Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1888-07-06
An Almost Incredible Crime.

In Howard county, Md, Charles
Washington. a colored boy, only 10
wears old. last week deliberately cut
! the throats of two white children,
! both of whom are still alive but in q
very precarious condition. The father
of the children is Mr.. h. ID. Layton.
The negro boy was left by the chill
| dren's mother to attend them while
! she went to the home of a neighbor.
The children's father was at work in
full sight of the house. Late in the
afternoon he called TO the boy and
told him to bring him some water.
The boy was long i'm obeying the sum
mons and in the meanwhile Mr.. Lay
ton haG worked his way over hill
and could no longer see his children.
When again near the house and i'll
full sight of it, the boy came with the
water. He told Mr.. Layton in the
most matter-of-fact manner that some
one had cut the Threats of his chill
dren. Mr. Layton at first declined TO
believe it but went TO the house, and
there on the bed lay his two children
with the blood streaming from terri
BILE gashes across their thrOats. The
older one is girl three years of age
and the Younger is only fourteen
months old Both We're unrecogniza-
BILE. and both seemed TO be in deaths
grasp. The father relieved the suffer
ings of the little ones as best he could
and then questioned the boy as TO
who had committed the deed. The
bov, in straightforward manner,
told him that white man had cut
the threats and had jumped over the
fence and made his escape TO the
woods. SO thorough was he in his
account of the affair that he pointed
out the exact place where the man
had leaped over the fence. On the
side of the fence from the house was
a plowed field. Mr.. Layton examined
this very carefully, but he could dis
cover no footprints, and was at loss
in what direction to pursue the per
petrator of the crime. In the mean
time the mother arrived, and was
overcome when she found her chill
dren so terribly mutilated. The wind
pipe of the boy was found upon eX-
animation. to be severed just at the
prominence known as Adam apple.
The neck of the girl was gaShed Sc
verely on the right side, but no arte-
ries were severed When her wounds
had been dressed and restoratives
applied, in response TO a question as
to who had cut her, she pointed to the
colored boy and said that he had done
ii with big butcher knife, which
was subsequently, found. The boy
then confessed that he had cut the
children's threats, and explained as
his motive that he was tired of mind
ing them. He said that the mother
frequently left them, and that he was
compelled to take care of them. The
boy was placed under arrest. Before
the crowd of men who gathered TO
hear the trial he confessed that he
had cut the children's threats. He
was not at all abashed, and while be-
ing examined he most strenuously
denied that he had cut the windplpe
of the boy, declaring that it was done
while the neck was being washed.
He was bright and alert, and could
not be tripped in his cross examina-
ton. He said that he did not wish TO
kill the children, but he was tired of
attending them. He wanted to get
them out the way, and he thought he
could do it without killing them. He
expressed himself as willing to go
with the sheriff if he would treat him
kindly. He was committed for the
action of the grand jury of Howard
county.