New Orleans daily crescent., 1860-07-10
An Awful Tragedy.
shower,y.


correspondent of the Burlington Hawkeye
gives, under date of the I'd inst the following par
ticulars Of terrible tragedy, writing from Fair
field, in Jefferson county:
Late on Saturday evening last our citizens were
startled with the report that strange family had
been murdered near Batavia, in this county-that
the bodies of q mother, son and daughter had been
found in Cedar creek in the afternoon by fisher
men, half mile north of Batavia. Our Sheriff
Robb and others started Immediately for that
region, where he learned that a man and boy
with two yokesof oxen, with closely covered
wagon, had passed along the road near where the
bodies were found late Oh Friday evening. His
singular, strange, excited manner, attracted the
notice of those who happened to see him, and sus-
picion at once marked him as the murderer.
Sheriff Robb, David L. Hnffstutter and others
promptly followed after him. and found that he
had crossed the Des Moines above Portland.
thence to Lebanon: thence four miles from Upton,
Scotland county, No., where they overlook him in
! the prairie on Sunday evening, and returned to
this place with the prisoner about O'Clock p M.
to-day.
John Kephart is the name Of the hoary.headed
| villain He formerly lived near Trenton in Henry
| county, and is well known in Washington county,
/ where he has lived since he left Trenton ten or
| twelve years ago.
| gather an imperfect history of the acts of this
old villain from the little boy who was found in his
company: William Willis, carpenter the boy's
| father, formerly lived in Muscatine, Iowa. The
4 boy remembers that John kephart came to Musca-
| tine to move the family South. On the journey
they stopped two months in Cass county, Mo-, at q
| widow Snyders, where Kephart helped to hnsk
| corn. One morning, soon after breakfast his
father, who had eaten breakfast well, took sud
denly sick and died in less than an hour. The boys
| mother, the murdered woman, Jane Willis told
him that Kephart gave his father strychnne in his
food. After the death of Willis it seems they went
to the Cherokee country, where Kephart kept a
grocery, and sold whisky to the Indians. This
summer they moved near Fort Des Moines.
4 In {lau
started for Kansas City. On last Thursday they
stopped near the bridge at Eddyville, and camped
out. Mrs. Willis cooked supper, after which, com
| planned of being sick laid down in the wagon and
went to sleep. In the night some time, the boy
awoke and saw that she had deep cash in her
head The three children all got out of the wagon
and kephart chased Joseph T., aged IL, and Maria
Jane aged z, about half an hour under and around
the wagon with the AK in hand, until they too were
killed. He then placed them by the side of the
| mother and pounded their heads with the wagon
4 hammer.
He left Eddyville soon after the murderous deeds
finished, and travelled thirty miles to the
place where he no doubt hoped to hide the nnfor
tunate victims from human eyes A grey headed
old man, over 60 years old, travelling day and nigh
with an OK team thirty miles, with the dead bodie
of mother and two children IN the wagon to fin,
place of concealment!- THE living boy, Jane
Harvey Willis by his side-and then when tn.
place was found, he stripped his victims, put the
garments into the wagon, took the mother first am
then the children, and hid them under the water
placing log upon them to keep them down.
The boy, James, says that he has brother, SyI
vester Willis, living in Louisa county. On Friday
after leaving Eddyville, he looked again for biz
wagon hammer and found it sticking in the boys
head. The clothes OF his victims were all fount
in his wagon. kephart and the woman had quar-
relied about some money. She claimed that TIL
money in dispute was given to her by her son
The money was found by the officers hid in a ke
of soap grease in the wagon.
There is intense excitement in Jefferson county
but the law will be left 10 take its course. KeI
hart is entirely safe until he is regularly conviete
and hung by law.