Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1884-12-09
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TUESDAY EVENING, DECEMBER 9.
MURDER BY WHOLESALE.


.n.,,ia, dispatch from Omaha, Ncb.. AVS
ina. meagre details reached there Sstur y
of one of the most diaboiical wholesale
a,tcheries ever committed in the Stat" :
tic killing of five persons by one man, -
;nvtd lev the suicide of the murderer. %
rene of the slaughter is the town OF W.
worth, Custer county. a locality without !.
rsraphic facilities, which fact accounts :
IN. time taken for The story 10 reach tua
outside world. The victims Of the borli'''.
affair were John Finley, a wiJowar, ah"i'
sixty wears old Mary Finley, his daug ~; r,
aged sixteen Fannie Finley, Mnry's *l@'''.
aged eighteen; John Williams, suit"r
Mary's hand, and Charles Watkins, ZAP
Finley's lover. The perpetrat"r was h''''
as or Timothy Furquin, who was f"lec. {.
sutton of QUE Of the young ladies', IL Is ~;
known which. All parties were resloeA,@
Of the town where the tragedy occofc'.
The motive for this horrible butchery va
ipsiousv. The TWO young ladies have ~
some time been receiving the attentions -
Watkins aud Williams, and 1t WIS general y
supposed that there was to De douo'e
wedding about Christmas time. ioung u, :
ouin has always been considered an exceed
ingly quiet, industrious and inolens'V''
Young fellow, and though 1T was an open
secret that he had been an admlrer OF ana
u sutton for Que Of the Finley girls ana ma"
been rejected, no one ever thought that he
uas eanable of such crime. He has for
some time been giving tokens OF his un-
friendly feelings toward the young men who
nroyed successful in winning the favor OF
the girls, but no one seems 10 nave ever
heard him make an open threat.
iunt
Girls in company with their lovers Wat
Sins and Williams), attended dance.
Young Furaun mad asked one of the girls
10 90 With him. but she declined on the
score. il is believed, of Il previous engage
men,. This seem To have been the acme OF
his bitterness over his unrequited love and
TO have driven him into Il murderous frenzy.
He did not go to the dance, but laid in wait
for the party, nursing his hatred and plan
ming revenge When the party drove up
to the gate of the Finley homestead after
their night of pleasure, Furquin was there
with a double barrelled shotgun, loaded
with .'blue whistlersn The party were in
a spring wagon, just large enough to COM
fortably carry the four. The jealous man
was hidden.
Unseen by his victims he levelled his gun and
fred both barrels in quick succession at them.
The contents of the gun literally rludled the
bodies of all FOUR killing them almost instantly.
Hearing the shooting and the death screams of
bis daughters Mr. Finley rushed from the house
to his own death. The murderer struck the old
man a blow over the head with the butt of the
gun, and repeated the blow until his brains were
beaten out. The murderer then completed his
horrible work by blowing out his own brains with
a revol -cr Such is the story of the horrible
affair AS obtained from 4 number of sources and
reports all of them more or less III their charac-
ter contradictory. but all agreeing i'll their gen
erai features ne report says that the murderer
burned the house after committing the crime,
while another says that his body was found on
the river bank some distance from the others, in.
dicating that he had some idea of escaping from
the slaughter but changed his mind.