, 1891-08-27
MURDERED %INNOCENTS.
Shocking Story Of Crime in the
State of Colombia.
Marciano Medina, His Wife
and Daughter
Make Way With Thirteen Lit
tie Children.
A Slaughter of Innocents.

NEW DIRK, Aug. - village oil
Tomas de Zamora, near Bantield Station,
in Colombia, is the scene of a startling
series of crimes. 1t consists in the dis
covcry of a series OF murders, beginning
in 1859 or 1860 and continuing 10 1890,
and resulting in the death OF ten sons and
daughters and three grandchildren. The
author of these crimes is Marciano Medina
and his wife, Paullna Benovides and his
daughter, RemIgi, have been accessories.
if not the accomplices, in several Of the
murders.
Since 1871 Marciano Medina has lived
on a ranch near Tomas de Zamora. He
has a family consisting of a wife, six sons
and one daughter, Remigia. He is So
and his wife 43 years old. Medina is
employed among the corrals of Tomas,
and is considered a good worker among
the men of his class at election times.
The crimes of this man were due Indirect
ly to the action of RemiGia in leaving her
fathers home to elope with her lover.
| On July Is Medina called upon the 20
lice commissary of Tomas de IamOra, or
Waldo Gueri. and requested that his run
away daughter be apprehended. AT the
very homer of this conference a police
agent, Pedro Mirandi, called the commits
sary aside and said that he had just come
from a ranch near Tomas de
Zamora where in the course
of comments which had been
made upon the elopcment OF Remi-
gia, it had been charged that Remigia
had killed several of her children and
buried them on their ranch. After hear.
ing this the commissary returned to Me
dina, and. without ACCUSING his suspicion,
dismissed him with the promise that
everything possible would be done to Sc
cure the arrest Of his daughter. TIE
commissioner next visited the ranch,
where the story of the Medina crimes
was told him. On the following day
Remigia was found hiding on a ranch
near tie village. and was brought before
the police authorities of Tomas de Ia.
mora. She declared that she had left hCr
home on account of fearful treatment at
the hands OF her parents. Under close
questioning Remigia admitted that her
father had murdered several of her child
rem. She said that some of the bodies OF
those who had been killed shortly after
birth were buried in the house, while
some were buried in an old barn IN an
OUTLYING part of the ranch. On the evil
dence, Medina and his wife was arrested.
They at first denied the charge, and then
made a partial confession. e~ntangling
themselves in a maze of falseboods and at
length were induced to fully confess their
crimes.
According to the confession, Medina
and his wife lived formerly in Les Flores,
where they were married in 1858. They
lived in AN Inn of the village. the hus-
band being n man of-all-wOrk and his
wife attending to the charge of the es-
Enlistment. The first murder occurred
after they had been married a year and a
half. A son had been born to them who
was afflicted with fever. One night Me
dina took the child away on horseback,
on the prctcxt Of consulting Il doctor.
While riding along he placed the child's
breast against the pommel of the saddle
and crushed the breath out of the little
body. Then he carried it to the shore OF
a lake and buried it on land belonging to
DR.. Minez Geo. He then returned home
and told his wife what he had done. She
was heart broken and accused him of his
crime, but took no steps to punish or ex
pose him. Medina justified his act on
the ground that they were too poor to
support children.
A year later a second son, G%uidelpha. >
weeks old. was taken from home by the
father. The baby was murdered and its
body was taken home and buried in the
presence of the mother, who again became
accessory to the crime by her silence. The
next victim, a baby boy, was killed bv
strangulation when 3 months old, aud the
body was buried in a ~neighbOrinG ranch.
The next unfortunate infants were Fellpa,
who was murdered in her cradle when 1
months old. and Felja, whose brains were
blown out by Medina when she was 4
months old.
The parents then moved to Tomas de
Zamora. where, in 1874, Medina muir
Gered his sixth child, a boy s days old,
who had not been christened. This crime
was especially atrOcIous. According to
the confession OF the mother the husband
crushed the babes breast and buried it
while vet half alive in a trench, Through
out the following eight years Medina
seems to have abandoned his murderous
actions and five sons and a daughter were
born to him, all of whom are still living.
Two Others hOrn alter these, however,
we're killed by Medina. Twins born to
the couple died under suspicious circum-
stances, although Medina stoutly insists
hat they died natural deaths. lie says
he carried their bodies three days after
death to the public cemetery in n cart,
not being able to 90 to the expense Of a
regular funeral, and that the sexton bur
led the children. The cOmmissary, how
ever, has been unable 20 find any mention
of such an interment in the records Of the
cemetery, and it IS suspected that the twins
were also foullY dealt with, The list of
Medina's crimes were not restricted to his
offspring, but included the murder of
three sons of his unmarried daughter. Re-
migia. The first, born in 1889, and the
second, born in 1890, were beaten to
death by their grandfather. They were
buried on a ranch. In December, 1890,
Remigia gave bhth to a second son.
When she was absent he killed the baby.
Remigia and her mother helped Medina
to bury the child under the kitchen
The discovery Of these crimes has caused
intense excitement in Tomas de IamOra
and the adjacent towns. Excavations
made on Medina's ranch have resulted in
the finding of the skeletons of some Of the
murdered children. Medina seems little
moved, either by tine contemplation OF his
crimes or the peril that their discovery has
placed him in. He says he murdered
his own children because he had not the
means to support them. and killed his
grandsons to hide his daughters shame
a Complete Establishment.
Fred Shaefer is now located in his new
quarters on Sixteenth street and has the