Cleveland daily leader. [volume] ([Cleveland, Ohio]) 1865-1873, 1866-03-14
HORRIBLE AFFAIR.
A RObber Beafs a Child 90 Death EIfh
a BibIe-FWO other Children Terri
bly, Beaten and Left for Dead


From the Madison, Indiana, Courier Of the sth-I
A short time since Mr.. Todd, residing
on Bear Greek, half q mile northwest of
Paris, Jennings County, Indians, eighteen
miles from this city y,sold his farm for 50, 500.
On Wednesday last eth inst, at the hour
of two o'clock in the afternoon, Mr.. and
Mrs. Todd, having occasion TO go out into
the field tor short time, left the children
in the house together There were three
of the children, aged, respectively, two,
four and six years The parents Of course Q
suspected no danger, and all their money,
&c, was left in the house. In half an
hour, however, they returned, and were
horror-stricken to find all three of
the children stretched upon the
floor az if in a dying cond .tion, and
weltering in their blood Immediately
giving the alarm to their nearest neigh
bors, it spread until the people of ths en-
tire vicinity were out, in arms, on horse
back, securing the country in search ofthe
hell-deserving author Of the horrible
crime. The suppOsitIOn is that the prim-
ary object of the fend 10 human shape was
robbery, but after taking the money and
such other valuables a. he wanted, he
feared, perhaps, that the eldest child
might be a witness against him, and there
fore deliberately knocked them all three
in the head. Mr. Hammel stopped at the
house of mourning after the Occurrences.
He saws he found the children in horribly
mangied condition, and the attendant
physician had given it AS his opinion that
neither of them could recover
From the Madison Courier, 1eth-l 90
We yesterday gave an account of .
robbery at Paris, in which an attsmpt was
made to murder three little children.
Last evening, after our paper had gone to
press, Mr. L. w Hudson, who lives near
Paris, called and gave Us some additional
psrticulars. The father of the children is
Mr.. William Todd. The youngest child
has died from the injuries it received, but
the other two will probably recover.
Late on the evening Of the murder, the
oldest child recovered sufficiently far to
be able to tell the name of the author of
the terrible act, who was Immediately
sought out and arrested. His name is
Wash. Sage and during the winter he
had worked for Mr.. Todd. The children
on the day of the tragedy came in from
their play while the parents were out in
the field, and found the seoundrel ranssok-
lag the premises. He Immediately seized
Bible lying near, with which he knocked
the smallest child in the head. He then
grasped sm0thing-iron, and either with
Il or pistol which he held in his hand,
he beat all three Of them until he sup
posed they were dead, and then left with
his booty for his home, three-quarters Of
a miles distant, where he was arrested.
Upon being taken into custody he made
full confession. In searching for the
money he found two poeket-books-one
small one and alarger one filed with pa-
pers. He tsek the last, but left the hrst,
although it contained the money The
prisoner hada preliminary trial on Thurs
day at Paris before Squire Jones, and was
recognized TO Court. He is now in jail at
Vernon, where Mr.. Hudson saw him yes
terday. --r
We learn from various parties that Sage
has always been suspicious character,
and generally considered a bad man. He
is married man, about thirty years old,
and a son Of John Sage, formerly Of this
county. He was terror to the neighbor-
hood when living here, and is believed to
be the one who attempted to kill Wiley
White some time ago, though no positive
evidence could be found against HIM At
another time he and another desparado
named Mccartney were arrested by OH
GERS MeLeland and Littlejohn, for barn
burning, or destroying hay-staeks-