PARDONNER, Elizabeth - Fountain County INGenWeb Project

Lafayette Journal -- The brutal murder of Miss Pardonner of Attica (Indiana has been the absorbing topic of conversation for the last two days in this city since the perpetrators of the act have been ascertained and their arrest secured.  The principal actor in the bloody affair is a young man named Oliver Hart, well known in this city as "Bully" Hart, said to be a son of Isaac W Hart of Attica, a young man named Alfred Browning and the proprietor of a lung-testing machine, whose name our informant was unable to learn.  It appears that on Thursday night late, the night after the murder, Hart went to bed very much under the influence of liquor and in his drunken stupor "talked in his sleep" in the presence of his wife and mother-in-law, in such manner as led them to believe that he was one of the guilty parties.  The next morning his wife accused him of the crime, and he confessed it, but charged her not to say anything about it, threatening her life if she did.  The dread secret was, however, too much for her to keep, and in the afternoon she divulged it, and Hart was arrested, upon which he confessed everything.  He said that on the night of the murder he was watching the girl while she was engaged in milking the cow.  He threw a clod of dirt into her pail, upon seeing which she emptied it, and went into the house and washed it out.  During her absence he drove the cow through the alley and to the rear of Rogers' soap factory, the girl following. Arriving there, Hart approached and struck her on the head with a pair of brass knuckles, which felled her to the earth.  Browning and the other man then came up one of whom stuffed a handkerchief into her mouth and choked her.  The two latter then proceeded to violate her person.  At the conclusion of their hellish work, they discovered that their victim was dead. They took up the body and hid it in a chicken coop near by, where it remained until two o'clock in the morning, when they removed it and deposited it in the canal, where it was found. Hart was locked up on Friday night and the others Saturday morning.

After the facts became known, the town of Attica was fearfully excited, and there was strong talk of taking the criminals out of the calaboose and hanging them.  When our informant left, the calaboose was surrounded by 3 or 400 persons, who seemed intent on swift and sure punishment, but it is to be hoped that better counsel prevailed, and that the law will be allowed to take its course. Young Hart is, represented as a hard boy and has been so several years past.  At least he has had that reputation

here, where he is well known among a certain class.  It is also said he is married to a woman whose reputation was at the time none of the best.

     

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which the committee of which you are chairman are making inquiries and in my judgment the following persons would be able to make correct statements before your committee if summoned to do so... men of

established character and influence in their sections.  Number of democrats from their sections have already testified and it is due to the republicans that their side of the question should be suitable represented: Rev. HW Caldwell (Gainsville GA); Hon. Wesley Shropshire, Dirttown, Chattoga Co GA; Hon FA Kirby, Summerville, Chat. Co; Benjamin Branner (same place); Dol. John WImpey, Dahlonega, Ga and Wm. H. Webb, Rome, GA.  .. I am persuaded the investigations which your committee are pursuing have already had a happy influence upon this section and if continued until the real truth should be disclosed to the view of the public they will ultimately result in the complete suppression of the disorders which have disgraced so many portions of the South.  Respectfull, JH Caldwell

Hon. John Scott, Chairman Joint Committee

"Mr. Voorhees is questioning J.H.  regarding KKK problems ( this is Daniel Worley Voorhees who was quite a Southern supporter as well as friend and supporter of Lincoln and served as a Senator several times).

Question:  You are a straight-out earnest supporter of General Grant's administration?

Yes sir all the time.

Employed on the special business by the Att Gen of the US

Yes.

AND YOU HAVE FOUND BUT ONE CASE OF political outrage by these Ku Klux?

Answer: Do not believe maltreatment of Henry Lowther was owing to his politics; constrained to attribute it to another cause.

Question: heard of a young man in Clarke Co ILL who within the last year was assaulted in the woods in open day by 3 undissguised men and robbed, stripped and castrated .. parties never arrested?

Answer not heard

Question: heard of the circumstances of rape and murder of two little girls in Indianapolis whose bodies were found mutilated and outraged in the canal within the last two years ... no arrests

Answer: don't remember .. read in papers of great outrages in the north similar to these

Question: Heard of the circumstances of the rape and murder of a MISS PARDONNER at Attica, Indiana within the last 4 months and that the grand jury of the county in which it took place have since met and adjourned without discovering the criminal or criminals and without finding any indictment for the double and horrible offense?

NO.

.... several others questioned him

Greer Hart and two others have been arrested for causing the death of ELizabeth Pardonner whose body was found in the canal near Attica last week.  Hart has made a partial confession which shows that murder was not the only crime they committed upon the defenseless girl.