheedy was going
out in a few minutes and to station himself on the porch.
He had
scarcely gotten in position when Sheedy opened the door and stepped out. His
face was turned toward the murderous villain, who without a moment's warning
struck at his victim. He held the cane in both hands, and struck so hard that he
fell himself. It was probably lucky for him that he did, as Sheedy had as quick
as a flash drawn his revolver and shot, the bullets flying over his head.
McFarland also stumbled as he attempted to jump off the porch. He ran down the
alley to Thirteenth street and then went to his father in law's house, a block
away, where his wife and children were. After taking them home he came up town
and spent the night drinking and gambling at a place on O Street between Ninth
and Tenth. He afterwards got another leather cane to throw the police off the
scent.
He says that Mrs. Sheedy told him if he didn't kill him, but only
succeeded in getting him in bed she would do the rest. This fact led the
officers to believe that she had secretly administered poison, and the remains
of Mr. Sheedy were therefore exhumed last night and taken to Roberts undertaking
rooms.
It was only after a hard night's work that the whole details were
wormed out of McFarland, and therefore it was not until 8 o'clock yesterday
afternoon that Mrs. Sheedy's arrest was ordered. Marshal Melick called on her at
her residence early in the day. She was cool and self possessed, denying in
toto(sic) the negro's statements. She was under surveillance from then on until
the arrest.
She was allowed to remain in the house until evening when she was
taken to Marshal Melick's residence at Twenty-fifth and P Streets. Her supposed
paramour, A. Harry Walstrom, was arrested in the Heater block at Fifteenth and O
Streets by W.B. Baird. When searched $226 and several diamond ornaments were
found. He was confined in the jail for some time, but was afterwards allowed to
occupy a room in the Capital hotel, strongly guarded.
The detectives say
that nine months ago Mrs. Sheedy went to Buffalo N.Y., and became a patient at
Dr. Pierce's medical dispensary. While there she met Walstrom, who is an expert
machinist, and who was also under going treatment. It was a case of love at
first sight, apparently. Mrs. Sheedy returned and several months since Walstrom
came to Lincoln. He was introduced to Mr. Sheedy as a gentleman she had met in
Buffalo, and was accorded a hearty reception and generous hospitality by the
husband.
It is also said on one occasion Sheedy happened home unexpectedly and
found the two in a loving position, and Walstrom was ordered out. It is also
said that a diamond ring Mrs. Sheedy had been given by her husband was lost, and
subsequently it appeared on Walstrom's finger. This led to a very lively
quarrel, and Mrs. Sheedy took refuge in a neighbor's house, but the matter was
smothered.
Walstrom gave his age as 28, dark complected, and wears a
small mustache. He was very well dressed and good looking fellow. He took his
arrest coolly and remarked to the officer that he supposed he was glad to get
him, but would be "gladder" to let him go.
Mrs. Sheedy's history is a
sad one. She has been married three times, her first husband being named McCool,
who has served a term in the pen. Her second husband is named Merrill, a stone
mason, who moved to Lincoln in 1886. He left his wife here while he went back to
Illinois, and during his absence it is said she became intimate with Mr. Sheedy,
who afterward secured her a divorce and it is rumored paid Merrill a goodly sum
of money for staying away from Lincoln forever.
The clue upon which the
detectives had to work was a very slight one, and the result places Messrs.
Malone and Melick in the front rank of the profession. Mayor Graham is also
entitled to considerable credit, as it was his advice and counsel which was
called into requisition at the various stages of the game.
When Walstrom
was told by Special Baird that he had a warrant for him, the fellow asked on
what charge. The officer replied, "Murder, that's all." Walstrom coolly
remarked, "Well, that ain't so serious."
On the way up town he discoursed
gvery(sic) glibly on music and other topics, and acted, as the officer thought,
like a man who had been expecting arrest. He is at present confined in the city
jail, in a cell beside McFarland, and watched by a vigilant officer. It was
regarded as probable that an attempt at lynching McFarland might be made last
night, and the jail was strongly guarded.
