Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1878-07-26
TRIPLE MURDER AND SUICIDE.
A Man Crazed by his MOther-in-L Laws
Conduct Chops her and his Wife
and One Child TO Pieces and
then Blows himself to
Atoms.
specIal 70 the cincinnati Enoulrer.l


RICHMOND, VA, July 23.-The neighbor
hood of FluvaDia Courthouse, in this State,
was thrown into the widest excitement by
the discovery OF one of the most horrible triple
murders and suicides ever known In that
community. The facts in the case are these:
For several years past Colonel Wilson Houch-
ms, a man of some property and prominence
living a short distance from Fluvania Court
house, has threatened frequently to murder
members of his family, consisting of his wife,
a beautiful and accomplished woman of about
forty, a daughter about eleven, and two boys,
one of seven and the other an infant, and
Houchins's mother ln-law. Unfortunately,
these threats were disregarded, and 10 at
tention given to the matter either by the
public or the family, although on several &C.
casions Houchins had attempted to carry out
his brutal threats. Not long since his wife
discovered him standing over her with a
drawn dagger, ready to drive it into her
heart. In some way she averted the impend-
ing blow. Houchins on that occasion I'M
plored his wife not to mention the matter,
promising better behavior for the future.
Since that time Mrs. Houchins has been ccm-
PEELED to take her children and seek refuge
under the roof OF her neighbors' houses. On
yesterday morning while the family were
seated at the breakfast table Houchins seized
an ak and commenced his bloody work, deal
ing the first blow to his wife, inhicting a hor-
rible wound on her head extending from ear
to ear, killing her almost instantly. He then
attacked his little boy. The mother-in- law
interfered and ilnplor4d the fend to desist,
but instead Of yielding to her appeals for
mercy he turned upon her 9nd knocked her
severely with the 9x-handle, coolly returning
to the horrible work of butchering his own
child. He chopped his head off and threw
the body under the table. Then, before his
! mother-in-law revived, Houchins finished
her, striking her several blows on the breast
and head, slashing anil chopping the woman
into an almost unrecognizable mass. His
| spite seemed especially directed to MS wife S
mother. Houchins's son, a little fellow OF
seven, came into the room while the horrible
butchery was going on, and Selling his infant
| brother lying in the cradle sought safety in
! the woods. Houchins looked tor them, but
| falling in this, he, it seems, went into the
| parlor, and left the following parting letter:
81 have intended to do this thing for some
| time. The devil is in me. My mother-in-
| law drove me to it. She has tormented me
to death. [ cannot live as long as she lives.
| She has poisoned my wife and children
| against me, and | am a miserable man
| Whisky, too, has something to do with it.
Let all take warning by my end. Pick up
| my fragments. WILSON HOUCHINs.
! After completing this Houchins went to his
barnyard, seated himself-it is believed on a
| keg of blasting -powder-and smoked his
pipe. Alter finishing his smoke, it is sup
posed he touched off his internal machine
with fire from his pipe through the bung-hole
of the keg. A fearful noise followed the ex.
plosion, attracting neighbors twelve miles
distant. An Investigation of the premise;
disclosed a portion of Houchins's body up IL
the branches of a tree, forty feet from the
| ground, the head on top of the barn, anc
portions of the trunk and legs in other por
tions of the barnyard. The keg contained
forty pounds of heavy blasting powder
which had been used by Houchins for blast
ing purposes in his quarry near by.