Smyrna times., 1855-05-30

he Jail. During the day more than one hum C
ired persons visited his cell, to take view of :
he prisoner. The rumor that a horrible MUIR
Ter had occurred near Dover prevailed at an !
early hour; and our quiet town was the scene
Of intense and unusual excitement.
We may mention here that Parker made a
desperate effort to take the life of his wife and
her remaining child. She escaped by running
from the house with the child in her arms.
BY ten o'clock the following gentlemen were
summoned as jurors ON the CorOner's inquest:
John C. Pennewill, Foreman,
Oliver WalcOtt, Joseph Moore,
George Davis, George Hall,
Paddock Butler, George b. Dennis,
John Fl. Bateman, J. S. Murphy,
WIN. p. Nickerson, Nehemiah Moore,
r. c. Walker, Caleb Jester,
Thomas Foreacres, Michael Powell,
Lewis Taylor, Martin ID. Ford.
The murdered children, as they laid before
the jurors, presented most ghastly and horrid
spectacle. One with its throat mangled and
cut from ear to ear, and the other with its head
portially burned away, the brains literally
baked. and its lungs, heart and liver, exposed
to view--the flesh around them having been
entirely consumed.
The following is the evidence elected during
the inquest:
CORONER's INQUEST.
| George Slaughter being duly sworn, deposeth
and saith George Parker (negro) killed Violet
Ann, his (Parker's) daughter. then saw him
pick her up, and throw her about eight or ten
feet. saw him kill the boy. He had the boy
down and was saving his arm across his throat.
| think he cut his throat. This happened about
halt an hour after sunrise.
Robert Thompson, being sworn, said did
not him (Parker) cut her throat. saw
him throw his child, Violet Ann, up, and saw
it fall. After this, | saw him pick the boy up.
and throw him out the door. then saw him
catch him by the head, and push it back heard
the boy scream the house at the time was on
fire. saw him then pick him up and throw
him up, and saw the boy fall. The boy got
up and then ran back to the house. George
(Psrker) then seIzed the boy and cut his throat t.
He George then called for his wife, told
; him he had killed her. George then said, mot
So" / then asked him where his children
were. He said he "hoped they were in hea-
ven." He then picked the girl up by the leg
aid said, al will show you one saw it,
| did not see it move. 1t was the little
girl. About quarter of an hour afterwards
saw it move. 1t is now dead Its throat i.
cut. have just looked at it {; it is dead
Purnell Thompson, being sworn, said
: was with my brother Robert, and saw the sam,
or about the same he did.
The verdict rendered was as follows:
VERDICT.
: That James Henry and Violet Ann came I,
o their deaths, on the oath day OF May, 1855, b.
: violence at the hands of their father, Georp
n Parker, said violence being cutting and burn
y ing.
Since Parker's confinement, we learn tina
. he has confessed to something like the follow
10 ing: That the house and land on which he
y his wife, and children lived, had been willed b
- his father-in.law to his wife that at her deaf
it was to go to his children and that he detel
:, mined upon killing both his wife and children
that they might not thus be benefited. Relyin
of upon his desperate means of resistance,
= hoped to escape the officers Of justice; ant
!, after a while, when the excitement of the affa
had subsided, to return quietly and possess hin
=, self Of the property. The nurse (whom he sht
oc in the arm) he intended to murder, because,
~ he alleges, she threw poison stuff under tn
:, house," with view to his destruction.
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