Weekly Chillicothe crisis. (Chillicothe, Livingston Co., Mo.) 1878-19??, 1880-05-27
sMisesllangg,
THE CHILD WITNESS.

lhe ArnOlds lived in the old brown
house which you may have noticed at the
right OF the road just as you enter the
village of l., Pennsylvania, from
the south. The house stands back about
ten rods from the road, among peach and
apple trees, and the path running up
from the gate is bordered with pinks and
moss. ! should not speak so confidently;
it is FIVE years aince | saw the village Or
the house, and perhaps the awful tragedy
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.,
Il matter OF Il 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 vii
age, even to the tagged urchins sitting
ON the tavern porch, carried Il grave face
and talked in whispers. Had not known
a double murder had been committed the
night before, could have read some news
almost as bad by glanclng at the faces of
the towns 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. 1t seemed that Arnold,
who was nearly sixty years old, had two
sons in another part of the state, and,
wishing to divide up his property before
his death, had few days before tine mur.
der disposed Of farm and some manufac-
tuning interests in Pittsburg, 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 t. go, Mrs. Arnold was old and
gray beaded, and the couple would have
hean 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 Arnod's had taken it for com.
pany; in fact, had made provision to
adopt it.
The night before, at nine o'clock, a citi-
zen had seen Arnold at his gate smoking
a pipe. No one heard any alarm from the
house during the night, but about sunris G
Little Jack crept down into the village,
his night gown red with blood, and told
the first one he met, 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 man s
head was nearly split in two, and Mrs.
Arnold had a horrible wound on the tenn
pie, which had caused death almost IN.
stantly. The child was not in the least
injured, but seemed to have been badly
frightened.
This was the glSt of the story got while
eating, but found that none of the sensa
tional points had been overdrawn when
reached the house. The corpses had been
the subject of inquest, and had been
washed and placed in coffins, but the
rooms had not been disturbed. A consta-
BILE had been present all the time to see
that any clue that might have been left
Of the murderer should not be erased by
careless hands or feet.
The room where the tragedy occurred
was double bedroom on the ground floor.
1t 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,
bringing along the axe from the woodpile.
He had passed into the bedroom, lighted a
candle which stood on the stand, and had
been sometime in the room before using
the weapon. 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 anything. The
other drawers were daubed with blood,
showing that he searched these 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 i'm
plement descended on her head, the posi-.
tions in which the bodies were found bear
ing out my theory. the night had been
chilly and Little Jack probably snugged
down under the quilts and had thus es-
capped harm, though, as afterwards shown,
he had been silent witness Of part of the
proceedings.
The murderer made thorough search Of
he house, taking his time about II. He