Washington telegraph., 1855-05-02
I'm, Discovery--.Whele Family Murdered
PERU, April IL, 1853

PERU, April IL, 1855
n, the Editors of the Louisville Journal:
GENTLEMEN: Below l hand You copy OF an
s,tra from the Wabash Gazette
Yesterday evening. about dusk. report reach
- that a whole family were discovered
4 I--iad under the floor OF the CABIN occupied Dy
] .ba HubbarIis who are now IN Jail charged " Ith
80 ronrder of Boyles The awful news spread
..o;Jiv over town and in half an hour or less the
coroner. with jury, and some thirty OF iorty ctI-
zens had started for the place We immediately
cat about finding out the truth OF the story. and are
4 i.1eb.ed TO Mr. James Wilson for what follows
Yesterday Tuesdayl morning Nh Wilson and
NJ N J. Thomas. constable provided with a
warrant started down the canal to arrest the wife
~ Hubbard. whom late developments rendered ii
highly probable was an accornplice IN the muT-
der of BovIes They proceeded to BIZ Gar
Diners Works five miles out Of town, W hen they
found the woman ard arrested heT- 'ir- Love
and SUGGESTED 10 Mr.. Wilson that suspicious were
s,ter.aInei that the Hubbards had murdered the
whole family last fall
As soon as Nj Wilson heard this, he, in COM
nsuy with Mr. Loveland. went to the house of
Mr. Fisher where they aScertaIned that, some
time in Sep.ember last this Hubbard family went
. 10 board with family by the name OF French.
who then Iive, In the cabin since occupied by the
Hubbards This French family consisted of sew
/ en- Inc l1Ls-cI-
They were a very poor family, that mad been lIv-
ing in the neish5OrhOod six or seven years. and
were we'll known by al the neIghbOrs, During
the last summer, old man French had raised a
small patch of corn and some garden stuff. the
whole OF which together with the furniture. was
not worth over $50 Some time III October Nh
Lewis. a near neighbor; went 10 the cabin OF
French 70 purchase his corn He was met at the
fence in front Of the cabin by the Hubbsrds and
80 %bats hatora Nv E-orob-S
er had come along with wagon and had taken
Mr.. French's whole family away with him. and
had started Tor Illinois, and that they had purch-
ased all their things including the corn. garden,
and furniture A day or two afterwards Mr.
S:earnes Fisher weEt over to inquire if the
French's needed any assistance, and was told the
same story
No suspicious Nere entertained a. the fine that
foul play mad been used, and nothing occurred un-
til alter the body of Boyes had been found and
the HuObardS were arrested II then gan to be
Thought these monsters had murdered the whole
family o. hearing these statements. blT- Will
son determined TO 90 and search the premises
He then went down TO Gardiner S works and pro-
cured shovel and pick and tried to get some one
to go with him No one however, believed the
story. and one volunteered to 90 While
they were talking, Mr.. Thomas came up. and he
and Mr. Wilson proceeded to Hubbard's and
found the door locked. They drew the staple
with the pick and entered the house. They found
the floor raised ant. some dirt removed Mr.. w.
Morgan. constable, had been there short time
previous searching, and had discovered piece of
sEull-bOne, and had gone away
They then proceeded to dig away the dirt and
soon discovered the body OF an infant. very much
decayed- They Immediately left and came up to
town and got the coroner who summoned jury
consisting ot S Fisher J. Lewis D. Brooks E
LOveand, NJ w Stober, and j. W Jebbison who
at once proceeded to the place, which they reach
ed about o'clock last evening
In presence of large company they proceeded
to examine the place where the ir.fant had been
discovered, and. horrible to relate. found seven
bodies. consisting of the entire French isnIIy-
Their skulls were all broken in and the legs o:
the old man French and his wife were broken 50
that they could DC doubled up and forced into the
hole which was three four feet deep They
were laid In a heap. the father and mother at the
a5OU: - months old and the oldest child about )
wears Old There were three girls and two boys
The children were much decayed- bat the parents
were still sound, and were easily recognized bv
those who had known them The Hubbards are
ali in Jail. Mrs Hubbard will be examined to-
day There seems to have been no other motive
than the obtaining what few worldly goods this
poor family possessed, which were not worth over
fifty dollars
Tne man Boyies, spoken Of was found in the
canal some two weeks since with his throat cut
and this family were suspected of having a.Tcier-
Ell him.