Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-02-22
SHOT BY THEIR MANIAC son.

The Mother Fatally wounded, the
Father Seriously-A Fearful Strug
gle.
A most horrible double shooting affair
took place in the town Of Middlefeld, lust
below here, Tuesday, says a Nliddletown
tConn. special Of the 10Th inst to the
New York Herald, in which William
Williams, by an insane design. became
both parricide and a matricide. Will
hams Is the son Of well-known retired
and respected farmer of that place, about
40 years old and for several wears has
been demented. Early last year his con-
dItion became such that il was necessary
to cOntine him in the State hospital for
the insane. He was not violent but bis
parents were fearful of what he might do
lie remained there until last December,
When he was taken home in a great meas
ure cured. Secretly, it is said, he has ever
since MS incarceration in the hospital de-
termined on shooting his parents for mt
ting him there.
tuesday morning be arose at a later
hour than usual. His mother was alone
IN the dining room. Taking a rusty fowl
ing piece, loaded with buckshot, from the
antlers over the front hall door, he ran
toward Mrs. Williams, cooking the gun
and IeYeling it as he did so.
Il am going to kill you. mother, he
IalrlY screamed in his insane frenzy As
he rushed toward her the afrighted
woman screamed, and as she turned TO
nee through an open door he fired one Of
the barrels Of the gun andthe coarse shot
TOOK effect at the base of the neck. inst
above the shoulder, inficting a horrible
wound. She fell to the floor bleeding and
oil
formed into raYlng maniac bV the sirbt
OF his fearful crime and cooking the other
Darrel prepared to finish his deadly work.
As ne was about to raise the gun again
his father, Mr.. Amos Williams. who had
heard the shooting and the screams. rush
ca IN from the barn and knocked down the
muzzle OF the gun.
The father closed with the madman. but
III his exhausted condition he was no
match for the maniac. whose infurioted
passion gave him superhuman strength
Inc son nung his aged father to the floor
ana sought to dash out his brains with the
butt of the gun. The old man. however
managed to elude him by crawling through
the open door into the yard. Then he ran.
calling for help.
This device attracted the madman's at
tenton from the form of his nov uncon-
scIOus mother, and he followed his father.
Upon reaching the open air he took de-
lIDerate ann at him and fired. The distance
between them was so great that the shot
scattered before reaching Mr.. Williams
though his right wrist and forearm We're
badly shattered. Even should it not be
necessary to ampuSate the arm, yet it will
always be practically useless.
BY this time the neighbOrhOod was
aroused, and the maniac was caught and
bound before he had time to reload the
gun. He was frothing at the mouth and
presented a fearful sight. He was at
once taken to the Asylum for the Insane
again. The wounds he inflicted are very
dangerous from the large size of the shot
and their penetration. Mrs. Williams.
the doctors fear, is fatally injured. The
back of her head is torn and the cords of
the neck exposed Tuesday night the un-
fortunate son had become a gibbering
lunatIc.