Without McFarland's
confession, Detective Malone had gathered enough evidence to convict the fellow,
having traced him directly to the Sheedy mansion within ten minutes of the time
of the assault.
When McFarland was first questioned about how he came to
buy the cane, he said that a customer whom he had shaved and cut his hair sent
him over to the pawn shop after it while he was getting his shoes shined. The
man had gone to Black Hills. He gave a complete description of the supposed
customer, and after he had confessed was asked why he did so. He replied that he
was told to give that description by Mrs. Sheedy.
Another circumstance
thought to be suspicious, is the alleged fact that the hired girl at Sheedy's
was sent away Sunday noon and told she could stay until as late that evening as
she wished. The girl will be brought the coroner's jury, which will probably
resume its sittings this afternoon, after the post mortem is completed. Dennis
Sheedy the deceased's brother, was a listener to the confession of McFarland.
The Post Mortem
The body of Mr. Sheedy was exhumed last night, and
taken to Roberts undertaking rooms. Dr. Holyoke, the county coroner, called in
Drs. Casebeer, Hart, Everett, Mitchell, Beachley, Winnit this morning, and
together they held a post mortem examination of the remains in the presence of
the coroner's jury and a bevy of reporters. The sight was not a very pleasing
one, but hundreds were applicants for admission.
The brain was given a
very thorough examination, and not a drop of blood was found on it, although it
was the belief of the physicians that he died from the pressure of blood on the
brain. The membranes were uninjured, evidence that death must have resulted from
other causes than the blow administered by McFarland, the self confessed
assassin. The bone to the left eye was broken, and there was also a hole in the
back of the head, caused by a bullet received in some old affray. His body was
literally covered with scars, mute evidences of a turbulent existence.
The heart and the stomach were also removed, and will be submitted to a thorough
chemical analysis, probably by Prof. Nicholson, of the state university. The
embalming fluid used was such that it did not enter the stomach nor the mucous
membrane enclosing the same, and therefore if Sheedy has been poisoned the
chemical analysis will bring forth the facts.
It is stated that
W.J. Bryan and W.L. Cundiff have been retained to defend McFarland, J.E.
Philpott to look after Walstrom and Stearns and Strode of this city, and Gen
Cowin of Omaha for Mrs. Sheedy.
Considerable speculation exists as
to who will inherit the property of the deceased in case the horrible story is
proven that his wife was the moving power in the assassination. The supreme
court, not two weeks since, handed down an opinion which would cover the case in
that event. It was in the Shallenberger case from Nebraska City. Shallenberger
had deeded the property he would otherwise have inherited from the child he
killed to his lawyers for defending him. The other heirs objected and supreme
court set aside the deed, holding that no man can profit by his crime.
D.G. Courtnay has been employed to represent the heirs. John Fitzgerald has not
yet accepted the trust of administrator.
This morning J.J. Stepney, a
barber on Fourteenth street, was brought to the station, and his testimony will
be an important link in the chain. McFarland had traded coats with him about
twenty minutes before the assault was committed. McFarland afterwards traded
back Tuesday evening.
This afternoon Harry Cawser, who has lived off and
on at Sheedy's house, was brought up to the marshall's(sic) office, and is being
catechised(sic) as to whether there was any trouble between Sheeley(sic) and his
wife at any time.
In connection with the poisoning theory, Officer
McBrien says that when he was at the house about midnight Sunday, Sheedy was
frothing at the mouth.
Mrs. Sheedy is still a closely guarded prisoner
at Marshal Melick's house, as there are no accommodations in the jails for
women.
She is self-possessed and asserts her entire innocence of any complicity
in her husband's murder.
There are many rumors afloat derogatory to her, but as
none are authenticated will not be given in the
New's columns.
Lincoln Evening News
- January 19, 1891
Transcribed and Contributed
by: Shauna L. Williams
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