Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1873-04-29
WORK OF A MANIAC MOTHER.
A wOHnan Murders Two Of Her Chill
tren and Roasts Them ons stove.
From the New York Times, April "a.

A wOInan Murders Two Of Her Chill
dren and Roasts Them ON q stove.
From the New York Times, April "a.
Religious mania, last night, created a
terrible domestic trsgerdy In the unusually
| quiet Seventeenth Ward. George HenDes
sy, young shoe maker employed by a
house ia Chambers street, married q young
| Irish-wonan named Aunie Hogan, who was
then twenty one years Of sge. As the re-
suit Of their marriage they h'd three child
ren-TeTesa, five years old; George, aged
three years, and Francis, aged four months.
Since the birth of the last child, which took
place in the rear room Of the top floor Of
the five-story tenenent-house No. 81 Third
street, the scene of last nights tragedy,
AIRS. Hennessyis mind seemed 10 have been
affected, whether from puerperal causes or
not, does not appear. Her alteration of
mind was of religious character, and de-
veloped into decidedly religious mania.
During the Lenten season this was more
observable, and in addition to
bewailing her fancied immorali-
ty, she attended chapel morning,
noon and night. During this time her hus-
band could not observe any disposition on
her part to do any harm 10 her children.
On Tuesday night she did not go to bed,
but remained sitting in an armchair all
night. She did not get any breakfast
ready for her husband yesterday morning,
and on bis leaving his room to go to work,
she was sitting In the chair with her face
buried in her hands, rocking herself to and
fro, and moaning. Hennessy came home
from his work yesterday evening at q
O'Clock, and found the door of his room
locked. He raped and could get no an
swer, except that be heard his wife walking
up and down the room. After waiting a
half hour, be tried to force the door, and
then it Was opened from the inside. En-
tering the room, he saw his wife, with her
hands uplifted, looking down into wash
tub, which was on the floor in the GEN.
tire of the room. In the tub were
the bodies Of the two children, George
and Francis. At first Hennessy thought
bis wife had been washing the chill
dren, but on seeing the little girl Teresa
covering in a corner of the room, with her
hands over her face as if to shut out some
horrible sight, he realized that his other
children were dead. he saw they had
been choked, and then roasted on the
stove, to which hair and skin adhered. In
the agony of the moment he said: "My
God Annie, what is this? What does this
mean?n The poor demented woman said:
"Hush don't tell any one. Its all right
now; we shall be happy by and BY" She
had shawl about her head, and walked
from the room into a dark bed room rum
ding off it, and back again. Ilennessy en-.
deaVored to leave the house, but she chung
to him and prevented him from doing so.
He could not succeed in getting out of the
room until O'Clock, when be asked Mrs.
O'Regan, neighbor, to see that his only
remaining child, Teresa, was not murdered
by bis wife during his absence. On leav-
ing the house he ran to the residence of DR..
Thompson, at No. 544, East Twelfth
street, the doctor having attended Mrs.
Hennessy since her last confinement. DR..
Thompson hurried to the scene of the
tragedy, but finding medical aid of no avail,
she was removed to Bellevue Hospital.
From the New York Herald, April Is.
When the reporter of the Herald and DR..
Farrington-who had already examined
her in the morning-Visited the cell yester-
day afternoon the poor mother mentioned
her children for the first time.
sOhl my children, OBJ my children" she
moaned in low tone, ooh! my poor child
REM" The expression of her face was
heartren ling, and her eyes filed with tears.
"Where are they?" the Doctor asked.
She paused awhile, and gazed on him
with a look of deep anguish. "Oh! oh!
they're dead" she moaned in the same low
tone, and wringing her hands, 81 killed
them; l burnt Them"
She buried her head in her hands and
sobbed.
"Why did you kill them?" the Doctor
ASKED.
She was still weeping, but she raised her
head, and said, inthe same hollow, unearth-
ly tone, "The Lord and the angels appear
ed before me in vision and told me to do
it. The Lord motioned me to do it and
(sadly) when L looked at my children
l saw that their tongues were red flames,
and l did it." There was pause. She
sobbed piteously, "Ob, my children! Oh,
my poor children!'
'Did you straDgle them first?" the Doc
tor inquired.
eOh, no" she moaned, gazing listlessly
at him. 81 held the oldest first over the
fire. (She wrung her hands.) Ga, my
children! Oh, my children"
"And then you held the other one over
the fre?"
''Yes, yes" she sighed, moaning again,
"Oh, my children, my children"
Words could not convey an idea of the
anguish that was expressed in these simple
words as the poor crazed mother uttered
them. .....
"How long did they remain with you?"
the Doctor asked.
"Ob, God and the angels stayed all
through until it was all over" she replied
earnestly. She folded her hands and prayed
for her children. A mist came before her
eyes. She staggered and would have fallen
had the Doctor not held her.
She implored every one who came near
her to let her see her children. Her child
ren! None but mother could have ut
tered the word as she uttered it. The re-
porter was told that she had been truly de
voted to them, that she had seemed to love
them better than she did her life. The
thought that she had killed them whirled
wildly through her feverish brain, and when
she was told that they would be buried in a
few hours, she hid her face in her hands and
wept long time, until at length she laid
her head upon the pillow and sank into
repose.