Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1893-10-28
ANOTHER MURDER.
WASHINGTON COUNTY ADDS ANOTHER 10
Her MANY CRIMES.
hrs. John DOrnan Found Dead in Bed, Having
Been Beaten 10 Death BY Her
Husband.

1t Is bad week up in Washington
county when they don't turn out a MUIR
der or two.
This morning we have the details Of
another foul crime in that county, the
victim being Mrs. John Dornan, who
was brutally beaten to death by her
husband.
The murderer was promptly captured,
and is now In jail at Little Washing
ton.
The scene of the murder was the lit
tie village OF Dunningsville, about
twelve miles northeast of Washington,
and the crime was committed some time
during Thursday afternoon, at the home
OF the family. The unfortunate woman's
skull was crushed, her neck broken, and
her face terribly cut and bruised, while
the clothing was almost all torn from
her body and the hair from her head.
LIQUOR was the cause of the tragedy,
Dornan being still too drunk yesterday
TO give an intelligent account OF his
crime. Evidence against him is fur
nished, however, by his adopted daugh-
ter, Annie Jones, aged ten years.
John Dornan, the murderer, is a man
about sixty years of age, and black
smith. His family consisted of his wife,
his son William, and the adopted
daughter above referred TO. William
was absent from home all day Thurs
day, husking corn at the place OF his
brother John Dornan, who lives short
distance away. About o'clock Thurs
! day evening John and William went to
the home OF their parents, being sum-
moned by Annie Jones. They found
their aged mother lying cold and stiff
in death on the bed. The husband was
lying beside her but too much supplied
by liquor to make any statement, but
all the signs indicated that the woman
had been brutally beaten TO death by
the man who had promised to cherish
and protect her. A hasty examina-
ton showed the neck broken and the
| skull crushed on one side. The
little Jones girl, who has made her
home there for year or two, tells the
J following story, covering her knowledge
of the tragedy: After dinner the hus-
band was drinking, took his wife to
their room above stairs, and began TO
quarrel with her, driving the little girl
down and out. Returning, she found
the couple in the kitchen, the wife pos
| trate on the hearth, apparently dead,
and the drunken husband pulling az
her hair. She then went to John Dor
mans home, to tell Of the awful state of
affairs at tha Dornan home. Dornsn
must have dragged his dead wife up
stairs and thrown the body Oh the bed,
| and then laid down on the bed beside it
INF a drunken stupOr. Fragments Of
the dead womans clothing stained
with blood, were found all
over the house. John Dornan carried
bis still drunken father down stairs aud
then gave the alarm. Coroner Johnson
held an inquest yesterday afternoon In
the room where the body was found,
and in which the odor OF whisky was
mingled with that of human blood.
The verdict was that Mrs DOrnan came
to her death by blows inflicted by her
husband. The prisoner had little TO
say yesterday, and did not seem to be at
all worried at the predicament he was
In.
The Dornan family lisa large one, sew
eral of whom are known about Wash
ton. The sons are Robert Dornan, liv-
ing west Of Washington; John, who re-
sides near DunniDgsville, and William,
a boy yet, and living st home. The
daughters are Mrs. Ella Mcclure. Mum
town; Mrs. Mary Boles, PIttsburg; Mrs.
A. Il, Allen. Of Washington, and Miss
Belle. q girl still in her teens, who was
STAYING with her sister. Mrs. Allen, and
attending school.