The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1874-06-11
a rERK1BLE TRAGEDY. .

A Woman Attempts to Murder Her Hus-
band and Beats out the Brains of Her
Three Children.-A Labor Strike the
Cause.
NEW York, JUNE 2.-Soon after the
family OF Michael Devine, of 80 North
Eighth street, Brooklyn, and consist
ing of himself, wife and three chill
dren, aged seven, four and two years,
arose this morning, the wife stepped
behind the husband and struck him
on the head with q eooper's adze, He
wrested the weapon from her and ran
to the station house to have his
wounds dressed. Officers were sent
to secure the woman, and on arriving
at the residence found the children
lying on the floor dead, their heads
beaten TO a jelly with a fat-iron. The
woman being asked why she had
killed the children, answered that she
was. going to heaven and wanted them
to go before. The fathers wounds are
thought to be fatal. 54
Michael Devine, the husband of the
murderess, is a cooper and has been
en- a strike with his union, for the past
six or seven weeks. The deprivations
thus neccssitated in the family were
the cause of numerous contentious
between husband and wife, and it is
believed in the end it resulted in over
turning her mind. The woman was
in lunatic asylum about year ago,
but when she. was released it was
thought she was completely recovered.
Devine would doubtless have returned
to work had he not feared the union.
The scene in the room OF the trag-
edy beggars description. The muir
,I.sI Il I - A. L
side, the blood and brains slowly ex-
clothes were soaked and heavy with
the siekening stain. The body of lit
tie Tim, the baby, was not so badly
mangled as was the bodies of the other
two children. From the terrible
wounds found on Maggie's face and
skull it is, evident the mother must
have pounded the child's head with a
flatiron for several minutes. Jenny,
the four year-old boy, is horribly
mutilaLed.
Mrs. DeYlne expresses no remorse,
does not cry, and says the children
are better dead than alive. In answer
to questions at the station house, she
said: Il am murderess. l have
defied law, but my little ones, thank
God, are ia heaven. / have often felt
like killing myself, and I knew if l
went first and left them behind they
would never get to heaven, You see,
sir, my husband wouldn't go to work
l warned him to go, and still he per-
sisted, and my brain is not quite right
sometimes, and that is the way it hap
pened took the lives of my children.
1t was for their souPs sake. First l
killed the baby, my little Tim, He
was one year and nine months old
The reason l took the baby first was
because he was lying nearest me. He
made some noise, / think he cried
quite hard, but it didn't last long. I
hit Maggie next. She woke up and
said "Mam.ma." 1 said, "It's me, Mag
gie," Then I put her out of her trouble.
Maggie was good girl. She told me
many times she wanted to go to heav-
en-. Once asked her whether she
would feel bad if / should drown her
in the river. She said no, for she
should go to heaven. Then / took |
Jenny, He woke up and moaned, so !
turned him over to let the blood run |
out of his head faster. They were |
good children"
1t is hardly possible that the hus-
band will survive his injuries.