MYSTERIOUS MURDER AT PANAMA.

Westport Times, Volume II, Issue 186, 5 March 1868, Page 3

MYSTERIOUS MURDER AT PANAMA.

{From the Panama Star and Herald of January 6.) A most horrible and mysterious murder was committed in the Howard House, Aspinwall, on the night of Sunday, the 19th inst., the particulars of which, so far as we can learn are as follows: —On the 4th inst. two men, Carlos Fernandez, who formerly resided in this city, and his partner, dealers in cigars, arrived at Aspinwall by the steamer Barcelona, from Cuba, and took up their residence at the Howard House, where they earned on their business until the crime was committed. The parties named seemed to have been but little known in Aspinwall, and as they each day appeared in the dining room of the hotel, accompanied by a female who also came in the Barcelona, they attracted some notice, and frequent inquiries as to ■who they were occurred without eliciting any satisfactory information, but the impression became general that the female was the wife of one of men. On Saturday evening Fernandez's partner informed the manager of the hotel that they had taken a house in town, and wished to commence moving their things early next morning, and at the same time he paid all of the accounts due to the hotel. About 4 o'clock on Sunday morning a heavy wooden box, some three feet square, in which cigars had been packed, and which had been lying in Fernandez's room for some time previous was taken from the hotel and carried to a house in one of the back streets. This sudden and early departure from the hotel created no suspicion of any kind until some time during the day, when a servant entered the room formerly occupied by Fernandez, and found the place saturated with blood. That some foul act had been committed during the night was evident, and an effort was at once made to gain a clue to the dark deed. Suspicion arose as to the -contents of the heavy case carried out of the same room that morning, and on inquiry being made it was found that the box had been taken from the house in which it had been placed, by a couple of negroes, who put it in a boat and conveyed it to the other side of the bay. The box was picked up during the day and brought back to the city, and on being opened it was found to contain the remains of Fermandez, mutilated and in a disgusting condition. The murder, it is believed, was effected by suffocation, and it was necessary afterwards to partially dissect the body in order to roll it up into a bulk sufficiently small to enter the box in which it was found.

FURTHER PARTICULARS. In our last issue we published all the particulars we could then glean of a ■murder perpetrated in the Howard House, Aspinwall, on the night of Sunday, the 19th inst. (not Saturday as .previously stated), and at the same time censured the local authorities for their usual supineness in such cases ■and for permitting DeCastor, the partner of the murdered man, and the suspected murderer to leave the city unmolested. Since then we learn that the respectable portion of the population of Aspinall becoming disgusted with the farcical government under which they live have resolutely taken this subject in hand. A public meeting has been held at which Mr Tracy Eobinson presided, and a series of resolutions condemning in the strongest terms the action of the local authorities in this matter were passed. A copy of the resolutions we have been unable to obtain for to-day's issue, but we hope to'have them in time for our next.

Yesterday afternoon we applied to the Prefect in this city for further information in regard to this heinous •crime and received the unsatisfaotory reply that h e could not furnish any. Later in th e day we received some correspondence from Aspinwall stating that Jose Maria DeCastro, the partner of the murdered man Fernandez, and the principal in the crime, had been arrested near Monkey Hill. At the the time the murderer was apprehended a belt was found on his person <containing, it was supposed, some $1520 in gold. Castro was taken to Aspinwall, where an investigation was held, the result of which is given in the letter published below, together with a portion of the evidence of Graspard Adriana, who was arrested here and sent to Aspinwall on Wednesday morning. On being confronted by the two men who removed the box with the removed the box with the remains from the hotel to the house of Frederick DaCosta, the runner of the said hotel, he refused to recognise them; but they asserted most posiively that the arrangement for the

carrying of the box was made by DaCosta himself—and they pretended to have been innocent of the contents of said box. It is quite clear that the blood of f he murdered man oozed out of the box when deposited on the steps of DaOoßta's house. This last scoundrel's participation in the crime will be furnished to your readers after his execution.

It was Mr Nixon, an employee of the P.R.R. who on his way to dine on Monday last at the Howard House, saw the empty case in which the remains of Don Carlos were found, taken out of the house of Frederick DeCosta, and conveyed to the Howard House. Mr Nixon entered the house at the same time with the empty package. This package was recognised by Mr Nixon after it was found with the remains, as the same box taken from DaCosta's shop and carried to the Howard House. This package was one of five cases cigars which arrived in Barcona, from Havana, and were deposited by Don Carlos Fernandez, at the house of Frederick DaCosta, all bearing the marks ank numbers of the unfortunate deceased.

The examination of Gaspar Adriana, the accomplice of DeCastro, was also commenced, but nothing of importance was elicited from him.

Upwards of fifteen hundred dollars in American eagles, Spanish and Colombian money, was found in a belt on the person of the prisoner DeCastro, without doubt the funds of the murdered man, as DeCastro was known to be poor and without means.