Pike County - Death of Young Girl - AHGP
The Quincy Daily Journal - Thursday, May 18, 1905, - Page: 5
DEATH OF A YOUNG GIRL - Under Suspicious Circumstances On Four-Mile Island, In The Mississippi, Near Hannibal - Pearl PRYOR, of Barry, Illinois, Aged 18, the Victim of a Criminal.
Operation - Arrests - Expected Today as Result of a Post-Mortem - Sensational Features of the Case.
Hannibal, Missouri, May 18, 1905, Miss Pearl Pryor, of Barry, Illinois, died at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Henry CLARK, on what is known as Four-Mile Island, in the Mississippi river, at 5 o'clock Tuesday evening.
Her death was under suspicious circumstances and an investigation was had.
The girl is the daughter of Silas PRYOR, a respectable citizen of Barry, Pike county, Illinois. Miss PRYOR came to Hannibal last Saturday and was met somewhere south of the cement plant by Mrs. Henry CLARK, who conveyed her to her home on the island. Whether the girl went home with Mrs. Clark on a visit or for some other object will probably be ascertained later on. At any rate the girl died suddenly Tuesday evening and her father was notified, as was also the coroner of Pike County, Illinois, and Coroner O'Donnell, of Hannibal, Missouri.
Yesterday morning Coroner Loren Huntley, of Pike County, Illinois; Mark Bardburn, the prosecuting attorney of Pike County; Mr. Bostwick, the undertaker at Barry; Sheriff Atkisson, of Ralls County, Missouri, and several others went to the home of Henry Clark to make an investigation. Coroner Huntley summoned a jury and held an inquest on the island.
The body of the dead girl was then brought up to Hannibal, and a post-mortem held by Drs. R. Schmidt and Fisher. The post-mortem developed the fact that death was caused from peritonitis brought about by an attempt having been made for abortion. The attempted abortion was a terrible blunder upon the part of some person other than a skilled physician. After the post-mortem had been made Dr. Schmidt drove over to Shepherd, Illinois, and reported to the coroner's jury the result of the post-mortem when the jurty returned a sealed verdict.
The remains of the unfortunate girl were taken to Barry last evening by Undertaker Bostwick accompanied by the prosecuting attorney of Pike County, and the father of the deceased.
The Journal learned yesterday that the girl was only 18 years old, but that she had been married. It appears that she was married to a man some two years ago who proved to be a bigamist and that they lived together but a short time. Her father and mother, separated several years ago, but both were present yesterday when the inquest was held. Mrs. Pryor, the girl's mother, resides somewhere in Pike County, Missouri.
There is no question that the death of the girl was caused from an operation performed on her, but who the guilty party is has not yet been fully ascertained.
It is expected, however, that arrests will be made some time today, as sufficient evidence has developed to justify the officers to make an arrest at an moment.
Prosecuting Attorney Bradburn said to a Journal reporter last evening that an arrest ought to have been made last night. As the crime was committed on the east side of the channel of the river, the jurisdiction is in Pike County, Illinois, hence Sheriff Atkisson, of Ralls County, took no active part in the case.
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