The daily gazette., 1883-10-25
A WESTERN TRAGEDY.
A MAN MURDERS HIS ENTIRE
FAMILY
AND THEN BLOWS HIS HEAD OFF.
The Victims Found Dead In the House By
tho Horrified Esighbors-Intense Ex-
element Prevailing.

A special dispatch from Newcomerstown,
Ohio, to the Philadelphia Times of this
| morning says:
| This community is now Iaboring under the
most intense excitement over the discovery
last night Of one the most shocking and re-
| voting cases of murder and suicide ever oc-
curing in this section of Ohio Newa
| reached here about midnight that Albert
Frizer, living II "a north of Lock IL, Fryer
Creek Valley, on the Ohio Canal, had mur-
| dcred his three children and his wife and
then killed himself. About daylight this
morning the Times correspondent repaired
to the scene Of the tragedy. From informa-
tion secured on the ground itseems that last
night about o'clock Mr.. j. Nelshaum,
brother in law of Mr. Frizer, came
along the road past Frizer's
| house and noticed that the cow
| in the barn-yard was rather restless. Mr.,
| Neisbaum made investigation and found
| that the animal had not been milked for
several days. Thinking this very strange
he repaired TO the house and found the doors
all locked and bolted, the windows fastened
and the blinds all down. He called few
| neighbors and then began to Inspect the
premises. On peeping through q window,
the curtain of which was partially drawn
aside, they were Mortified at beholding
bloodstains on the floor and also mans
foot covered with blood near the window.
Lighting lanterns they raised the window
and entered the house, when a horrible
spectacle presented itself.
HORRIBLE DISCOVERY.
On the first noor near the north wind ow
in the east room OF The building lay the
dead body OF Albert Frizsl; while in the
crib s. audiag gainst the side of the room,
not three te''t from the father, lay the dead
bpdirs Of his two dsst children On the
other siir of thu roam lay III, manglcd re-
| nsins Of Mrs. Frizer, with the dead BODY
Of her infant ciaspud ia her arms. Every
thing in the room seemed well arranged,
showing no signs Of y seuilie, and the evil
| dence seems to be that Friz murdered his
| whole family while theg were asleep and
then killed himself. Mrs FrizeP was found
with her throat cut from ear TO e~r and the
/ infant in bed with her must have been
beaten TO death with some blunt instrument
as 1t was covered with blood Both the
| mother and the child were beneath
| the bed clothes and they probably
died without struggle. The two
older children, both little girls, aged about
three and five years respectively, were lying
In the crib, with their feet toward each
| other, and both had their heads beaten
| almost to jelly with some blunt instru-
ment. On examination of Frlzer's face It
| was found to have been blown almost com
pletely off, and an empty gun barrel which
leaned against chair near him told how he
bad killed himself. The gun had no stock
or hammer and the wretched man must
have loaded the barrel and then held one
| end In his mouth and the other in the flame
| of lamp until it exploded, as the lamp was
i found shattered to pieces on the floor. The
/ horrible deed m lBt have been done on Sun
/ daI night, as on that night they were last
seen alive.
CAUSE OF THE CRIME.
On Sunday evening Mr.. Frizer's brother
in-law, Mr.. Judy, had talk with him and
on that occasion Frizer told Judy that he
had been to Hewcomerstown and consulted
DIR. Beers, who had advised him to quit
work until his health got better. He had
been sick for some time. 1t is thought that
on the fatal Sunday night Frizer must have
become very despondent and temporarily
insane from brooding over his having to
give up earning his living, as he was not in
the best circumstances.
The house in which the horrible tragedy
occurred is a story and half frame struc-
ture and stands along the road to Fryer
Greek Valley, few rods from church and
school house. 1t is the same house where
Mrs. Frizer was born and belongs TO her
grandmother. The premises around the
house are in splendid condition, everything
having the appearance of neatness aid good
order. Frizer was carpenter by occupa-
tion aud was highly respected In his com
munity. he was about 50 years of age.
Nothing has ever occurred In this section
that has caused such intense excitement and
the news of the terrible crime spread like
wild1re, and hundreds from ali over the
surrounding country visited the premises
to-day. The general opinion appears to
prevail that Frizer was undoubtedly insane,
as no man could have perpetrated such
deliberate and cold-blooded murder In his
sane moments,