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Show BRUTAL ASSAULT. Dastardly outrage on two young ladies while sleeping. At 2 o'clock last Friday morning, at the residence of Mr. J. D. Shell, corner of North Temple and First West streets, one of the most brutal outrages ever attempted in this city took place. At that hour, Mr. and Mrs. Shell were aroused by the screams of Miss Daisy Shell, and when they arose one of their daughters entered the room with blood streaming over her. A lamp was burning and while Mr. Shell was dressing, Mrs. Shell ran into the dining room and heard a man jump out of the window and the blind flap after him. When they entered the bedroom of the three daughters. Blanche and Ettie were both covered with blood. Miss Ellie and Miss Blanche-both young ladies-sleep together, and both were covered with blood, one of them still lying in the bed insensible. The assassin had entered the dining room by means of the window, which was unfastened, and then entered the bedroom of the young ladies, this room adjoining the dining room, and being in the northwest part of the house, while the bedroom of Mr. and Mrs. Shell is in the southeast corner of the house. There was no light in either the dining room or the bedroom of the young ladies but the person seemed to be fully acquainted with the house, and must have walked straight into their bedroom from the window, which is nearly opposite the bedroom door. Daisy was awakened by hearing dull blows in the room and immediately began to scream. Miss Blanche was awakened by her sister saying "some one's hitting me," and then felt two distinct blows herself, which rendered her partially unconscious, except that she felt as if her head would burst. When the light was taken into the room and they were examined, both, as before stated, were covered with blood, which flowed from deep gashes in their heads inflicted, according to the belief of Dr. Disbrow who was subsequently summoned, by some dull instrument. The fiend must have known just what he was doing, for the blows fell on the heads of both young ladies, and Miss Blanche has a cut on the top of her head, and one near her forehead. Miss Ettie has a frightful gash, nearly three inches long, on the top of her head, and a blow on her left cheek was so severe as to cause it to swell to more than twice its ordinary size. fortunately neither is seriously hurt, though the wounds are severe and were undoubtedly intended to be fatal. The object was not plunder for a roll of greenbacks and Mr. Shell's $500 gold watch lay undisturbed on the dresser in his room, and nothing in the house was moved. No noise was made, and no warning given until the blows were dealt, and the would be murderer at once fled out of the window at which he had entered. When the girls awoke, they saw no light, and yet the unerring precision with which they were struck indicates that the person knew what he was doing, and he did it quietly and noiselessly. There is no doubt but the affair was a premeditated attempt to brutally murder both the young ladies, by a person who knew where they slept and how he had to get into their room. Another bed in the same room, in which a younger daughter Daisy, slept, was undisturbed. An examination by the police showed no trace except a blood mark on the side of the window, doubtless made by the assassin's hand in escaping, and there is no clue whatever by which the fiend can be detected. None of the inmates have the remotest idea as to the cause of the brutal attempt at murder, and so far as is known neither of the young ladies has an enemy in the world. Mrs. Shell says a man has been seen prowling about the place for a year, and on a former occasion was detected trying to get into the same room by a north window at night, but was frightened away. The affair is one of the most dastardly and mysterious of which there is any record here, and it is doubtful if the cold blooded fiend will be discovered. The escape was miraculously narrow, and it will be a subject for general rejoicing that neither is dangerously injured.-Salt Lake Herald. |