Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1876-10-13
Tragedy i'm High Life.

GRANDSON OF AN UNITED STATES PRE-
sIDENT MURDERS THE. WOMAN HE
LOVEs-A FEARFUL SCENE-A KEN
: lucky BELLE THE VICTIM,
&C., &C., &C.,
The people Of Boone county, Kentucky,
who live along the river nearly opposite
to North Bend, in the sight of the tomb
of Harrison, and only about fifteen miles
from Cincinnati, were appalled, Friday
morning at the intelligence that William
Henry Harrison, a son of the late Symmes
Harrison, and a grandson Of a president
of the United States, had entered the res.
dence of Major John II. More and stabbed
to the death Miss Mary More, the only
daughter now living at home. The Gin
cinnati Enquirer says:
The news had hardly begun to travel
before anxious neighbors began hurrying
to Major More's home, all believing the
report to be some hideOusly cOnjured lie,
all confidently expecting to have their be-
llefs contladlcted, and yet all curious to as
certain W hat could have given the report
it's origin. Their horror, therefore, can
scarcely be imagined when, on arriving at
the scene. they found Miss More Weltering
in her blood, which was flowing from
nearly a dozen wounds and found that
Harrison had indeed been hermurderer.
The circumstances, SO far as could be
learned by our Exporter yesterday afternoon
are substantially these Something over a
year ago the wife Of
w. II. HARRISON,
who is now about forty years of age, died,
leaving to his care three sons and one
daughter, the daughter being about ten
wears of age. The loss of his wife weighed
very heavily upon him, and the response
bility of rearing his only daughter seemed
greater than he dared to assume at least
so he had given his friends reason to Infer.
Added to this d heavy mortgage on his
farm, which, by, the way, joins Major
More's, had troubled him Il good DEAL
The :sEnquirer'' then proceeds to detail
his manner Of life, dissipated habits, the
| formation of an attachment for Miss More
| and the final and fatal visit at the house.
| and continues:
He had been in there but a moment
however, when he began yelling:
tim CRAZY I'M CRAZY ~
whisked out formidable jack-knife, with
a blade as thick as a razor, land dashed at
| his victim. A man Of at least ordinary
| physical strength, he would have soon
completely overpoWered the unOffendlne
object of his rage had Miss More not been
very vigorous woman and capable Of
| fighting him off like tiger at bay. But
there were tremendous odds against her
and she screamed for help. Harrison's ilrsl
lunge resulted in a CHASTITY wound in the
breast, Just to the left Of the breaSt-bone
He struck again for the heart, and another
| loft 1,,,aa cf
still again third wound Spurted BLOOD
from lust over the heart. Then he
| LUNGED AGAIN,
this time for his victims throat, and 6
bloody slit down the left temple was all he
accomplished; then again, and wound II
the left cheek was made. By this time
Mary caught the knife blade in her hand
but her assassin drew it through, and the
hand. with every finger wounded, was
helpless. Again, with uplifted blade, he
sprang for her throat, only to plunge his
| ugly weapon into her left arm, which she
raised for defense, and still again and again
| until
FIVE GAPING WOUNDS
were bleeding in her arm, and still the de
mon followed But by this time. with 9
desperate effort, the struggling woman hao
| reached door leading into the kitchen
and thence to Williams room. Through
| this door she reeled, into her brothers
| room, closely followed by Harrison. Hell
| screams had startled her crippled brother
| but in an anguish of alarm he was com
| PEELED to wait. He had sent a>small col
Ored boy who attends him to ascertain the
| cause of his sisters cries. and the boy haC
| Just reported. The time between the re-
port and his sisters reeling through the
;,+o xxyach 1,t q roOmpDt II
seemed an eternity. AS Mary entered
| Williams room she slammed the door, and
| while
HARRISON HALTED
a moment before it-through his fear OF
William-she locked it. Meantime Will
| liam had reached for his revolver. which
| be always kept within a convenient dis
| lance of his bed, and made 1t ready fol
Harrison's entrance. The latter, however
had no notion of entering. Believing that
he had wounded Mary to the death, he
| took down rifle that was hanging in the
kitchen, with the aYoWed. purpose OF
blowing out his brains, but the rifle,
| though loaded, had no cap on it. Then he
called for a cap, and William told him tc
come in and get it. He'd give him a cap.
| While this conversation was going on,
through loss Of blood, Mary had tainted
and was lying across lounge unconscious.
Then some of the farm hands began coming
in, and Harrison walked deliberately out
of the house and toward his own house.
Arriving there he told his boys that he
had
KILLED MARY MORE-sssHE WOULDN'T
MARRY ME, AND KILLED HER ~
and that he was now going to kill himself.
He then took his own rifle in his hands as
if to shoot himself when his son Pike seiZ-
ed it. A struggle ensued, but Pike, dis
covering that this rifle too had no cap,
ceased struggling. Harrison made the
discovery, or pretended to, about the same
time: dropped the rifle, and with the same
yell, 'sI'm crazy Pm craZy!'' ran to the
cistern and jumped in. The cistern con-
taiued only about four feet OF water, and
the supposition is that Harrison knew it,
for had he been bent on suicide the ONO
river would have answered every purpose,
and that was only a few rods away. He
foundered around in the cistern a few
minutes keeping mp his cry of Il IN crazy"
until his sons fished him out; then he
made dive for small medicine-chest in
the house, but when our reporter lett last
evening he was still alive and trying to de-
wise some other means Of selfdestruction.
He was placed under watch last night,
and this morning will be taken to the Bur-
lington jail.
Soon after the tragedy a messenger was
dispatched to Covington for Major More,
and last evening the Major and Mr.. and
Mrs. Canada arrived home.
The room in which the deadly scuale
occurred was still as it was left in the
morning, and presented a horrible appear
ance. The mating on the floor was
stained with blotches of blood, and the
door where the fiercest struggle had oc-
Cured was ali stained over with the Grim
son fluid, as were the doors in William
More's room. From the sitting room
clear across the kitchen the strug-
Cling womans course could be traced in
! blood, and she, still bleeding, though her
+ l.. 11,1,