Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1871-04-09
BLOOD, BLOOD. G
Terrible Tragedy-A Jealous husband
Murders his Wife sHd five Children,
aaa Commits Suicide.

Correspondence jarbOnQale New Efd.l
Stone Fort, SALINE COUNTY,
ILL. March 26, 1STI.-This morning
our little community was thrown in
to intense cOmmOtiOu by the intelli-
gence that an entire family, by the
name of Dakius, had been murdered
last night,at a point some three miles
southeast of this place. As soon as j
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 Foley. 1t stands in the
midst of a small clearing Of L should
Judge, an acre and q half in extent,
surrounded on all sides by almost IN
broken forest. 1t lies about three hun
dred yards from the country road,
from which it is reached by a bride
path. On reaching the hut L found
about a dozen men of the netghbOr-
hood, all terribly excited, and look
ing the horror each one felt. Dis
mounting and hitching my horse, /
entered the hut, and hope that it may
never be my fortune to look upon a
similar spectacle.
On ana diagOnally across some old
Quilts and blankets stretched upon a
rude frame work in the corner, to the
right hand as you enter the door, was
the body of a woman apparently
thirty-fOUr or five, with her throat cut
and hacked in a fearful manner, the
iugular veins. Windpipe, arteries,
everything being severed, and the
head only held to the trunk by the
~vertebFe. There was . deep inclsiOn
across the palm Of the right hand, as
though a sharp knife had been sud
denly drawn through the Clenched
fist. Several deep and long cuts were
upon her shoulders and breasts, and
nowhere could be discovered any
stabs, showing that the murder was
not committed with q sharp
pointed instrument. Near the fire.
place. with head partially in an old
Skillet, lay a fair-haired little girl of
some 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 evil
IDENTIFY where the children slept Of
nights, Law the bodies OF two little
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
Of another little girl, apparently not
more than three years old, her head
nearly severed from her body. Such
was the horrible spectacle that greeted
my sight on entering the hut.
The floor, the walls, the few arti-
cles of furniture, everything liz and
about the miserable apartment, were
deluged with blood. From indiCa-
tiOns, the woman's struggle for lie
mnst have been prOtracted and fUri-
Gus until she suCcUmbed from loss of
blood or a disabling stroke of the in
strument of slaughter. Bloody tracks
on the door sill and a trail of blood
leading in a nOrtheasterly direction
from the house, pointed out the
course Of the murderer's flight. Pur-
suing parties started on the trail, but
did not proceed more than one hum
dred yards before they came upon the
sequel and of this terrible tragedy
of the night. The body of an infant
not more than a year old lay partially
clasped by the left arm of a man, it
having shared the fate of its mother,
brothers 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 razor lying near the
BODY, where it must have fallen from
his hand the moment after intiicting
the fatal wound upon his throat, pro-
claimed him to be the author of the
wholesale bUtchery o his family, dis
patching 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 cOnjec-
tured, The Dakinses had been living
only about six months, having
come, / understand, from Jefferson
county, and little or nothing is known
BY anyone here Of their former his
tory. Dakins was about fOrty-tWO or
fOrty-three, and in the habit of drink
ing to excess. When under the infu-
ence of liquor, he was in the habit OF
speaking of his wife in very gross
and uncOmplimentary terms. More
than once, 1 am told, he left his FORM
er home to break of a criminal iuti-
macy between his wife and a neigh
Dor, and on several occasions he has
been heard to express doubts of the
paternity Of the children. The sup
position is, that the poor wretch, from
long nursing of his jealous faneies, and
brO0ding over his real and imaginary
wrong and moved doubtless by
whisky Gas he was in town during the
afternoon drinking pretty freely, in
4 moment Of insane fury, committed
the rash acts which ObIterated his en-