The Cass County Republican. [volume] (Dowagiac, Mich.) 18??-1880, 1858-11-04


The New York papers Of Thursday
contain full particulars of the late at
tempted murder of the Gouldy family
in New York, and the suicide Of tho
unfortunate perpetrator. The account,
as written out by the reporters, varies
somewhat from that at first received
by telegraph. The parties assaulted
consist of Mr.. and Mrs. Gouldy, two
sons, aged IA and years respectively,
and two servant girls. The other
members of the family were Mary Eliza
daughter aged l6; Jane, years old,
and an infant two years old. Mrs.
Gouldy was step mother to Francis.
the perpetrator of the terrible deed,
and Mary Eliza, and the natural moth
er of the younger children. The best
of terms had always subsisted between
Francis and bis step-mother. The inn
mediate incentive to the deed seems to.
have been a difficulty between Francis
and his father, in consequence of the.
former having taken surreptitiously
a book containing q small bank account,
belonging to Francis, but it does not
appear that there was amy very serious;
difficulty, or any provocation beyond
"reprimand" on the part of the ia
ther. Francis has not been regarded
as having a peculiarly bad temper;
yet when very much excited he scarce
ly cared what he did. He is spoken of
by former acquaintances as "good
fellow" They say he was never re-
garded as bad young man, although
he was rather wild. He was clerk in
hardware store until last spring when
he was dismissed in consequence of
the general laxness of business, but for
no fault of his own. Siace- leaving his
clerkship he is said to have formed bad
associations, and to have been ont late
nights good deal, although Mrs. Goul-
dy, in her testimony before the Coron--
er's jury, says that he had been in the
habit of being at home about 10 o'clock
in the evening. He is not believed to-
have been under the influence of liquor,
as he is known to have refused to drink
that evening when asked, but he is
represented by gentleman who saw
him about nine O'Clock, as much excited.
He was armed with hatchet, butcher
knife, and revolver, but the hatchct
was the only weapon used in the assault.
The wounds were principally inflicted.
on the heads of the wounded parties.
Although none of them have yet died
the recovery of Mr.. Gouldy is deemed
hopeless. The son Nathaniel, IA years
old, and the servant girl Joanna Murphy,
are regarded as not likely to recover.
The others are better situated. Mrs..
Gouldy was able to give her evidence
before the Coroner's jury the day after
the occasion.
The unfortunate son as is well known,
completed his work by blowing out his
brains with the pistol with which he
was armed. He went to his own room
in the third story, and placing his pis-
tol to his right ear, fred the ball en-
tered his right ear, blowing off nearly
the entire side of his head, and lodged
under the left eye. He died almost
instantly. The hatchet which he used
Is common, small hatchet, about eight
inches wide, handle abont eighteen
inches in length. The knife is an or
binary butcher knife; blade about
six inches long and two wide.
A COURAGEOUS GIRL.-Joanna MUIR
ply, one of the servant girls, is lying.
at the Hospital, suffering severely from
her wounds. She started to come
down stairs; she heard the noise, and
when she first met Frank she seized the
hatchet and wrenched it out of his
hand he, however, got it back, and.
immediately struck her down. She
mad very severe wound on the left
side Of ner head, over the parietaf
bone. The cash is about four inches.
long and cut down the bone. One
side of her face is paralyzed, and when
she was brought to the hospital she
was speechless.
Nh. GoULDY.-Mr Gouldy is about
80 years of age. He is a trustee In
the Methodist Church. He was for
merly a lumber merchant, and had
retired from business with an ample
fortune. He was esteemed by his
church rs an exemplary Christian, and
D1 al W uO kuCN Aill d. al upIl0DJ
and honorable citizen. He is spoken of
By all his friends as a remarkably kind
and generous man, who was always
dearly beloved by all who knew him !;
never harsh to his children, though
rather strict about some things.
i The balance Of the account, as to
the situation and plan of the house,
| the position of the parties in the house,
the persons who first arrived at the
scene of disaster, and the actions and
doings of different individuals, has no
other than local importance.
Fl BEHAVED REsPEcTABLY.-The Hins-
dale County, Miss, Gazette is respor-
sible for this: 6 Gov. A. g. Brown
land Gov. John ]. McRae were in at
tendance at Church, at Spring Ridge,
in this county, a Sabbath or two ago.
Although politicians by profession and
offioa h0l6oro IL l. 40