The scene at Undertaker White's establishment, on Fourth Street, in
Newport, where the body was taken to, was one of activity. All day long
and up to a late hour at night the place was besieged with people
anxious to get a look at the remains of the unfortunate woman. The crowd
was composed mostly of men, but there was quite a number of women to be
seen among them. Several persons came in and gave descriptions of
missing friends, and, if they tallied in any way with the corpse, they
were permitted to view it.
Owing to the close proximity to Fort Thomas, where the body was found,
and the well-known fact that a number of the "women on the town" in
Cincinnati were in the habit of visiting the soldiers at the Fort, many
suspected that some one of the soldiers had committed the crime, and as
the clothes on the body were of the cheapest kind, they thought the
victim was one of these lowe women. Col. Cochran, the commander of the
Fort, would not allow such a stigma to rest upon his post. He instituted
a most thorough investigation, and invited the civil officials to aid
him in his investigation. It did not take long to convince those working
on the case that the soldiers were in no way involved in the terrible
tragedy.
On Saturday night, not many hours after the discovery of the headless
body, Arthur Carter, of Seymour Ind., arrived with his trio of famous
bloodhounds, Jack, Wheeler and Stonewall.
The hounds are the same animals that tracked Bud Stone, the colored
murderer of the Wratten family, at Washington, Ind., to his home. Stone
was later arrested, and when charged with the crime made a full
confession, for which he was afterward hanged.
Mr. Carter said during his brief stop at the Grand Central Depot that
over 20 criminals are now serving time in the penitentiaries of Indiana
and Illinois as a result of the work of the hounds.
Before being taken to the scene of the murder the dogs were taken to
White's undertaking establishment and given a scent of the unfortunate
woman's clothing. Carter expressed a doubt as to the dogs ability to do
any work in striking a trail by the scent from the clothing, as it had
been freely handled by a half hundred of persons. The dogs, with noses
close to the ground, ran hither and thither in a confused manner. It was
evident that the dogs were useless, as all tracks left by the murderer
and his victim had been obliterated by the thousands of people who had
crossed over the place where the body was found.