The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1871-04-27
An Illinois Tragedy.
From the Carbonate, (Ill.) New Era, April G

From the Carbondale, ILL., New Era, April g.
A correspondent from Stone Fort. Sa-
line county. writes that on the morning
of March 26 that community was thrown
into an intense commotion by the intelli-
gence that an entire family, by the name
of Dakins, had been murdered last night,
at a point some three miles southeast of
this place. The writer SAYS: As soon
as heard the news | mounted my horse
and visited the scene OF the tragedy. q
small log hut OF one room on the land Of
Mr.. Jerry Folly. 1t stands in the midst of
small clearing of, | should judge. an
acre and a half in extent. surrounded on
all sides by almost unbroken forest 1t
lies about three hundred yards from the
county road, from which it is reached by
a bride path. On reaching the hut l
found about a dozen men Of the neighbor-
hood, all terribly excited and looking the
horror each one felt. Dismounting and
hitching my horse, | entered the hut, and
hope that it may never be my fortune to
look upona similar spectacle On and di-
agonally across some old quilts and blank
cts stretched upon rude framework in
the corner to the right hand as you enter
the door was the body Of a woman of APP
parently thirty-four or thirty-fve, with
her throat cut and hacked in a fearful
manner, the jugular veins, windpipe, ar
teries. everything being severed, and the
head only held to the trunk by the verte-
brms There was deep incision across
the palm of the right hand, as though
sharp knife had been suddenly drawn
through the clenched fist. Several deep
and long cuts were upon her shoulders
and breasts but nowhere conld be dis
covered any stabs, showing that the muir
der was not committed with a sharp
pointed instrument. Near the fire place
with her head partially in an old skillet.
lay a fair-haired little girl of ten or
twelve years OF age. with her throat cut
from ear to ear. In the corner farthest
from the door, and on the same side of
the room where the woman was lying, on
a pallet evidently where the children
slept of nights, lay the bodies Of two lit
tie boys, one across the other, aged re-
spectively about seven and five, both
with their Threats cut. On the floor near,
and partially under the bed where the
woman lay, was the body ofanother girl
apparently not more than three years old,
Such was the horrible spectacle that greet
ed my sight on entering the hut. The
floor, the walls. the few articles Of furni-
ture, everything in and about the misera-
Bile apartment were delugcd with blood.
From indications the woman's struggle
for life must have been protnctod and tu
rious until she succumbed from the loss
OF blood or a disabling stroke of the in
stlument of slaughter. Bloody tracks on
the door-sll, and a trail OF blood leading
in a nolth-easterlv direction from the
house, pointed ont the course Of the muir
derer's flight Pursuing parties started
on the trail bnt did not proceed more
than one hundred yards before they came
upon the sequel and end of this terrible
tragedy of the night The body of an IN
FAINT of not more than Il year old Jay par
TALLY clasped by the left arm Of 4 man,
it having shared the fate of its mother,
brother and sisters. The man, who
was no other than Dakins, was also dead,
with a gaping wound across his throat.
His blood stained shirt, pants and a IA
zor lying near the body, where it must
have fallen from his hand the moment
after intlicting the fatal wound upon his
throat, proclaimed him to be the author
of the wholesale butchery Of his family,
despatching his own guilty soul to the
other world swiftly after the shades of
his victims
As the man died and left no sign. the
causes that led to the commission Of the
murders can only be coniectured. The
Dakins had been living here only about
six months, having come, | understand
from Jefferson county, and little or moth
ing is known by any one here of their for
mer history. Dakins was about forty-two
or three, and in the habit of drinking to
excess. When under the influence of liq-
uor he was in the habit of Speaking of his
wife in very gross and uncomplimentary
terms. More than once, | am informed,
he has asserted that he left his former
home to break off Il criminal intimacy be-
tween his wife and !; neighbor, and on
several occasions he has been heard to eX-
press doubts of the paternity of the chill
dren. The supposilion is that the poor
wretch, from long nursing Of his jealous
fancies and brooding over his real OF i'm
aginary wrongs. and moved doubtless by
whiskev Gas he was in town during the
afternoon drinking pretty freely, in mo-
ment of insane fury committed the rash
acts which obliteratcd his entire family
and led him to suicide