Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-12-15
A TALE OF BUTCHERY,
One of the Most Horrible on Record,
Told by One Who visited the
HOME OF THE MURDERED FAMILY
Great Masses of Blood sopped Up and
Thrown Out Of the Window.
EVIDENCE OF A TERRIBLE STRUGGLE

JACKSONVILLE, FLA, Dec. IA large
posse, headed by Sheriff Dimick, proceeded
yesterday to the Packwood house at New
Smyrna to-day, where a family of North
erners had been found murdered They re-
turned to-day, having no clews to the
butchers.
One of the first men to reach the scene
after the alarm had been given, thus tells
the story: "When we reached the house
we all crowded around the broken window
and peered in. Before our eyes was an ap-
palling spectacle. On her back by the
window, in pool of blood, Mrs. Hatch lay
with a pistol ball wound on. the inside
corner of her left eye. Her face was
blackened with powder. The other bodies
lay near her When the crash came she
had evidently been near the window.
A Child the Next to Meet Death.
'When the murderer entered her little
son, frenzied with fright, had probably fled,
as child would, and had sought refuge in
the bedclothes of bed lounge at the other
end of the room. He was torn from there,
shot over the left eye and his throat cut in
three places His head was almost severed
from his body. The bedclothes were stained
crimson.
While the murderer was entering the
window, Miss Bruce had apparently secured
an old Smith & Wesson pistol and fired at
him. The ball took effect in the window
frame. The murderer, needless of this on
slaught continued his terrible work. BY
this time Miss Bruce had gone to the closet
and secured double-barreled shotgun. She
To- 1o<3 = bo
but unfortunately both hammers snapped
on shells that had been exploded many
days before. He overpowered her, pEoba-
bly, after killing her little nephew.
A Probable Struggle Over Gun.
s'The murderer shot her through the right
cheek, the ball crashing through her teeth,
There must have been another struggle for
the possession of the gun. He tore it from
her grasp, and, swinging it around his head
with both hands clutching the barrel, drove
the stock against her face with terrible
force. The blow struck her between the
forehead and nose and nose and crushed in
her skull Every bone in her face was
broken. Then, with keen bread knife, he
stabbed her in the neck, cutting out
square section of flesh, and finishing with
two terrible gashes on her throat. frankie
Packwood, beautiful little golden-hired
child of five years, was found on the floor
at the foot of the bed with his throat cut
His features had been marred.
Blood Running in Streams.
The floors of both rooms were completely
covered with blood, and the mattress on the
bed on which Miss Bruce lay was soggy
with gore. On the curtains and walls blood
was spattered thickly. When the neighbor
later on began to clear up the premises the
blood had to be carried from the rooms in
dippers. II was then scooped up in masses
and thrown out; then the remainder was
sopped up with cloths and the spots were
scrubbed and strewn with flour, but even
this did not hide the evidence of the bloody
crime"
A New Smyrna dispatch tonight says:
The conviction is growing here that the
murders were committed by somebody be-
longing to this neighborhood, or at least
familiar with the premises and the sur
rounding country.