Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-12-25
SHE DIED OF SHAME.
The Tragic End of a Fair Young
Indiana School Teachers Life.
A COWARDLY MURDER ACCUSATION
Made by an Anonymous Person Against the
Father of the Lady
DRIVES HER TO WlLDs INSANITY

COLUMBUS, IND, Dec. 24.-The papers
have mentioned the sudden insanity and
subsequent death of the beautiful Miss
Bertha Parks, of Memphis, Ind, five miles
south OF this city, but the cause has been
hidden in mystery. She was the daughter
of Mr.. and Mrs. Marion Parks, residing
near Memphis, and IS years of age. She
had been employed 10 teach district school
near the village of her home.
When she entered the school-room Mon
day, December s, after spending Saturday
and Sunday at her parents house, she found
on tine blackboard, in bold letters, an in
scription charging her father, Marion Park,
with the murder of Cyrus Park, his
father, mother, two brothers and sis
ter, about 20 years ago. She had
been told of the tragic event in con-
nection with the death of her relatives, but
of the details she had but little knowledge.
Seeing her father charged with such helm
Gus crime shocked her to an unusual degree.
Before the scholars entered she brushed the
fatal words from the blackboard, but she
could not blot them from her mind.
A Sudden Change in Demeanor.
Her pupils noticed her worrlment and
an1iously inquired the cause, but she gave
evasive answers. saying she did not feel
we'll. When she returned to her
home Friday night her parents
noticed the change in their daughter,
but she evaded their questions in the same
manner she had her pupils. Finally she
told her mother, who tried to quiet her
| and reconcile her, which seemed temporarily to
| have had some effect. Every possible effort
made n m
was closed temporarily, and it was announced
that she had typhoid fever.
On Sunday just as she went to sit down to
the dinner table, she became suddenly insane,
and, grabbing and clawing at an imaginary
object, screamed out that someone was pursu-
/ ing her. From this time until Friday
dened tigress, day and night raving in the
most violent manner, but she did not In all her
rav1ngs betray the cause. Drs. Reynolds and
Mckinney and Justice Hunter were called on
Friday afternoon, and an inquest of lunacy was
held and arrangements made to take her to the
Central Asylum at Indianapolis.
She Dies From Heart Failure.
Just at this stage OF the proceedings she be-
came quiet. ceased her rawlings for moment,
when her countenance became more placid and
she advanced to Squire Hunter, neighbor. re-
marking: Lay me down." Lifting her
tenderly in his arms he carried her to
the bed. and almost instantly she ex-
pired. The funeral was conducted Sat-
urday afternoon, Rev. Combs officiating, and
her remains were followed to their final resting
place at Oakland Cemetery. near Henryville.
An autopsy revealed the fact that death en-
sued from heart failure.
Now comes the strange part of the sto-y
which reveals the cause of the unbalancing of
her bright intellect, madness and subsequent
and untimely death. Her revelations to her
mother are now made public. No one but the
young girl herself and the villain who wrote
the fataI words on the blackboard had ever
them DR. was
left to tell the terrible secret.
Twenty years ago Cyrus Park, father of the
glrls father, lived on little farm between
b Henryville and Charleston, in Clark county.
His family consisted of wife and four children
two girls and TWO boys
/ The Cause of the Murder Story.
In 1870, on dark and rainy night in Octo-
bcr, the father and the family were
horribly butchered and chopped to pieces
with an ak. The assassius had done the
work well. as they thought, leaving the
horribly mutilated bodies of the five
victims scattered abaut the little cabin home
Next morning, when the horrible discovery
child. Eva. who. though horribly chopped with
the AK was still alive and finally recovered,
carrying the scars to this day. Cyrus Park,
his wife, two sons and one daughter lay dead
Park had sold 4 small farm and had the
money about his residence, and as itgwas miss
ing the murder was credited to robbery. Sus-
Ed Davis and Squire Taylor. They were ar
rested and placed in Jail. but the grand
jury failed TO indIct them, the evidence
being entirely circumstantial. The excite
ment was intense, and an alleged forced
confession having been obtained from another
negro who it was supposed had knowledge of
the affair. that they were the guilty parties
Judge Cyrus L. Dunham, then holding Circuit
Gourt at Charleston. where they were in JAIL
thought best not to release them lest they be
hung by the fury of q mob.
Three Suspected Negroes Lynched.
He took the Jail keys and went to Jefferson
vile. This SO enraged the mob that they bat
tered down the jail door, took the three
negroes and hung Them to tree just outside of
town. George W. Baxter was then Sheriff
After this, muttering talk was heard, direct
ing suspicion to Marion Park, father of
the dead girl. who at the time, it appears was
absent. but nothing definite was ever found out
to incriminate him. and, like all such matters
it died out in course of time. The real perpe-
traitors of this horrible hutchery have never
been known and probably never will be- No
one ever believed in the stories circulated about
Marion Park being guilty of the crime. The
most intense excitement prevails in the neigh
borhood over the matter, and should the guilty
wretch who wrote the fatal inscription on the
schoolhouse blackboard ever be discovered he
will doubtless share the same fate as the three
negroes who were hung by mob.