Published Sunday, Jan. 10, 1999 John Blevins was found "in the last agonies of death," bleeding from at least 10 wounds on the floor of his office at the city building the night of Jan. 9, 1899, the New Castle News reported at the time. His keys were still in the office door, but his safe was looted and his pockets were empty, which "showed plainly that the motive of the crime was robbery," the paper reported.
"From a practical standpoint, there'd be little likelihood you could find any evidence to proceed" with the case, said Lawrence County District Attorney Matthew Mangino. "But legally, it would be an open, unsolved homicide."
There is no statute of limitations on homicides, but Mangino said even if some physical evidence were discovered, the killer is probably dead.
"He fell by the hand of an assassin, against whose murderous frenzy he had battled until the villainous death blow laid him low. The discovery of the hellish deed was first made by his own son, William Blevins, who was almost paralyzed by the horrible sight," The News reported.
Little is known about the circumstances that led to Blevins' murder. He cashed a check for a plumber, then locked his office and went home. After dinner, he returned to his office, then locked up again before 9 p.m. so he could go to a tailor's shop.
He went to his son's store, then went back to the office.
When his son arrived home after 11 p.m., he found his sister, Lizzie, alarmed that their father was not back. William Blevins went to the treasurer's office, where he found a light burning inside and his father dying on the floor.
John Blevins had been wounded several times in the head and suffered a crushed nose and broken jaw. He also had several wounds on his body and hands. The weapon was never found.
A blood-soaked handkerchief was found in the vault between the leaves of a book; the keys in the door were bloody. Nobody knows how much money was in the vault, but it was believed to be considerable. Theories flourished, including one that tramps had committed the crime. But The News dismissed those notions, reporting, "Tramps as a general thing do not commit such bold crimes. ... They would not care to take the chances of being caught to which those who performed the deed obviously subjected themselves to. The tramp theory, therefore, is not considered plausible."
On the morning after the crime, four tramps were arrested and placed in jail to await a hearing.
The News story said, "It is thought that the arrest is not especially important, but no clues will be lost through carelessness in dealing with such people."
