The Perrysburg journal. [volume] (Perrysburg, Ohio) 1853-1861, 1860-05-17
Horrible Murder.
A Girl Choked to Death and her Person Out
ragged.


The citizens Of Maumee were thrown into a "
state Of great excitement, on last Sabbath morn
ing, by the announcement that young daugh- I
ter of Ellen Thome, aged seven years aud folr !
months. had been brutality murdered and her /
person outraged The facts of the case, as near /
as We can learn them, are as follows: On last 4
Saturday evening the young girl asked leave and |
obtained permission from her mother to accom- ,
pany her grandmot to church, who, on miss
ing her just after entering the door, returned
Immediately home in search of her The girls
father, Thomes Burns, printer at Cleveland,
ii appears, threatened to take the child away
from her mother, who, on learning of the mys
terious disappearance, instantly gave the alarm,
for she feared her child had been abducted away
from her. The whole of Saturday night was
spent in the effort 10 recover the lost child but
all was vain. Sabbath morning came, however
and with it the disclosure of an awful crime
In un unoccuped shed, or stable, only few rods !
from the house, the dead body of the child was
found, cord about her neck, marks of brutal
violence upon her head, neck and body and iy-
| Ing as if thrown in upon the floor The cord
was piece OF common coIhes-lne, and en-
tangled between it aud her neck was wisp Of
! hay. There was no hay in the building where
she was found, aud subsequent examination
showed that she had been killed by the choking
she had received, and not by the rope. Upon
making this discovery the greatest excitement
ensued An inquest was held aud, although
suspicion at onte begun to attach to the father,
nothing positively was adducsd to warrant the
Jury in fixing upon him MS the author Of the
horrible crime.
A man sitting in front Of store, around the
corner from the girls home saw her come along
the street, skipping in her Childke way. There
is an alley leading from this street in the rear OF
the premises where the girls mother lived
The man is not certain that she turned into this
alley but it is presumed she did, in order to
reach home by the back way, for the iudca' ions
seem TO show that the 6irl was passing through
this alley when she was seized and gagged--the
Williams fingers leaving their prints on her fore
head, and his thumb cutting the lower part of her
! chin-showing the way she was strangcd. She
was taken into the stable, and. after accomplish
ing his heIsh purpose, it seems that he must
believed that the villain designed throwing her
into the river, aud Tor this purpose fastened the
D rope around her neck, with view attaching q
stone thereto, to cause her body to suh. But
the town was atoused, and parties in pursuit OF
the lost child were searching every street and
alley and this plan seems to have been abandon.
ap as too hazarjoas--tbe murde e. undoubtedly
thinking II policy to make good his escape from
= the imm, diate pr sence of his victim while op-
portunily presented itself. If seen that night
he must have been taken for friend in sea ch
Of the chill |, and thus permitted to escape.
Since the above was in type, we learn that
the child was an illegitimatc, and being very
pretty its unlawtul father sought to steal il a.
way. 1t is said that the child came home the
other day anu told her mother that man had
given her some candy, aud had promised her
more if she would come, but the mothers sus-
picions were aroused, and fearing that this man
might be some one employed to steal the child
she refused to let il 60 after the promised gift.
We have said that the girls person was violated,
but this is probably mis- take, The urethra ex-
hibited evidences of much violence, lis true, but
if prrpetraed by the girls father, it was mere
ruse to throw of suspicion and escape detection.
! We learn, also that dispatch was sent to Ceve-
l land for the arrest Of Burns, who, until the mys
: terry is cleared up, public opinion will hold re.
spOnsible as being i'm some way connected with
this most atrocious and deliberate murder. If,
however, it should prove that Mr.. Burns is in
nocent we shall take great pleasure in making
, such an ann, ,uncement