The spirit of democracy. [volume] (Woodsfield, Ohio) 1844-1994, 1867-06-11
A Horrible story--An .ExtraOfal-
nary Crime by a Child.

OF 0Ft Z itt, 4 emali setttcmeut III buel
valley of the Saskatchewan. Prince.
Rupert's Land, contains the following.
account of most terrible occurrence
which took place there on the 18th Of
March:
A dreadful affair happened here the
other day; such singular and out-of. the.
way crime, if it can SO be called, that it is
almost without the bounds of credibiiity.
You know what quiet little village ours
is; here, ,hedged in by the forest primeval,
and subject only to the wants that at
tend man in his primitive state, we rely
mainly on our traps and guns as means
of gaining livelihood; we are as happy
even in our isolation from the busy haunts
of men, as were the tabled dwellers in
the Utopian Arcadia. The name Of the
last new conner is Martin Buthiere. He
is habitan from Lower Canada. He
came here last fall, accompanied by his
wife and five children. It is in this FAM
lily that the dreadful tragedy which am.
about to relate took place. On Saturday
inst. .Bnthiere killed three onslaught
ering them in the usual manner-that is,
after stabbing the animals and allowing
them to bleed to death while walking
around, he disembowled them, and plung-
ed their carcasses into vat of boiling
water, and then scraped the bristles clean
! from the skin. The three pigs were then
hoisted by the hind legs to an over hang
ing beam. The butchering operations Of
Martin were Witnessed by bis two youn-
ger children, boys, of the respective ages
of six and eight years. The eldest Gus
tave, it was noticed at the time. seemed
delighted, not only by the stupid actions
of the pigs after receiving their death
wounds, but also excited and interested
in the after processes of the butchering,
clapping his little hands and mutteriDg,
in the patois Of 1ese people, childliks
observations Of JOY. 9
The butchering, as ! have before OBJ
served, took place on Saturday. In the
morning members Of the different house
holds assembling in the little chapel at
the east corner of the fort, and heard
mass celebrated by our good father Quo
Ereau. He invited us to attend in the
evening, when be intended to lecture up
on some subject suitable to this season
of the church year. In compliance with
his invitation the chapel in the evening
was filed with the usual number of wor-
shippers, with the exception of some Of
the younger members of the community
who had been left at home. Among
/ these latter were the boys of Martin Bu-
There. It was pretty late when the
meeting broke up. ] accompanied Bu.
There and his wife toward their house,
which was but short distance from the
chapel. When within few yards of the
doorstep we were all startled by observ-
ling the little Gustaye running toward Us
holding up his hands all red and bloody;
his eyes glistening with wild but child
like sort Of glee, and crying out in bro.
ken French to the effect that be had
l"killed little piggy, come and see. The
mother, startled at the appearance Of the
boy, interrogated him quickly as to the
cause of the blood, but he only clapped
his hands as before, muttering about
l"plggy,p and said. "come and see.n Ny
first thought was that the child had beer
playing with the carcass of the pigs, and
that this accounted for the blood. The
father and mother also SCENE dof the same
opinion, and chided the boy for what they
considered his mischievousness.
| B -
i Little did we imagine the fearful spec.
| tacle that awaited us in the house. Soor
the door was reached. little Gustave run
ming on before and opening it for us. OF
horror of horrorsl The door is opened
and right before our eyes, hanging from
one of the low beams that ran across the
room, was the dead, naked, mutilated
body of the precious little boy. the youn.
gest of Buthiere's children. The hool
was covered with clots and pools of blood
still warm and steaming, and horrible to
lrelate, directly under the hanging corpse
were the bowels Of the little fellow in q
heap, just as they had been tern from the
still warm bodyl The mother, with q
frantic shrek, swooned on the thresh.
hold, the father stood trans6xed with
horror, while / with sickening feeling
leaned against the door.post, with my
hands raised to shade my eyes from the
horrid sight. Some of the villagers, who
were passing at the time, ATTRACTED by the
1shrieks Of Mrs. Buthiere, came to the
house. Their exclamations aroused all
IN l. n fa.