The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1883-11-02
A TERRIBLE DEED.

Husband and Father Murders his Wife
and Three Children 1t Now Comerstown,
Ohio-A Terrible Scene Revealed to the
Discoverers OF the Bloody Deed.
NEW CoAERsTowN, O., Oct. "a.
This community is now laboring under
the most intense excitement over the dis
covery last night Of one Of the most shock
ing and revolving cases Of murder and suis
eide ever occurring in this part of Ohio.
News reached here about midnight that Al.
bert Frizer, living one and a half miles
north Of Lock u, Frye's Creek Valley, on
the Ohio Canal, had murdered his three
children and his wife and then killed him
self.
1t seems that last night about eight
o'clock Mr.. ]. Niesbaum, brother-in-law of
Mr.. Frizer, came along the road past Fri
GERS house and noticed that the COW in the
barn-yard was rather restless. Mr.. Mes
baum made an investigation and found that
the animal had not been MIXED for
several days, and thinking this very
strange, he repaired to the house
and found the doors all locked and
bolted, the windows nailed down and the
blinds all drawn. He called a few neigh
bors and then commenced to inspect the
premises. On peeping through a window,
the curtain of which was partly drawn
aside, they were Mortified at beholding
blood stains on the floor and also mans
foot covered with blood near the window.
Lighting lantern they raised the window
and entered the house, when n horrible
spectacle presented itself. On the floor
near the north window, in the east room of
the building, lay the dead body Of Albert
Frizer, while in q crib standing against the
side of the room, not three feet from the
father, lay the dead bodies Of his two oldest
children. On a bed on the other side of the
room lay the mangled remains of Mrs.
Frizer, with the dead body of her infant
clasped in her arms. Everything in the
room seemed well arranged, showing no
signs of q scufie, and the evidence seems to
be that Frizer murdered his whole family
while they were asleep and then killed him.
self.
Mrs. Frizer was found with her throat cut
from ear to ear, and the infant in bed with
her must have been beaten to death with
some blunt instrument, as it was covered
with blood. Both the mother and the child
were beneath the bed clothes, and they
probably died without a 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 a jelly with some blunt instru-
ment.
On examining Frizer's face it was found
to have been blown almost completely off,
and an empty gun barrel which laid against
a chair near him told how he had 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 a lamp
till it exploded, as the lamp was found
shattered to pieces on the floor.
The horrible deed must have been done
on Sunday night, as on that night they
were last seen alive. On Sunday evening
Mr.. Frizer's brother-in-law, Mr.. Judy, had
a talk with him, and Oh that occasion Fri
ger told him he had been to New Corners
town and consulted DIR. Beers, and that he
had advised Frizer to quit work for awhile
until his health got better, as he had been
sick for some time. 1t is thought that
on the fatal Sunday night Frizer must have
become very respondent and temporarily
insane, from brooding over his having to
give up earning his living. He was not in
the best circumstances.
The house in which the horrible tragedy
occurred is a story -and-a-half frame struc-
ture, and stands alone on the road to
Frye's Creek Valley, a few rods from a
church and school-house. 1t is the same
house where Mrs. Frizer was born and be-
longs to her grandmother. The prem
Uses around the house are in splendid con.
dition, everything having the appearance
Of neatness and good order. Frizer was a
carpenter by occupation, and was highly
respected in his community. He was about
thirty-two 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 wild-fire, and hundreds from all over
the surrounding country visited the prem
ises to-day. The general opinion seems to
prevail that Frizer was undoubtedly in.
sane, as no monster could have perpetrated
such deliberate and cold-blooded murder
In his sane moments. The tragedy sends
an entire family into eternity.