The Weekly Perrysburg journal. [volume] (Perrysburg, O. [Ohio]) 1861-1???, 1867-08-23
COOL INDIFFERENCE EXHIBITED
BY THE MURDERER.
His Arrest ond Lodgmcns i'm JOiL

trightful at times than the imagination can con-
cewe. Theft, defalcation, robbery aud arson,
rape, murder and assassination, bra zen faced and
God-dehant, stalk through the city S crowded thor
ouglhare and along the countrys public highway
alike, in the broad glare of day as well as in the
dark hours Of night. 1t seems as though outrage
and murder have become epidemical in their char
acter, and scarcely neighborhood can boast Of its
safety from the polluted touch of tho one, or the
bloody grasp of the other. The use of the blud-
geon, the knife and Che pistol is becoming too fire.
quent, and the hand OF Justice seems to be slow
and inefficient for the arrest Of the evil This ma
MIA for crime is confined to no special locality, but
extends itself everywhere, and the question as TO
what win be the most effective remedy to arrest its
progress and restore to society healthier tone of
ethics, is that will call into requistion the
highest skill and wisdom of the moralist and PHI
lanthropist to solve.
Hitherto our own county has been comparatively
free from the darker crimes that paralyze the
heart with horror, but it falls within our prov
ince to place on record the particulars of high
handed murder, which, for fendish atrocity and
deliberate purpose, has but few parallels the
murder Of a son by his father Almost every one
with whom we have conversed has given a differ
ent version of the tragic deed and its attendant
circumstances, but the reported facts as reliably
correct as we are enabled to ascertain, are about
as follows:
On Wednesday evening" August IA, 1867, be-
tween and o'clock, HIRAM A. DoHALpsoN muir
dered his son. THOMAS DONALDSON, by stabbing
him to the heart with sharp jack knife. The
murder occurred in front of the residence of DoN.
ALDsoN, on the Plank Road, about I2l miles north
of Bowling Green. The murderer is a man of As
or 80 years of age, sandy bair and complexion,
and is represented, by those who have known him
for years, to be man of most ungovernable pas
sions, quarrelsome, vicious and malevolent in his
disposition, british and tyrlnnica in his family,
| and constant dread and terror to his neighbors
as well as to the different members of his family
About three weeks since, he assaulted his wife
and one of his sons, beating the latter with boot
jack. He likewise beat his wife most unmerci-
fully, and her screams attracted the entire neigh.
| borhoOd The bruises she received were very Sc
we're, and the alteration ended in his driving his
entire family away from his place. Since that
! time his wife and six children---fve bows and one
girl--had resided in Bowling Green, none of them
daring to return to their homo, even for their
clothing, on account of the vicious husband and
|
threatened their lives. Mrs. DONALDSON imme-
diately commenced suit for divorce and alimony,
and also secured peace warrant against her hus-
band, placing him under bonds to the amount of
$780, The sons sympathized with aud took the
part of their mother, and this fact seemed to have
enraged the father to such an extent that he
threatened to take the lives Of his wife and one of
his sons. Mrs. Donaldson desired to commence
| housekeeping in Bowling Green, and for this pur-
p9se it was necessary that she should secure some
of her furniture, housekeeping utensils and provi-
sons. But she was in constant fear of her hus-
bands violence. N
On Wednesday afternoon, of last week. Mrs.
DONALDSON, learning that her husband had taken
load of grain to Haskins Station. regarded it as
| favorable opportunity to secure portion OF her
| household goods, and went to the house, aceompa-
MED by two of her sons, and loaded upon a wagon
feather bed, parlor-stove, raiu-water barrel,
busheI of shelled corn and some side-imeat These
goods were loaded, and the boys were about TO
start with the load for Bowling Gre en-, when Don
ALDsoN drove up with his team in great haste,
having evidently learned what was transpiring
before he reached the house. On the wagon was
Mrs. DoNALDsoN and her two sons, THOMAS and
| HARLEY. -
| When DoNALDsoN came opposite the wagon, he
| peremptorily ordered THOMAS to unload the goods,
and not attempt to drive away with them, The
young man firmly declined, stating that his moth
er0must haVo something to keep house with.
Then, will fix YOU" was the reply of the un
relentng father, uttered with the most imputtaba-
| BILE coolness and Significance. He instantly sprang
| from his wagon and caught hold of the heads of
the horses his son was driving, and commenced
unbuckling the gearing so as to let the tongue
down. THOMAS thereapon jumped down and en-
deavored to prevent his father from unhtching
the team, by demonstrating with him and by trying
to push him away. Then commenced the affray
which ended in the death Of Thomas DoNALbsoN,
aud stamped upon the brow of the father the red
branl of "Murder." DONALDSON, with a sharp
jack-knife, stabbed his son in the back and once in
the arm when The victim cried out, " He is stab
bling me he is stabbing me >" At this juncture
GEpRsE Ross-who, in company with IRwIN
WALKER, had driven to the scene of the fay in
buggy-ran up to DONALDSON, aud struck him
blow with his fist; which caused the murderer to
make a thrust With the knife at Ross, without re-
linqushing his hold upon young DONALDSON.
slit in his coat-sleeve was the only damage Ross
=, Ross sprang back to the buggy, got the
p, and commenced striking Donaldson
i ead with the butt end of it. Before Ross
however, THOMAS struck at his father
with @e.Heck yoke, one end being still fastened to
one of the horses. DONALDSON all the while had
his boy tightly grasped by the right shoulder with
his left hand, and, exclaimng 50 will kill you
will put an end to you 4" twice more stabbed him.
In all, the young man received four wounds, one
in each arm, one in the left side of the back, and
the fatal thrust penetrating the heart to the depth
Of an inch or more.
Ross struck the murderer with the whip until
he. was compelled to release his Tiotim. DONALD
SON then jumped upon his wagon and drove furi-
ously to Bowling Green, where the villain, who
had imbrued his hands in the life e-bood of his son
had the impudence to commence the process of OBJ
tanning warrant against his son and Ross for as.
sault While thus engaged, word arrived that
THOMAS DONALDSON was dead, and the murderer
was Immediately arrested, and his knife aud some
other articles taken from him. He refused to be-
lieve, at first, thathis son was dead, but remarked
off is so, that" pointing to the knife, :" is what
| killed him."
The news of the horrid deed spread through the
quiet village with startling rapidity, and an ex-
cited aud indignant crowd soon assembled outside
the building in which the murderer was under
| charge of the officers. On being asked if be did