St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1882-11-17
A Strange and Dreadful Trag-
Pdy.

Mrs. DR.. Edward c. Seguin, aged 80,
wife of the famous specialist on brain
diseases, killed her three children,
Edward d., Is, John Van D., >, and
Jeanette, !. and then killed herself,
ut her home, II West Twentieth street,
New York city, undoubtedly in IA fit of
insanity. The discovery of the deed
was made by Mrs. Seguin's brother, DR..
Amidon. DR.. Scguin was absent, and
the servants said they thought Mrs.
Seguin had gone out to walk with the
children. The long absence of the
family aroused the suspicious of DR..
Amidon, and he searched the house.
The dead bodies were found locked in
an empty spare room at the top of the
house. All the children were shot
through the head and had died instant
ly. They had been dead for ut least
an hour and were quite cold. Two
pistols of heavy caliber were found in
the room. Both of them had been
used The children's arms were tied
behind their backs with whip-cord and
they were blindfolded. 1t is therefore
to the room to play and shot them
while playing at blindman's buff.
Mrs. Seguin had been Respondent
from physical causes for some time,
but she had shown no evidence of in
sanity. She was small, slim woman
of nervous temperament. Her dOmes-
tic life was very happy and there was
no family trouble. DR.. Seguin re-
turned home about seven o'clock, and
upon learning the dreadful news was
utterly Frustrated, and is now under
the care of a physician. Mrs. Seguin
was the daughter of Massachusetts
farmer. and. with her husband moved
in the best society. The Seguin house
is IA tive-stOry brown-stone front, Eng
liSh basement house, elegantly fur
nished. The room in which the muir
ders were committed is on the fifth
floor, and is scarcely ever used by the
family. The three servants i'll the
house noticed during the day that Mrs.
Seguin was moOdy-a condition she
had been in for several weeks, and
called by her brother, DR.. AmidOn, "the
blues.n About eleven o'clock Il. NJ,
she called upon her brother and said
she did not feel well and had written
DR.. Henry Draper (who had been in
vited to dine with the family to defer
his visit. This note she asked her
brother to send. He took it iokingly
and told her they would all enjoy
themselves. DIR. Amidon called on his
sister mt three o'clock and was told she
had gone out for IA walk. He returned
at five o'clock, but Mrs. Seguin had not
yet returned. The hall-boy inciden-
tally mentioned that the door of the
spare room was locked and the key
gone. a sudden suspicion seized the
doctor that Mrs. Seguin had gone to
/ Central park and drowned herself and
the children. He could not explain
why he thought tlis. He immediate
| " went up stairs and burst open the
door of the room. The oldest boy lay
almost in the middle of the floor in 4
pool of blood. Mrs. Seguin lay partly
in the closet grasping in her right hand
a big. pearl-handled Remington re-
volver. Inside the closet lay the boy
John and the girl Jeanette. Then
faces bore a peaceful, even roguish
look, as though they had been killed
while at play. The mother had evil
IDENTIFY led the two youngest into the
closet and locked them in while she
murdered the oldest boy. The pistol
with which he was shot was target
practice weapon with barrel eleven
inches long. 1t lay beside him, and
the bullet lay on the floor, having
passed through his head. The maniac
then went to the closet and with a
heavy thirty-twO caliber Remington
revolver, with which she afterward
blew out her own brains, shot the other
two children.
| DIR. Amidon cut the strings that
/ bound the children's hands and laid
the bodies Oh the bed. The police and
coroner were notified at once. Nothing