Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1891-07-18

The ReignIng Sensation In Wayne County.
who Was the Guilty Party7
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SpseiaI Correspondence Of the Register.
WAYNE G. a., w. VA, July 15.-Or
the evening of July 9th most brutal
and atrocious murder was committed Oh
the waters of Beech Fork Of Twelve
Pole river, in this county. The little
eighteen-months-old daughter OF lilly
and Cora Commences, who reside about
fourteen miles from this place, was
found dead in the house where It's
parents live, with such marks OF Vio-
lence on its body that the only con-
clusion to be reached was that 1t had
been murdered. The child's skull was
crushed on the back part OF the head,
its neck broken, a wound made by some
sharp instrument on the top OF the head,
and it's mouth filled with ashes.
The Commences are poor people, VINO
live on rented land, and husband ana
wife both work In the field. They had
only one child-the one that was muir
dered. Reports say, however, that they
have not lived happily together, the
husband having always been jealous OF
his wife, who is a good looking woman
about twenty-five years old, while he
looks to be about thirty.
Living in the same house with them
was a woman by the name of Cynthia
Adkins, twenty-eight years old, IN
married, but is the mother OF two child
rem, and is pregnant with the third.
On the day Of the murder this Adkins
woman had been assisting her paramour,
Lee Adkins, at work in the corn field,
returning to the house that evening
about dark. Hilly Commences, his wife
and child, who had been spending the
4th OF July with relatives at Guyan-
dotte, retarned home about o'clock p.
IN. on that day, and, leaving the child
alone at the house, as was their custom,
went into the field to work. The Ad-
kins woman, it seems, was the first to
arrive at the house that evening, and
says she found the child lying on the
hearth asleep, and that she took 1T in
her arms and placed it upon the bed.
That then, after doing some little house
work, during which time Commences
and his wife came to the house, she
started to the house of her sister, about
one quarter of mile away to get her
child, leaving Cora Commences in the
house building fire, and Hiley Com
menes in the yard chopping wood. That
after she had gone some little distance
from the house, about so yards, she
heard sound in the house as II some
one had struck heavy blow on the
floor and at the same time heard Cora
Commences scream. After this all was
still and she went on. After going about
$50 yards from the house, she heard
Commences and his wife at the house be-
gin to scream at the top of their voices,
and while she stood listening, the fami-
" OF her brother-in-law, who lived just
above, and who had also heard the
screams, came running down the branch |
by where she was, and she returned |
with them to the Commences house, and |
found that the child was dead, but was |
not yet cold.
On the next day, the 9th inst, Justice |
Moore held an inquest over the dead |
body of the child, and upon the verdict
If the Coroners' Jury, issued warrants |
or the arrest of Cora Commences and |
Cynthia Adkins. The prisoners were
brought here Tor an examining Trial,
which was postponed until yesterday to
.llow time to summon witnesses, and
yesterday, when Hiley Commences re-
urned to be present at the trial, he was
rrested and placed In jail at the in
lance of Prosecuting Attorney Mar
UNI who had been investigating the
rial Yesterday before Justice RlaGafla59
which trial was concluded to-day, ana
he was discharged. The evidence Is
,urely circumstantial, and Prosecuting
attorney Marcum, who represents the
State. is exerting himself to unravel the
MYSTERY that surrounds the murder and |
tx the guilt upon the proper party. 1t
s evident that some one Of the three
committed the crime, and public senti-
nent, as well as the evidence brought
out in the trial of Cora Commences,
points to lilly Commences, the father OF
the child, as the guilty party. There
has been strong talk of lynching him,
but the public passion seems now to
have subsidized to some extent, and all
seem content to let the law take its
course. He is now in jail awaiting his
examination.