Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1869-04-13

| Man Murders his Wife and
80 Four Children. Eta
Horrible Details Of the Murder.
Arrest and Imprisonment OF
the Murderer-His State
ment and His Con-
duet In the Jail.

/ The st. Paul papers give full par
ticulars of the murder of his Wit
| and four children, by John B. Gray
at Oakdale township, Washington
county, Minnesota, on the 18th inst
! The murderer is a farmer, and wa
laboring under temporary insanity
at the time he committed the deed
Gray is a man about forty years o
age, native of Harrisburg, Penn
sylvania. His wife, Alice, formerly
Farley, was thirty eight years old
They were married at Hastings
eleven years ago. The children
were two boys and two girls, as fol
lows: Margaret, aged ten; Jas. B.
aged 8; David, aged 5, and Nellie
Jane 3. About daylight on the
morning of the murder, Jas. Arm
strong, a neighbor, heard loud cries
coming from the direction of Gray's
house. He Immediately went in
that direction, aud when near
enough to the place heard Gray cry
out, "Oh, come and hang me-" con-
tinually repeating the cry. Arm
strong walked nearer and saw Gray
sitting on the steps of the granary
with rope in his hand, alternately
whistling and screaming Arm
strong at once ran to the residence
of Gray's father, who lived near at
hand, and the two repaired to the
house of the murderer. They
pushed open the door and found the
four children lying on the floor,
side by side, covered with a quilt,
their threats cut from ear to ear,
and their faces gashed in a hor-
rible manner. At this moment
the maniac murderer came toward
his father with rope in his hand,
and would undoubtedly have stran-
gled himself had not Armstrong and
another son who had arrived seized
the unhappy man, and after a des-
perate struggle, securely bound him.
In answer to their inquiries in re-
gard to his wife, he said: 81 killed
them all with an AK, and they lave
gone to Heaven. Oh, hang me !;
hang me-" He finally told them
that his wife was in the granary,
and repairing thither the body of
Mrs. Gray was found ON the floor
covered with quilt. The murderer
was arrested and started for st.
Paul. On his arrival at the jail, the
strength of several men was needed
to place him in a cell. When leav-
ing Harrisburg, he took severe
cold, which settled in his head, pro-
ducing almost entire deafness. His
disposition previous. to this was
eminently social: He was very fond
of company and proud of his per-
sonal appearance. This sudden in
trinity seems to have weighed
heavily on his spirits. He became
at times morbidly moody and low
spirited. He consulted the most
eminent physicians at Harrisburg
and st. Louis, and other cities, in
hopes of obtaing relief, and, as
hope died out, his disposition
seemed to undergo a change. His
deafness preyed upon his mind and
affeced his health, but up to short
time ago no fears were entertained
for his sanity. For three or four days
before committing the deed he had
been unusually low spirited, and on
Monday last his brother Maxwell
had accompanied him to st. Paul,
and got some medicine from Mr..
Wiley. On Tuesday, however, he
felt much more cheerful and was
busily employed the whole day in
cutting wood.
Upon entering the dwelling a
most shocking scene met the eyes.
In the back part of the room are
two beds-one on each side. That
on the right was occupied by the
father and mother and little girl
the one to the left, directly in front
of the door, by the other children.
The pillows of the latter were satu.
rated with blood, and the bed was
so tumbled as to indicate a consid-
cradle struggle. The other bed was
no more disarranged than it would
naturally be in the morning. Upon
the floor between the beds and the
door lay the murdered children,
placed in a row, the largest nearest
the foot of the beds, and the small
est, sweet, mild-faced, light haired
little girl, between two and three
years of age, nearest the door
Each one of them had their throats
cut so thoroughly as to almost sever
their heads from their bodies
These wounds were of the most hor-
rible description. They were al
least three or four inches in width,
and extended clear across from eal
to ear. Besides the gashes in hel
throat, there was an ugly one on the
lower left jaw of Maggie, the eldest
girls face. The horrible gashes
were given while the father was
kneeling upon the breasts of bis
children, with the blade OF an axe in
his hands, jamming the same down
their Threats. This accounts fol
the cash in Maggie's left jaw, as
well as for the depth of the wounds
in the threats of his victims. The
blow of the axe that killed the
j little girl went crashing through
4 the bones of the breast and mech
so that one could look under the
breastbone. x
One of the beds was covered Will
blood, from the pillow down to the
middle of the tick; while on the
other, which was unstained, lay 6
long case-knife, sharpened to 6
keen edge, and which had evidently
been used by the fratricide. Be-
tween the beds the floor was GOV.
cred with deep pool of blood, pre-
senting much the appearance of 8
battlefield dissecting table; and
near the center of the room lay the
bodies of four little nnocents-twc
| girls and two boys-all arranged in
accordance with their ages, lying
partially on their right sides, witt
their little faces turned in the same
direction, besmeared with gore and
cold in death.
They were carefully covered tc
the shoulders with a bloody quilt