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DESPERADOBLOWS OFF THE HEAD OF AN OFFICER AND COMMITS SUICIDE.Imm Bird of Near BykaHa While Roaiatiag Arrest, Murders Deputy Sheriff Morrison, of hen ton, Lest Saturday —* Details of the Double Crime!On the llth of last August, Isaac Bird, who formerly resided in the Somertville neighborhood in York township, was arrest ed at West Liberty, while in the act of sell log a quantity of cloverseed stolen from a farmer named C. Baird, who lives near lit Victory.Bird was placed in a carriage handcuffed, and while being taken to jail, accompanied by three officers, the desperate young man jumped from the vehicle, climbed a barb wire fence, made good his escape snd up to last Saturday had ever since succeeded in eluding the officers.Last week word was received in Kenton that the fugitive had been seen at the home of his parents, who reside a few miles north of Byhalia, and Deputy Sheriff Frank Mor rison and two policemen were sent on Satur day morning to arrest him.On arriving at the Bird residence, Morrison entered the house alone, leaving the two “brave coppers in the carriage. Mrs. Bird, I the mother of the young man, was asked if of her son was at home and replied that he was\II.not. The deputy then explained his errand and told the old lady that it was his duty to search the premises. To this she made no reply and uothing further was said by either until the quest through the lower story had been completed. When Morrison started to mount the stairway however, the mother interposed and said, “You had better look out, for if he is up-there he may shoot you.”Her warning was prophetic, for before the nervy deputy had mounted over half a dozen steps there sounded the roar of a heavy discharge and he fell back to the landing a mutilated corpse, his skull shattered and blown away by a toad of shot from an old musket aimed by the desperate criminal who was determined never again to suffer arrest.After shooting the officer Bird returned to his room, lay down on the bed and shot himself in the temple with a 32 calibre bull-dog revolver, his spirit following closely after that of his victim into the hereafter. The stairway and the room in which the suicide occurred, resembled nothing less than a slaughter house after the traged/ was over, blood and brains being scattered everywhere.Morrison, the murdered man, was about forty years of age and had been a deputy for four years. He had been made a master Mason only the evening before he met his death and was a candidate for the Republican nomination for sheriff of Hardin county this year. His funeral was held at his late residence in Kenton, Monday afternoon at 2 o’clock and was very largely attended, as he was one of the most popular and estimable citizens of Hardin county.The Bird family formerly resided on the farm now owned and occupied by Milton Shipley in the Soraersville neighborhood, and old residents of that vicinity who were well acquainted with them, give the parents of the criminal a good reputation but state that the two boys, Isaac and George, were always wild and beyond parental control.The latter, George Bird, was arrested in Marysville only a week or two ago charged with a chicken theft committed somewhere in Hardin county, ami while en route to Ken-1 ton in charge of an officer, he also made a j desjierate escajie from the clutches of the | law by jumping from a rapidly moving express train, breaking his arm and being otherwise severely injured in his attempt.The funeral services over the remains of the murderer and suicide, Ike Bird, were held at the home of his parents last Sunday and were attended hy hundreds of residents of Union and Hardin counties.Some of those from this place who were in attendance at the funeral bring hack a curious story to the effect that Ike Bird was engaged to be married to a Miss Baird, daughter of the C. Baird from whom the cloverseed was stolen last August, and thatLirF
Newspaper Details
Richwood Gazette
Richwood, Ohio, US
Thu, May 11, 1899
Page 4
Full Page
Clipped by
Anonymous
USA 19 May 2024
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