The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1879-07-10

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5 my wife won't have the children to take
care of. She can do washing and Other
work, and earn enough to live on. 1t is
better for her than to have the chill
!, dren.
:. R.-Did you love your children?
P.-Why, of course I did, and that
was why I shot them. They didn't feel
it. I put the pistol up close to their
heads, and they died right off and went
to heaven.
R.-But Anna didn't; she is alive now,
and has suffered terribly.
P.-Is that so? No, it can't be--you
are fooling me. I can't understand. l
thought 1 killed them all. meant to-,
and, if I had supposed that Anna was
not dead, I would have given her anoth-
er shot. I had plenty more cartridges,
and if you will let me out I will 80 right
down there now and finish her.
R.-Tell me just how you shot them.
P.-Well, you see my little Emma
was lying on the bed, and my eldest it,
tie girl was taking care of her. The lit
tie one fell off the bed the other day
and hurt her very much, and felt sorry
for her. I Ialways loved my children, and
could not bear to see them take any
hurt, so I told the oldest to take care OF
her when she was on the bed, and see
she didn't fall again. So she was stand
ing by the bed, and I called my little
Anna into the other bedroom and told
her had got something to show her
with a fiendish laugh Then I pulled
my revolver out of my coat pocket, and
when she was looking at it she said, "Oh,
how prettyp and l put it up to her tenn
pie and shot her and she fell right down.
Then 1 went into the bedroom where the
others were, and my little one lay right
there on the pillow, and I thought l
could shoot her, too, so she would die
right off and never feel it.
R.-And then you shot the eldest,
nidn't you?
P.-Yes; it was the day they had got
to die, and 1 thought might as well kill
her then, and so l shot her, too, and she
fell right down on the floor.
R.-Did you bring Anna into the bed
room and lay her on the bed?
P.-Yes, I picked her up off the floor
and carried her into where the others
we're, and laid her on the bed just as
nice as could.
R.-But you left the eldest lying in the
blood on the floor. Why didn't you
pick up her body, too?
P.-She bled so much that thought
the blood would get all over the bed, and
it could be cleaned of from the foUr
much more easily than from the bed.
R.-What do you suppose will be done
with you?
P.-I don't know. Perhaps they will
shut me up in Jail. 1t makes no differ
ence. am just as we'll off there as any
where.
R.-But they will hang you for this.
P.-Well, / don't care. They may do
what they please. l don't make the
laws. I had got to do it; those children
couldn't live to come ON the town and
90 to bad houses. I wouldn't have it.
If wasn't christian, might.
R.-Then you are a Christian, are
you?
P. Yes, am q good Protestant Chris
tian. I never have had time to go to
church in Holyoke, because l always
had to work Sundays; but 1 used to 30
when was in Northampton.
Kemmler's account of the crime was so
shocking that the officers could hardly
bear to listen to his talk He seemed
throughout to think that he had done
a meritorious action, and talked as free
ly of his disposition of the children as
though they had been simply treated for
sickness. He never once speaks of it as
crime, and perhaps this Of itself is
sufficient evidence of his insanity. A
man in his right mind could hardly talk
as he does, unless he was indeed devoid
of all semblance of soul. His appear
auce is singular, but he has more of an
expression of treacherous, cunning soul
lessness than of viciousness.
A later dispatch from Holyoke gives
the following additional particulars of
the tragedy; When Kemmler arrived at
Omaha on his return trip, he tried to OBJ
tain work of farmer, but could not make
bargain. He made up his mind while
West to kill his children when he got
home. He said: "They are small now,
and good as anybody's children. If I
kill them, they will 60 to heaven and
will never do anything bad, and will
never be bad girls" Last Sunday he
thought the matter over, and decided to
kill his children this week. He was
with the children down by the river
Thursday night, and thought of their
falling down on the cold damp ground.
He thought he would wait and kill them
in the house. Last evening he went out
and practiced with his pistol to see if it
was all right, and this afternoon he sent
his wife away and killed them. He had
rather see them buried and in heaven
than see them bad. He repeatedly said
''I'm growing old, and l can't make
money to send them to school and dress
tn EN- well, and I am afraid they will be
bad" While he was narrating this sto-
ry an officer came in and told him one of
the children was alive. At this he
jumped at the grated door Ikea Gagged IL
ger, and shouted: "Let me out! Let me
60 and kill her don't want her in
pain |" When the officer told him that
the child would soon die, he quicted
down and said; ooh, it is all right
then |" He repeatedly asked the by
ISLANDERS if they did not think he did
right. lie said he would not have
come back from the Black Hills had
he not determined to kill the children.
He wanted to free his wife so that she
could support herself while he was away.
He said that his wife had been obliged
to lock the children in the house and go
out washing to support them. HethOught
at first that he would poison them, and
got the poison, but he thought that would
be painful for them, and he did not want
to hurt them. He said he loved his chill
dren very much, and could not think of
their growing up without schooling and
without good clothes to wear. At one
time when making this statement, he
stopped, and, looking down to the floor.
muttered, at isn't right; it isn't right"
Tears came into his eyes, and he called
for his handkerchief. This was all the