The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1874-03-31
AN ATRoCIoUs TRAGEDY.

THE sTELZENRIEDE FAMILY MURDERED
WHILE AsLEEP-THE AWFUL sCENEs-THE
WHOLE AFFAIR Is ENvELoPED IN MYSTERY.
The most inhuman tragedy in Illinois for
years occurred on the Goth inst, in the
southern portion of the state. The follow
ing account of the affair is from the S..
Louis Times: The unusually quiet little
town of Darmstadt, better known as Center
vile, situated seven miles southwest OF
Belleville, in st. Clair county, Illinois, was
last Friday evening by the inteli-
gence that family by the name
of Stelzenriede, consisting of the
ather. Friedrich, senior, Frederick, Junior,
his son, Mrs. Stelzenreide, wife of Frieder-
ich. junior, and her two children, one of
whom was three years and the other eight
months old, had been brutality murdered the
evening previous in their farm house adj
joining the village OF Saxton, about five
miles south of Darmsradt. The courier who
brought the news knew nothing further con-
corning the affair, than that a neighbor OF
the murdered family had called at the house
late Friday evening, to buy some
door was met with the sad spectacle of
five corpses lying cold and stiff in their own
blood. A messenger was Immediately dis
patched to Belleville for the officers of the
law. Sheriff Hughes, on being informed OF
the murder, telegraphed to Coroner RYAN at
East st. Louis and accompanied by j. r
Hughes, one of the deputies, set out at once
for the scene. The house was an ordinary
one-story frame, containing two rooms and
kitchen, with porch in front. The build
| ing stands back about seventy five feet from
the main road and is somewhat isolated
| there being no other houses nearer than hall
mile, a circumstance which made it ex-
ceedingly safe for the preparation of
THE HEINoUs CRIME.
The scenes which met the gaze of the sher
| iff and his associates on entering the house
| almost beggars description. Stretched out
| on the floor near the front door lay the pros
trate form of FREDERICK, jr., with his skull
mashed to jelly and his throat cut from
| ear to ear and on the bed Law his younp
wife with her head horribly mangled and hel
throat cut also, while IN her arms and closely
grasped to her bosom was her innocent babe
!! only eight months old, with an ugly cash in
its head a little farther removed on the same
pallet lay the other child, killed by blow or
the lleft temple, cold and lifeless. In the
adjoining room the body of FREDERICK Stel-
zenriede, sr., an old man, seventy-five years
of age, was found with his face towards the
floor, his head horribly mutilated and nearly
severed from the body. Everything in the
rooms seemed to be in perfect order, though
it was clearly apparent that fierce and VIC.
lent conflict had taken place between the
assassin and his victims, as marks of vio-
lence were found on the arms and hands o.
Mrs. Stelzenriede, while her husband had
one of his fingers almost cut of. The chill
dren and the old man seemed to have beer
| butchered with more ease, since
| only the heads of the former and
the head and throat of the latter ex-
hibited the marks of the murderous in
struments used. Coroner Ryan, accom-
panied by Chief Renshaw, City Marsha
Walsh and other officers of East st. Louis
Preached the spot about two O'Clock yester