Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1880-11-11
Horrible Murder in Monroe
County.
A Man Kills His Wife and Babe,
And Another Woman and Her
Two hildren, and Cuts
His Own Throat.
AN APPALLING CRIME.


Ohio. \ man hitherto of good characte
and ordinary intelligence, in Il fit Of TEN
porary insanity, kills in brief space o
time five persons, and then completes
the terrible tragedy by putting an end t.
his own existence. The scene of tht
tragedy is the Peter Weisent farm, five
mile south of Calais, near the Chape
Church, between LeWisville and Sum
merfield, three miles west of the former
village. The principal actor in tht
scene of blood is Frank Bedenbaugh, {
man thirty years of age. The victim:
are his wife, Mrs. Annie Bedenbaugh, {
daughter of John Jeffres, Esq, who re-
sides near Temperanceville, her babe
aged less than two years; Miss Elizabeth
Stephens, aged forty-five, and her two
children, girl Il years of age, and g
boy or six years of age. All those
people were killed in a brief space OF
time except the daughter of Miss Steph.
ems, who is so badly injured that she
will not likely recover.
The tragedy occurred last Saturday
evening about dark, it is supposed. The
first indications of the horrible murder
were discovered by younger brother OF
Bedenbaugh, who had been absent at a
husking, and who returned about eleven
o'clock at night He came from scene
of reyelry and in moment faced car
nival of death. The Bedenbaugh house
is an old-fashioned farm house, with
two rooms on the first floor, with large
chimney in the center, furnishing a fire.
place for each room. Entering the fam
lily room on his return, there was just
enough light from the smOuldering fire
to cast wierd and awful shadow over
the scene of death. Prominent on the
floor was the body of Miss Stephens, a
large, tall woman, with fair face and
hair, which was now darkened and mat
ted by blood, which had ooZed from her
brain and ran down upon her dress. A
frightful wound had been made with
the pole of an AK on the back of the
head, above and behind the ear. The
skull had been mashed in where the ia
tai AK had descended with crushing
force. On the floor, not far away, were
three chiidren-hiS own babe, and two
belonging to Miss Stephens, all dead eX-
tept one, which was unconscious and
will not recover. Two of them had
their heads beaten, probably by the same
weapon which had been used on the wo-
man. The living one had wounds about
the face, but the skull does seem to be
injured.
The young man Immediately gave the
alarm, and party of horrified neigh
bols soon gathered at the scene of hutch
cry. A search of the premises was soon
begun, but nothing beyond what has
been described was discovered in the
house. The Outbuildings were then
searched. In tobacco house, quarter
of mile east of the residence, they
found Frank Bedenbaugh, badly wound
ed. He had crawled into the house
crack in the wall, and had ia
ken down quantity of tobacco upon
which he was lying, not yet dead. The
throat had been cut from ear to ear, and
blood covered the ground for consider
able distance. Several wounds, evil
IDENTIFY made with hatchet, were on his
forehead and face. 1t is supposed that
the craZed man had tried to kill himself
with the hatchet, and failing in that had
used the certain and fatal rOZor Both
weapons were found near him, covered
with blood. He had on his every d,y
clothes, and his face and breast were
covered with blood. He was yet able to
speak, and in reply to question about
where his wife was, he designated the
place where she could be found, and add
ed that he had to kill her. No further
could be obtained from him.
He was taken into the house AID lived
until II o'clock Sunday morning.
The terrified neighbors went from the
bloody scene in the tobacco house, to
the pasture field, where the faithful
wife, intent on family duties, and with
no thought of danger in her mind, had
gone to milk only a few hours before.
The night was dark and rainy, the
ground turned to mud by the heavy rains
Of the previous day. A still more horri-
Ole scene was presented in the lonely
field. Here lay the dead body of Mrs.
with her throat cut, her
head beaten and partially imbedded in
The mud. The hatchet and razor had
both been used to do their deadly work,
and the fair young face and forehead
we're marred and mutilated by the cruel
blows. This completed the fatal list
all were accounted for, but all had been
killed, and the death roll was complete
The bodies were gathered together in
he house, and all that Sabbath day, as
jhe news spread, hundreds of people
from the surrounding country, hearing
of the awful tragedy, came to the scene
Of death, and with bated breath and
hearts almost stilled in the presence of
The awful scene, gazed appalled, upon the
lead bodies of the victims. Among
the people who went to the place was
tue father and brother of the man who
had done the awful butchery. There,
too, was John Jeffrey, the father of the
deceased wife, who had started from his
home, with no thought of the fate which
had befallen his daughter, but merely to
make friendly visit; to take by the
hand one that he loved dearly, and to
live for time with the family which
he expected to find, as before, in the en-
joyment of health and happiness.
HOW 1T WAS DONE.
The exact manner in which the killing
was done will never be known. Whether
the deed was the result of sudden i'm
pulse of a quarrel, or of long settled
O6ellhOU UC Oul uiloCu. L ilC az
tions of the murderer, when his brother
left him in the morning, were not un-
usual, though he complained of not feel
ing well. There had been no chickering's
or jars, and there was no ill-feeling be-
tween the murderer and the Stephens
woman. Neither is the exact time of
the murder known. 1t is supposed,
however, that it must have been nearly
dark. The weather was rainy that after
noon, and it did not cease until nearly
dark. 1t is supposed that Bedenbaugh
was at home all day, feeling badly in
body and brooding in mind. When his
wife started to milk the impulse seized
him, and taking an ak he Drained the lit
tie children. The marks on the face of
Betsy Stephens indicate that she had
been struck with the fist, thus showing
that she made struggle for her life, and
the probabilities are that she was knock
ed down and afterward struck with the
ak.
r