A MYSTERIOUS AFFAIR IN THE MORMON CITY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XIX, Issue 6566, 2 December 1882, Page 2 (Supplement)

A MYSTERIOUS AFFAIR IN THE MORMON CITY.

1 The circumstances of the Whcatland > mystery, which occurred several years nco, 1 will bo familiar to most persons. The r following occurrence in Salt Lake City has, 1 in some respects, a cuiious similarity. The . Salt Lake Tribune says :—Jusc after two o'clock on tliC morninj; of Friday, October C, ! a very mysterious affair occurred at the ; house of J. D. Shell, on the north-east corner \ i of North Temple and Firat South-streets. . Mrs. Shell was aroused by the screams of her daughter Daisy in another room, and hastening to the dining-room with a lamp, ; she caught a glimpse of a largs man going out of the window. Mr. and Mrs. tihell went into the bedroom where slept their three daughters, when a horrible sight greeted them. Miss Ettie, asjed 21, was lying insensible, while Blanche, two years younger, was lying by her side, both of them covered with blood. Daisy, who is 12 years of ago, and who sleeps in another bed, had heard the assassin, and, by screaming, saved the lives of her two sisters and probably her own. The girls soon caino to consciousness and told what they could of the atlair. Daisy was av/akenert by hearing the blows, and began to scream. Blanche v.-as awakened by hearing her sister say, "Some one's hitting me," and rising up in bed, she felt two distinct blows, which rendered her senseless. The instrument used was most probably a heavy revolver, as the cuts on the heads and faces of the young ladies have the appearance of having been made with such an instrument. Ettie has a long cut on her cheek, and a cut across the top of the head about four inches long. Wlipu tho cut on the cheek was made, it was evidently done by a down stroke, as it cut through the night dress at the neck, and made a deep gash in the shoulder close to the neck, looking much as if made by tho hammer of a revolver. Blanche has a deep cut above the left temple, and also another on top of the head. The ribbon she wore around her head to hold her hair is one mass of blood, as is also all their night dresses, pillow slips, and bedding, showing mnca loss of blood. None of the girls remember seeing any li<,'!it in the room at the time, but the blows were struck with as much precision as if tho room had been well lighted. The object of this murderous assault cannot bo imagined at this time, as the family are not aware that they have an enemy in the world, and if it had been for plunder the room of the cirls would hardly have been visited, as "the manner in which the deed was done show 3 that the party was familiar with the house. '•