Holmes County Republican. [volume] (Millersburg, Holmes County, Ohio) 1856-1865, 1858-07-29
From the Chicago Tribune of the Sd.
Awful Tragedy ut ChicagO..
The Child Witness.

/ IhC CnIl0 ttItucSSs
A most bloody and brutal murder was
discovered this morning in the North Divi-
sion which must have been committed on
the day previous, although the exact time
of the act cannot be defined. The murder
1 ed person is woman by the name of Jane
McNamee, who, with her husband, occu-
pied rooms over the lis-erp stable of Messrs.
Wright d Currier, on Michigan street, a
few doors east of Clark, and exactly oppo-
site the North Market. In the stable of
these gentlemen, MeNamee was himself
employed as an hostler.
The first intelligence of the murder was
communicated by McNamee himself, who
entered the stable of Mr.. Wright, his en-
ployer about O'clock in the morning and
with both hands raised, hurriedly exclain-
ed to the watchman upon the premises,
"Palmer my wife is deadr'
Palmer asked how it took place.
a don't know; | woke up, and found
her dead in bed this morning"
Palmer Immediately went to the rooms
occupied by McNamee, and the appearance
caused him at once to leave information at
the North Police Station opposite, upon
which McNamee was taken into custody.
The coroner was Immediately summon
cd, who took charge of The rooms.
The body presented a terribly bruised
and disfgured appearance. There were no
wounds penetrating the skin, but the outer
surface presented perfect black and blue
appearance, with in many places abrasion
of the skin. There were heavy contusions
about the head, and especially on the fore
head and near the temple; the face and
neck were covered with blood, to which
clung masses of the dark dishevelled hair.
The bruises and contusions were also upon
the trunk and limbs, in a number, and of
nature to stamp the affair as one of bru-
tai and ferocious purpose of murder, per-
sistentlv carried out in a work which must
have taken hours for its accomplishment,
as from the testimony in the case we are
led to suppose that her death was the re-
suit of q long continued series of beating
with n other weapon than the fists and
feet of him who should have been her pro-
tector. Upon dissecting the scalp, for the
purpose of examining the scull and brain,
most horrible sight was presented; with
the exception of small space in the CEN
ter of the forehead the head was one mass
of coagulated blood, which had settled be-
meath the scalp and the bones, to such an
extent that the skin was fairly loosened, as
school boy would loosen the bark of his
willow whistle-by pounding it.
The murdered woman had by her hus-
band two children, little girl and boy
The boy four years old, was called as wit
ness and gave testimony as follows;
Previous to the swearing of the last wit
ness, the little boy was brought in and told
his story. He is very intelligent little
lad, and told his tale with an artlessness
and sincerity that carried conviction to the
hearts of every one that heard it. In the
morning he had been asked by the coroner
if his father had whipped his mother, and
replied "no." He afterwords told Mrs.
Cullom that che darn't tell that man, for
he would tell his father" After he was
brought in, his attention was first drawn to
his playthings, until his timidity being
overcome, he told, in his childish, lisping
prattle, how his father struck his mother,
and she fell down; how the blood ran, and
she was "very sick" how he stamped up
on her after she lay upon the floor, at the
same time initiating, with his tiny foot, the
motion; how his mother lay in the dark
room and was $50 bloody;;" how his father
drew her forth by the hair of the head,
and suiting the action to the word, he
grasped both hands in the hair Of the Cor
oner; how his mother tried to get up but
could not, swinging his little body to imi-
tate the mother; how he had no dinner in
the daytime, for his mother was asleep on
the bed, but his father got him some after
dark; that his father put him to bed that
his mother was in bed at the time, all
bloody by the nose; how she lay on ''the
boards" (the fioor) with blood all around
her, how his father wiped up the blood
with dish cloth and put it in the pan;
how he didn't see why she didn't die before,
for his father did it very often. And final
ly, when asked if his mother was drunk, he
distinctly said 'no, but fader was" 1t was
a scene long to be rendered by all who
heard him in the innocence of his childish
confidence tell his tale, which not hearer
could doubt; not yet old enough to realize
his loss, or the danger he was placing his
only remaining parent.
After listening to the testimony, hejury
with very few moments consultation, re-
tnrned verdict that the woman came to
her death from blows infictd by her hus-
band, and he was accordingly committed
to stand his trial for the awful crime.