Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1888-05-10
NEBRASKA HORROR.
Either q Terrible Crime or an Inc
explicable Accident-The
Bodies of
Two Men, Two Women: and Three
Children Found in the Ruins Of
Burned Barn.
The Hired Man Missing-The Dead Too
Much Oharred to Afford Any Clew
to the Affair.

ARLINGTON, Neb. May 5-A large barn on
the farm of Mrs. Freese, living about mile
from here, burned between six and eight
o'clock yesterday morning and the dead
bodies of Mrs Freese, Fred Grateluschen,
his wife and three children, and his brother
Louis. were found among the ruins. 80
far as known there is no person now living
who was present when these seven human
beings lost their lives.
Shortly after six O'Clock smoke was seen
rising from the Freese farm, but as old
straw and haystacks were being burned
quite extensively in the surrounding conn-
try, no attention was paid to it at first.
After the tre had burned for some time,
however, the color of the smoke changed
from a grayish shade, such as CONS from
burning hay or straw, TO dark blue, and
large sparks were carried to town and fell
in the streets, and these were found TO be
charred wood. There was now no room
for doubt that either the Freese dwelling,
the barn or some of the outhouses on the
place were burning, and loading wagon
with buckets, axes and ladders a number
of citizens FASTENED toward the farm.
When within q short distance of the
place which was partially hidden from the
view of one looking from Arlington, the
rescuers saw that the barn was burning
but so far gone that it was useless to at
tempt to save it, the south end of the
building, a large two story structure, hay
ing already fallen in and the rest of it
falling shortly before the men arrived.
= When the men reached the fire neither
Fred Grateluschen, the hired man, nor
any one OF the family was in sight. Two
men went to the house and found all the
doors wide open and every thing in dis
order, as if the occupants had left in a
very great hurry. THIS fact seemed to
. destroy the force OF a suggestion of some
OF the men, that the family might have
gone to some neighborlng farm house the
night before and not yet returned.
ALI doubt as to this supposition was soon
set at rest, however, by horrible discov-
cry made by one of the men. While STIR
ring the debris in the south end Of the
barn with a rake he caught one of the
teeth in a mans boot and gave 1t hard
pull, when to his horror he dragged out
the dead body of man, all the clothing
burned off and only shred of blackened
flesh cingIng to the skeleton here and
there.
From the size of the remains, however,
they were recognized those of Fred
Grateluschen. who, together with his wife
and three children and his brother LOUIS,
lived with Mrs. Freese, who was widow,
and managed the farm for her.
After the discovery of Fred Grateluschen
all the men got rakes, hoes, poles and
whatever else they could find and con-
tinued the search. They were soon re-
warded by finding the bodies of Mrs. Crate
luschen, her three children, Louis Grateful
schen and the old lady Freese. Both
women seem to have been only partly
dressed. Nearly all the flesh was burned
off the bodies.
A farm hand who had been employed on
the place was nowhere to be found, and,
after a thorough search had been made, it
was thought hardly possible that his body
could have been among the ruins.
Owing to the fact that the bodies found
were so nearly consumed, it is almost i'm
possible to discover marks of foul play if
they were stabbed, choked, poisoned or
shot but none of the skulls are crushed
One theory is that the fire having been
discovered too late to save the barn the
whole family went inside to get out the
cows and horses, of which there were some
fifteen or twenty, and having some trou BILE
in getting them OUT stayed too long and
were suffocated. The known difficulty OF
getting horses out of burning building
and the fact that the body of Mrs, Crate
support to this theory.
A heavy rain fell the day before and the
ground about the barn was very muddy.
If the hired man murdered the family in
the house and thea dragged them to the
barn and fired it, he was careful to destroy
all traces of it in the mud between the two
buildings.
A daughter who is away from home on a
visit is the only survivor of the family.