Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1880-04-14
THE CHILD WITNESS.

The ArnOlds lived In the old brown
house which you may yet notice at the
right of the road just as you enter the
village of i, Pennsylvania. from
the south. The house stands back about
ten rods from the road, among peach and
apple trees, and the little path running
up from the gate is bordered with pinks
and moss.
I should not speak so confidently; it is
five years since I saw the village or the
house, and perhaps the awful tragedity
enacted under the mOss-cOvered roof one
night may have kept the house tenantless,
and allowed time to tumble it down.
One day, in answer to telegram sent
from the nearest railroad station to
l., matter of dozen miles, rode
into the quaint old village on the top of
the stage, and at once reported myself to
the town authorities. Every inhabitant
of the village, even to the ragged urchins
sitting on the tavern porch, carried a
grave face and talked in whispers. Had
[ not known a double murder had been
committed the night before, I could have
read some news almost as bad by glanc-
ing at the faces of the town's-people
While [ was eating my supper at the
only hotel the town clerk and the presi-
dent Of the village sat opposite and told
me the story. It seemed that Arnold.
who was nearly so years old, had two
wishing to divide up his property before
his death, had, afew days before the muir
der, disposed of farm and some manu-
featuring interest in Pittsburgh, realizing
several thousand dollars in cash. He in
tended visiting the sons and dividing the
money between them, but had placed it
in the village bank until he should be
ready to go. Mrs. Arnold was old and
gray headed, and the couple would have
been all alone had it not been for Little
Jack, as he was called, child four years
old The child had been abandoned by
woman passing through the village,
and the Arnolds had taken it for compa-
ny; in fact, had made provision to
adopt it.
The night before, at9 o'clock, citizen
had seen Arnold at his gate, smoking a
pipe. No one heard any alarm from the
house during the night, but about sun
rise Little Jack crept down into the vii
lage, his night gown red with blood, and
told the first one he met, GO Somebody
had hit grandpa and grandma on the head
with an axe. :"
There was an investigation and the
aged couple were found at the house
dead and terribly mutilated The old
mans head was nearly split in two, and
Mrs. Arnold had horrible wound on
the temple, which had caused death al
most instantly The child was not in
least injured, but seemed to have been
badly frightened
This was the gist of the story [ got
while eating, but I found that none of
the sensational points had been over
drawn when / reached the house. The
cOrpses had been the subject of Inquest,
and had been washed and placed in cof-
fins, but the rooms had not been dis
tuIbed. A constable had been present
at the time to see that any clue which
might have been left of the murder
should not be erased by careless hands
or feet.
The room where the tragedy occurred
was double bedroom on the ground
floor It contained two beds, one of
which was occupied by the old lady
alone, and the other by the old man and
little Jack. The murderer had come in
at the back door, brought along the axe
from the woodpile. He had passed into
the bedroom, lighted candle which
stood on the stand, and had been some
time in the room before using the
weapon. 1 knew this because the top
drawer of the old bureau was pulled out,
its contents tumbled over, and there
were no bloody finger marks on any
thing. The three other drawers were
daubed with blood, showing that he
searched those after the murder.
Something had aroused the old man
from his sleep. He had started to get
out of bed when struck by an axe. The
old lady had just heard the noise when
the cruel implement descended on her
head, the positions in which the bodies
were found bearing outmy theory. The
night had been chilly, and Little Jack
probably snuggled down under the
quilts, and had thus escaped harm,