Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1892-12-29
TOOK THREE LIVES.
The Terrible Deed of a Mailman
in Massachusetts.
Henry &. Varnum, OF Worcester, Muir
ders His Wife aud Daughter, Fatal
ly Wounds His Mother-n-Law
and Commits Suicide.
AN AWFUL CRIME.


WORCESTER Mass, Dec 27.-A hor-
rible double murder and suicide was
discovered at noon Monday in the upper
fiat of a tenement building at 81 fainter
street Henry C. Varnum and his little
adopted daughter Florence were found
dead, his wife was nearly dead when dis
covered and died ON the way to the hos
pital, and Mrs. Wright, the mother of
Mrs Varnum, now lies at the hospital
at the point of death, unable to talk or
indicate in any way The story CT the
awful event.
Mrs. Varnum was a regular attendant
at Hope Congregational church, where
she sung in the choir Her husband
and little daughter often accompanied
her Mrs. Narnum was not present at
any of the church services Sunday,
and the pastor, Rev. L. w. Phillips, re-
marked the absence and EXPIRE ssed
some surprise, saying that Mrs.
Varnum was not the sort of woman
to stay ct home because it was
cold. Mr. Phillips had occasion Mon
day to make a call on Christy street,
near fainter, and, in passing the house,
thought he would find out if anything
was the matter. lie rang the Varnum
bell, but received no answer, and
called up the occupant of the middle
fiat, Mrs. f. f. Hall, who said she had
not heard anything from the Varnums
and that she felt nervous about them.
She also said that the door upstairs
was open.
Mr.. Phillips went upstairs lmmedi-
ately and entered the apartments
through the parlor. The rooms were
very cold and the furniture un-
disturbed. He passed through the
parlor into the back parlor and
then into the kitchen. He then
pushed open the door OF the bedroom
leading off from the kitchen and a
terrible sight met his eye. Lying on
the bed, covered with blood, were Mr..
Varnum and his wife. The man was
dead, but the woman was breathing
heavily. = a cot in the corner of
the room lay the child. turned over
on her face and dead. Mr. Phil
1 lips waited to see no more, but
rushed down stairs to the office Of the
Knowles loom works, where he tele-
phoned for the police When the police
arrived Mrs. Wright was discovered in
an adjoining room. She was conscious,
but not able to speak, though She nm
derstood what was said to her and made
several Intellectual attempts to articu-
late. The bodies of the man and child
were removed by the undertaken and
the two women were carried TO the
hospital. The younger died just as the
ambulance stopped at the hospital door.
The weapon with which the deed was
committed was an iron door-hahger
an iron strap about - inches long,
headed bv cylindrical knob The iu-
strument weighed fully four pounds.
Narnum himself was killed by
stab from knife iden-
tilted as his own lie was cut
in the region of the heart There were
no other marks upon his body Med
zeal Examiner Keefc, who examined
the bodies says that the decd was done
early Sunday morning. The bodies of
the man and child when found were stiff
and water in the kitchen was frozen.
The cause of the deed is ascribed to
religious insanity on the part Of
Varnun. He had shown tendencies in
this direction of late which, though
pronounced, had not caused alarm, and
he had made religious topics almost
the only ones for discussion in his
household and among his acquaint-