The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1885-03-26
cAToN,s TcRIME.
A:Wife Murderer Receives Death Sen.
tenee-Partiouiars Of tho Decd.

i n shhe mufuefer RECEIVES Oohth Sen
tenes-Partioalars Of the Decd.
MosoAsg1ILp, KY., March 95.-Thl
jury in the case ;of Moses Cation, OF
trial for wife murder, to-day returned I
verdict 81 guilty and fxiag the deati
penalty.
u The crime for which Cation will hans
was committed less than month ago
and in point Of horrible detail anG
brutality was equal. to any Of The
long list Of black deeds that have tar
nished Kentucky's tairf4me. Associated
with the man to-day condemned were
his two sons, and the victim Of theil
crime was sCaton's second wife and the
step-mother Of his accomplices. The
younger Cations were, together with their
sister and Joseph E. Fritz, after fight in
which the girl and one OF the boys were
badly wounded !, arrested with their father,
and willin turn be tried for their partici-
patton in his hellish crime. s Es
Four years ago Moses Cation, farmer,
living in the new and rich-soiled county ot
Union, widower with three children,
Wesley, John and Annie, was married to
awidow lady living 1.-THE same neighborr
hood. This lady was the posses.
sor OF small parcel OF land
In her own right and to this fact
her death Is itracable. Cation, backed up
by his children, desired his wife 10 deed
this land TO him, and upon her refusal to
do this he at once began series of abuses,
eliminating in the tragedy that will cost
his life, and probably the lives OF at least
tive other members OF his family.
HOW THE MURDER WAS DONE.
On, Saturday, February 81, the three
Cations, father and sons, took Mrs. Cation
out, beat her most brutallyandh hanged her.
Tho neck was broken, and the woman's
body was bruised into pulp, In which
condition 1t was placed in rude box and
taken into the house. The neighbors
were not notified that death had visited
the Cation family, but lady living near
BY accidentally learned OF it and visited
the house. II, feGe
Upon seeing tho woman so poorly clad
she left the house and soon returned
with several others, who took the body
from the box and dressed II. The
husband would not allow them to
remove what few clothes were en- the
body, making them place dress over
them. While lifting the corpse they
noticed that the head would tall back
when the bodywas raised, but said moth
ing about It, as they feared 1t might arouse
Catons temper. They fnished dressing
the body and asked Cation to assist them
to place the body back in the box. He
replied, Certainly" and taking hold Of
the head, said: yiff +
ladies you must be very careful and
not move them handkerchiefs from around
her neck"
After they put the body in the box,
Cation went to tho barn, and the ladies
having concluded something was wrong,
made an examination of the neck and
body, discovering that EiG,
TIE SRcR WAS BROKEN /
and the body a solid mass Of bruises. Ca
ton returned to the house with sled, and
he and his sons placed the box on 1t and
drove to Smiths Mills and buried 1t. The
man who was employed to bury the body
remarked TO several men that something
was wrong. Squire J. V. Lilly was, there
fore, notified, and ordered the body disin-
tered and a post-mortem examination
held. Finding the marks of violence and
the cash on the head produced by some
sharp instrument, he at once issued war
rant OF arrest for Cation and his sons. No
arresting officer being present. the Squire,
with about twenty men, started out to
Caton's house. Arriving there they met
with resistance on the part Of the Cations,
whereupon they fred upon them, ,wounding
Nose Cation in the ankle and John Cation
j. THROUGH THE LUNG
with pistol ball. aCaton's daughter, AM
ME, in attempting to shield her father by
passing between him and the posse, was
shot in the bowels.
Squire Lilly finally stopped the firingoi
his men, and asked Cation 10 surrender. He
replied that he would not, and they told him
they would kill him and burn his house
down and get him out. At this juncture he
decided TO give up. Squire Lilly started
out with his prisoners, Nose Cation, Wes-
ley Cation, John Cation, Tom and Anna
Cation and Joseph e. Fritz, and landed
them safely in jail at Morgantield. John
and Annie Cation were both badly
wounded.
An attemptwa made to take them away
from the Squire and posse aud lynch
them while on their way to Morganfeld,
which was unsuccessful.
/. ft.f