The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1866-08-22
CONFESSION OF sTARKwEATHER, THE
MURDERER.


From ne Hartford Press, 90th. .
The following is substantially the story of the
crimes and misdemeanors of Albert u. stark
weather, as narrated by himself a lew DAYS
before his execution, to Deputy Sheriff Finch;-
Moses Scotts barn was never burned, ana the
confession OF setting fire TO it seems to be the first
intlmatioD that the public have that lts destruc-
tiOn was ever attempted. With reference TO 1t
he said:-
al distinctly recollect going into Moses
SCOTS barn and setting fire to 1t, and when
went out il was all on fire. do not see why 1t
was not burned, for can swear positively that
set it on ire. cannot say what night 1t was
or whether / had been to Mr.. Campbells or TO
the Post Office
Horace Whites barn, it will be remembered
was burned some months before the matricide.
Starkweather has before confessed to the burn
ing of it. 1t has generally been supposed that
he had set it on ire in the hope that his own
barns, on which there was large insurance,
would go with it. His story about this ls briefly
as follOws:-
when went from Uncle Wells that night
went through Mr.. Whites lane into the barn,
and went out by the back way home.
81 took arsenic out OF my mothers cupboard
Mt home. 1t was done up lin a white paper, such
rs druggists use, and that done up In another
paper OF the same sort. | took it out of that
paper and put it in pocket match-sate.
sprinkled 1t out of the matchcase into the flour
in the barrel. While | was in the room WIN
my uncle, who was then sick, he asked me 10
get him some water. / took three of lis pow
deTs, which had been left by his physicians; anu
when went after the water empued ont
three OF the powders, and put IN the same
amount of arsenic out ofthe barrel.
"Since the spring of 1860 or 1864, II was
not in reality monomaniac, had an lrreSiStl'
BILE impulse to destructlveness. Ii ahecicd me
principally with desire that could not rc>iS:,
TO kill those persons for whom | had The mos;
affection. Several times have been saved fTom
killing those dear to me by some Sl-Ghi ast'-
dental occurrence which would make ne tNTEei
Il don't know that the desire 10 destroy af
tected me during the whole 0wc, NaI foT i@o 81
three years of IL, no one for whom had l,a-
tuIal Affection was safe IN lily presence. Ncilit7
did it impel me TO kill only hi 40 genera. ac
structiveness. EeveT con, lttt5 ADy CRIME ay
wicked act with malicious fltoYt knew nt
Ralady and stroye against Is 81 Gh9allt.
~ strove as bari a> EhAZ n5Eja Z. ~ ssi tSS
desire, but ! could G,i Aolg myself. 2 hai
master, and hard oIt- u : ever rat l. S.i
wrong, il was II Uoi Masking GncgL n taSt 10
some person who co.l.c v-s1ta SrS. nc. but
was proud. l was fearful tAai Il Z: should ever
be known should oe taken 10 some -nSSue hos
pital, and tina. was iIs1-&cs tasl should never
recover from. ] possessed strong will, and
thought that knowing hoS was affected, 1
could control myself. but could not
al have always heretofore denied that had
any desire or tendency 10 destructiveuess, from
a foolish pride, perhaps, that / should be con-
fined in some hospital tor insane people, than
which had rather suffer death. And | should
not DOW reveal luelll Dul lIOul d WISH W oultlu
others, who may have been suspected of com
plicity with me- and to correct many malicious
reports that have been circulated against me-
and knowing that not until now could have
stated the facts, free from the accusation OF try
ing TO clear myself from this charge on the
ground of insanity, which abhorred.
In respect to the last crime (tLe murder OF
his motheD / can only say 1t was never pre-
meditated. / loved both mother and sister
truly, although they have been the cause of
great disappOintments to me, which disap-
pontments, with bodily disease, probably pro-
dHced the mania and which. together with my
knowledge of the mania, made me lead
miserable life. have not tried to escape pun
ishment though thas seemed impossible for me
to realize that / committed this crime"
What Starkweather said about planning the
murder of young lady whom he took to ride
for the purpose, is suppressed, out OF regard to
the feelings of persons now living.
With reference to troubles South, he said that
erroneous stories had been told about him. 1t
has been rumored that he killed man IN North
Carolina, and that he was obliged to come North
suddenly on account oft. He said this was not
So He had no trouble whatever with any one
in North Carolina. He never had any trouble
with any one South, except once, and that was
in Richmond. In talking with stranger there,
he gave utteTance to sentiments on the slavery
question at which the stranger was provoked.
High words followed, and they nearly came to
blows but finally cooled down and separated.
such is this strange young mans story, as told
a very short time before his execution. We give
it to our readers almost exactly as he gave it,
and without comments. The parts in quotation
marks are his own language.