Portland gazette and Maine advertiser., 1806-07-14

lnfOrmauOn, tnat capt. James TuIllch
Of this place, in coolbIood had murder
i ed his wife, SIX children, and himself
His oldest son, with slight wound, es-
capped, and his second daughter was
found desperately wounded, and proba-
| bly, supposed dead by the father. Be
tween the hours Of 2 and 8, near
neighbour, Mr.. Dean Wyman, was a
Weakened by the lad who escaped, with
an incoherent account of the horrid
scene from which he had Just fed /; he,
with Mr. Ballard, another neighbour,
instantly repaired to the fatal spot, and
here, after having lighted candle, a
scene was presented which beggars all
description.-Ih the outer room lay
PROSTATE on his face, and weItering in
his gore, the perpetrator of the dreadful
deed-his throat cut in themost shock
ing manner, and the bloody razor lying
on table by his side-In an adjoining
bed room lay hrs. Purinton in her bed,
her head almost severed from her body I;
and near her on the floor, little daugh-
ter about ten years old, who probably
hearing the cries of her mother, ran to
her relief from the apartment in which
she slept, and was murdered BY her
side-In another apartment was found
the two eldest and the youngest daugh-
tiers, the first, aged l9, dreadfully butch
cred the second desperately wounded,
reclining her head on the body Of The
dead infant Is months old, and in
state of horror and almost total inScnsi-
bility-ln the DOM with the father lay
| in bed with their threats cut, the tive
youngest sons, the one 8, the other {
years old-And in another room was
found on the hearth, most trsadfull5
mangled, the second son, aged II /; he
had fallen with his trowscrs under one
arm, with which he had attempted to
escape-On the breastwork over the
Fireplace, was the distinct impression
Of a bloody hand, where the unhappy
victim probably supported himself be-
fore he fell The whole house seemed
covered with blood, and near the body
of the murderer lay the deadly axe
From the surviving daughter we have
no account of this transaction her dam
gerous situation prevents any conmu-
nication, and but faint expectations are
entertained Of her recovery-From the
son, aged IL, we learn the following
That he was awakened by the piercing
cries Of his mother, and inyoluntariIy
shrieking himself, he leapt from his
bed and ran towards the door of bis a.
partment he was met by his father
with an axe in his hand (the moon shone
bright who struck him, but being so
near each other, the axe passed over his
shoulder and'one corner of it entered
his back, making slight wound his
father then struck at him once or twice
and missed him at this moment his
younger brother, who slept in the same
bed with him, jumped from it and at
tempted to get out at the door; to pre-
vent this the father attacked him, (which
gave the eldest an opportunity to es-
cape. During this dreadful conflict,
not word was uttered. From the APP
pearance of the wounds generally, il
seems to have been the design of Parin-
ton to discover the heads from the boz
dies, excepting the two youngest, whose
threats it is supposed were cut with
racer. The Oldest daughter and second
son had several wounds, the probable
consequence Of their resistance. We
have no evidence to lsad us satisfacto-
rily TO the motives for this barbarous
and unnatural deed. Capt. Purinton
was rs years Of age, and had lately Ic
moved from Bowdoinham to this town,
an independent farmer, with hand
some estate, of steady, correct and in
dustrious habits, and Of good charac-
ter and fair reputation, and strongly at
tacAed to his family. He had been
heard lately to say. that he felt much
distressed at the unpromising appear
ance Of his farm; that he should Be
destitute of bread for his family, and
hay for ms cattle, and dreaded the con-
sequences. The Sunday before his
death, il IS said, he wrote to his broth
er, and informed him that on the re-
ception efthe letter he should be dead.
and requesting him to take Charge Of
his family. In the letter was 4 deaths
head marked out, and it was sealed
with black.--It was found ON Monday
by bis wife, and gave her the greatest
alarm and uheasiness-This her Inns
band perceivlng, and learning the