The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1874-06-23
A HUMAN FIKND.


THE TERRIBLE DETAILS OF QUADRUPLE
MURDER-rHE SCENE OF THE DARK DEED |
HOW THE BODIES WERE FOUND AND THE
TESTIMONY GIVEN.
The Cincinnati Commercial of the 18th |
inst, gives the following particulars of the
wholesale slaughter of a family in the
southern part of this state: ''rhe fearful
tragedy at Lawrenceburg, Indiana, that was
noticed at some length in the Commercial
of yesterday. created a profound sensation
of all -prevsiling horror in that town and
its immediate neighborhood yesterday, when
the news came To be generally known.
reporter of the Commercial visited Law
renceburg and the scene of the crime yes
terday, and can speak by observation of the
details of the affair. so far as they are known
three murdered females he found in
the Walnut street livery sta
BILE, laid out on rudely constructed
biers, with large cakes Of ice upon
them, and we' sheets covering them. They !
had been washed, and were ready for the
plain grave clothes that were being pre-
pared for them. Beautiful in death" did
not apply to these sad relics. They were
hideous. How could they be otherwise,
with heads mashed by many blows of an ak,
faces gashed, features swollen and distorted,
chests pulled up? There lay the mother,
Mary E. Bradley probably thirty-ive years
of age; at least they said it was the mother.
1t would require very close observation,
though, TO tell whether the face was that of
a woman or a Chinaman, so terribly was it
disfgured. Bv her side was the corpse of
the eldest daughter, Rosanna, ten or eleven
years of age. Near by, on another form,
was the corpse of Eliza Jane Bradley, eight
years OF age.
WHERE THEY WERE KILLED
is spot about two miles northwest of the
center of Lawrenceburg. To reach it, you
go out through ROssville, skirting the beau
tiful little valley that everybody who has
visited Lawrenceburg has observed; out the
Ridge road, past the Dobell and Probasco
residences, until, north of the new ceme-
tery, a narrow lane is reached. This leads
to the west, a doubtful way to q stranger. 1t
takes you gradually away from town, from
outside homes, down under the railroad
track, down a steep hill, until, down in the
valley of Tanners Creek, you seem to have
passed suddenly from life and brightness
into depressing contiguity of gloom. It's
the thought that here, short distance below
the ford. something hideous in the shape
of man took his shoes from his big feet and
waded the creek; that he climbed the
hill Wonder and Drained a helpless
woman. with 2 babe at her breast, and
her two helpless daughters; that as he fled
down the Hill with long strides he stopped
to take his shoes in his hands, and as he did
so, dropped the axe forgetting to hurl it into
a deep place in the water, as he had probably
intended. He is a fugitive. and his victims
were dead or dying. He does not fly from
his conscience. or shudder at the thought of
an all-seeing Eye following him everywhere.
Such murderers have no conscience, and no
fear of anything beyond the rope. They kill
and are satisfied tor the minute; if they es-
cape, they vegetate luXuriautly in cOndi-
ton Of cOntentment. Such murderers are
never satisfied with one awful deed Like
l q 1, faN of fYf Iaxr
more blood, when the appetite has once
been briefly gratified. 1t is the overshadow-
ing thought of the presence of this monster
that darkens this scene.
THE LOG HUT.
Cross the ford and plunge into this hollow
further. Down the creek two or three hun
dred yards, under the shade of old canopy
trees, and to your right, above you on the
knob. is a log cabin. The side hill is partly
| i'm corn and its bald crest has lately been
pIowed Around the cabin are patches of
vegetables, onions, potatoes, peas and such
/ like. The cabin is mud-cbinked, with q
door on the south, a window on the north,
and chimney on the west. The sill ofthe
rude window is an old sign-board, for the
word saloon" in red paint is roughly let
/ tered on it. This cabin is twelve by four
| teen. IL contains two bedsteads, on which
are old, torn straw mattresses deal table
| and two or three chairs. There are no
| works Ofart on the walls beyond an old print
ola girl ofmany years ago, seated at piano.
The root is of clapboards, and daylight comes
through it. There Is a hOrri ole stencil in the
place, although there is no glass at the port
| hole. In the middle of one of the beds is a
big patch of cOagulated blood, garnished
| with brains. Here is where the girl Eliza
Jane WIS found, If Coroner SINNERS mem
DRY serves him correctly. On the floor near
the fireplace, is another big patch of blood.
Here lay the mother, and at her feet the girl
ROsanna The baby girl of seven months
was found clinging to its dead mother, hose
brains were spattered over il. Here, in a
place in which not more than half dozen
men could End standing room, these squalid
ones had passed the winter and spring And
here three OF them met their death.
MYSTERY OF THE CRIME.
This was still unsoIved yesterday when
our reporter visited the place. Doctors
Catch and Miller had made examinations OF
the bodies, and were of the opinion that Mrs
Bradley had been ravished. There were
marked bruises of the person that could not
be accounted Tor any other way, they
thought. The awful cash from the naval
down, through which the bowels (uncutl
the head ofthe AK; possibly it was glancing
blow that missed the head as the woman
fell. This theory OF a rape brings with it the
idea that the man who did it killed the peo
PIE IndI ne ihlSht hoI De polhIeu OUT Dy
, them. A man named Charles McDoyle
about thirty-five years ofage, cousin of Mrs.
Bradley's husband, from the neighborng
village of Elizabeth town, who came up to
the house when the crowd first gathered
around it Tuesday evening, was ar
rested by Marshal Trutt on sus-
picion. But at the inquest yesterday he
told such n straight story that he was not
kept ia close custody. But his brother Will
liam, who was examined, told contradictory
stories about trifles, and people were in
clined to regard him with some suspicion.
These are tall, spare, aguish men, about of q
size, and very much alike in features. They
appear to be both nearly forty years OF age.
They are poor men, from Elizabethtown, and
claimed to have been wandering around the
country in search of work, They are not
4 quick in manner or speech, and not very
intelligent. There was the idea in connec-
ton with them yesterday that they both