Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1870-10-11

All these scenes didn't occupv one
As soon as | realized what
| was doing, | dropped the hammer
out Of my hand, Mrs II. stood few
seconds and threw herself down on |
the bed, across the feet of the girl and
between the girl and the boys the |
boys were laying little lower down
on the bed than the girl. Soon after
Mrs. H. threw herself down on the
bed, she commenced screaming at the
top Of her voice; and the boys
screamed with her asked the boys
to stop crying, but they paid no at
tenLion TO me- They screamed few
minutes and then stopped. AS soon
as they were all quiet, | tried to apol-
ogize to Mrs. IL for what had done.
| told her that | was sorry | had
struck her; that the insulting Ian
guage she had dealt me, made me
lose control Of my temper for the
moment or | wouldn't have struck
her. | asked her - let me see if
had hurt her much, and see if | could
do anything for her, She didn't
speak, and when | stopped over her
to look at her head, she waved me off
with her hand As stood looking
at her in silence for a few minutes,
and wondering what | could do, |
heard sleigh-bells approaching from
the direction of Plattevilie, and al
most at the same time | heard the
voices of the people in the sleighs
laughing and talking. | thought
when | first heard them they were
quite near, but it was a very still,
frosty night, and they were farther
off than | thought they were |
think Mrs. IL. must have heard them
at nearly the same time | did, for she
commenced screaming again as loud
as she could and the boys cried with
her. | begged of them TO stop, but
they took no notice of me- | was in
terrible dilemma; alone in the
woods at night, in q strange country,
with the girl lying dead, the woman
wounded and screaming, and the two
boys crying out as if in mortal terror,
| picked up the feather bed that was
lying at my feet and threw it over
Mrs, IL. and the boys to keep their
cries from being heard till the APP
preaching party were passed, Mrs.
IL. threw the bed off with her hand,
and seemed to scream louder than
ever.
am sure the approaching party
would have heard her if they had not
been making so much noise them
selves. After she had thrown the
bed off. | put the light out and put
the bed over her again and held it so
she couldn't throw it off. She strug-
gled terribly to get the bed off, and
to cry out, till the first of the sleigh
ing party were almost by us, when
she ceased her cries and struggles
The boys had also stopped crying |
was afraid to-remove the bed until
the sleighs had passed, but did not
hold it down after Mrs II. had ceased
struggling.
As near as | could Judge, there were
five or six teams OF tho seighing par
ty. | didn't see them, as the hind
end Of my sled was towards the road,
closed up. | think there were three
or four Il couldn't say which, sleighs
pretty close together, driving leisure
ly along, | think they must have
been sort of a pleasure party. A short
distance behind them was what ap-
peared to be q loaded team Judging
by the craunching noise the sled
made in the snow-and about the
same distance or a little further be
hind that again, was another loaded
team. As soon as the last sleigh had
passed short distance, | removed
the bed. There was no one spoke
or made any noise, | called one of
the boys by name, but received no
answer. | then lighted the lantern
and looked ut them. The two bows
laid on their backs, with their eyes
open, and seemed to be looking
straight at me. spoke to them a.
gam bnt could get no answer. then
shook them but they never moved.
| became alarmed then | looked at
the wommen. She was laying part
" on her face. turned her over and
spoke to her and shook her, but she
showed no signs Of life. She had on
hood with the strings tied around
her neck. run my fingers in be-
tween the strings and her neck and
pulled them so as to loosen them
about the throat. | took the bows
comforters off; then / g6t snow and
dashed in their faces; | got the bot
tie Of wine and poured some in the
mouth Of the woman and one of the
boys but couldn't open the other
boys mouth-his jaws seemed to be
locked and his tongue protruded,
continued to chafe their hands and
dash snow in their faces. | heard
some more teams coming and put
out my light. | worked with them
long time, probably an hour or more
| don't know how long. | chafed
their hands; called them all by name;
raised them up and shook them by
turns, but all was of no avail, THEY
WERE Dead HAD sMoTHERED THEM |
Having committed the murder,
Thompson says he was Supplied, and
for three hours sat upon the trunks
in semi-unconsciousness. It then
occurred to him, that he must conceal
what he had done, and he started
tor Beetown, near which he had OBJ
served mineral holes, in which he
thought he might hide the bodies.
Through Lancaster he drove, lost
his way, stopped to procure direc-
tons, and having wandered for hours
with his freight of gastly corpses,
came 10 the mineral holes only to
find them too shallow for his purpose,
He then determined to 90 to Cass-
vile and hide the evidence of bis
crime in the river. Again he had
difficulty in finding his road, but al
nearly daylight passed through Cass-
vile, went to the river and there cast
, a 4 T..