St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1893-10-23
SOLVED A BLOODY MYSTERY
SEVEN MEN INTERESTED IN THE
WRHTTAR MURDER.
ONE OF THE GANG CONFEssEs
In the Hope of Securing Execu-
tive CIemency-The Seven Des-
peradoes Planned the Affair in
Order to Get an Old Woman's
Money-They Fail to Get the
Doodle.

OrOeC IO yet at OIu w Oildh
Money-They Fail to Get the
Doodle.
WASHINGTON, Ind, Oct. 22.-At last
the guilty murderers of the Wrattan
family are in the tolls of the law. Five
of the suspects arrested and taken to
Jeffersonville two weeks ago were
rightly suspected, but it was not
through them that the helnous criminals
were exposed. Last Saturday the grand
jury ordered the arrest of James Stone,
the man who came to the Wrattan house
early Tuesday morning, and first dis
covered the terrible tragedy. His arrest
was caused through his own wife, who
appeared before the grand jury, and
testified that Stone arose in the night
and complained of a violent tOothache,
and that he was going to dentist to
have it extracted; that he did not return
until late hour, and then, being COW
cred with blood, he asked for a change
of clothes; that Stone maintained that
the blood on his clothes was caused by
the bleeding of his tooth. On inquiry
it was found that no doctor or
dentist had extracted tooth
from Stone. This was deemed
strong evidence, especially when COM
ing from the mans wife. AS soon as
Stone was brought to town the grand
jury went to work to obtain confess
sion from him. At first he strenuouSly
denied everything, but, being assured
that clemency would be guaranteed to
him If he made confession, he at mid
night yielded to their overtures. He
told his story about as follows:
THE AWFUL STORY.
Knowing that Mrs. Wrattan kept
great deal of money about the house,
Grandson Cosby, a notorious character
in this county, planned robbery. A
gang of seven persons, that formed
sort of society for robberies and general
hellishness, was notified of his plan.
Their names are Grandson Cosby, Lon
Williams, Martin Yarber, of this city;
William Kaiys, of Pike county; John
w. White, Gipp Clark and James Stone.
Their plan was that Yarber and Clark
should get into the house and
commit the robbery, while the
others were to stand guard. At
the time when the robbery was
to he committed, Cosby and Stone had
not yet arrived. Cosby was in the city
Monday evening, and was so drunk that
he got past going, and did not reach the
house at all. but Stone arrived after the
murder had been committed, and be-
cause he was late the other conspirators
wallowed him in the blood of the vic
tins, and in that condition permitted
him to go home, and that was the nail
that fastened down the lids of their
coffins. They could not find cent of
the money, as Stone did not arrive until
the six murders we're committed. He
does not know why they killed the
Wrattan family. All the criminals were
arrested and taken to Jeffersonville last
night. Williams and Kaiys were already
in jail. Brown, another suspect, who
was taken to Jeffersonville, had no con-
nection with the tragedy, and he will be
released. The excitement today is more
intense than ever. Woe to the murder
ers if Daviess county delegation can
lay hands on them.
HISTORY OF THE CRIME.
The following account of the murder
.
was written Sept. 10:
1.-THE most horrible crime ever COM
mitted in Southern Indiana must be
entered against Daviess county. Dill
ard benson Wrattan, his wife, mother
and three children were murdered last
night in the most cruel and barbarous
way. The Wrattans resided about nine
miles from this city, in Harrison town
ship. They were well-to-do farmers.
The husband was down with the typhoid
fever, but must have been asleep when
the horrible deed was committed, for he
lay on his back, his hands folded peace
fully across his breast, with three ugly
gashes in his forehead. Mr.. Wrattan's
mother, aged siXty-one, was evidently
the first killed. She was lying upon
the floor with both arms broken, and
terrible struggle must have ensued.
His wife was also found upon the floor,
and five feet from her lay her little
daughter Stella, aged six years. The
baby, three years old. was found mur-
dered in the kitchen. Ethel, a girl
eleven years old. showed signs of life,
but she had her skull broken in two
places. She has not yet attained con-
sciousness. Upon her recovery will de-
pend all the evidence that may be
cleaned about the atroci0us crime.
THE MOTIVE FOR THE MURDER
was presumably money, as it was
known that Mr.. Wrattan's mother had
great deal of it concealed about the
house. 1t was the window of her room
that was broken open and entered,
while the struggle which ensued awak-
ened the other members of the family.
Old Mrs. Wrattan had received a pen
sion ever since she was widow, just
after the war, and all this money was
supposed to have been secreted about
the house. The drawers of the bureau
were ransacked, and every place where
money was likely to be found had been
disturbed. Thirty-nine dollars, how
ever, was found which the robbers over
looked.
"The instrument of death was either
a corn knife or hatchet, or both. The
question is, who did it? The impress
sion prevails that some one well known
by the family committed the horrible
crime, and then when ne was discovered
by the older people he murdered even
the three-year-old babe to destroy the
evidence against him. The tracks of
three men were found made while leav-
ing the house through cornfeld. Little
Ethel never recovered from the effects
of her Injuries. She lay unconscious for
several days and then died, making the
total murders six.
One Killed, the Other Wounded.
GEORGETOWN, KY. Oct. ga shoot
ing occurred here about 5 O'CLOCK this
afternoon between Policeman George
James and Lloyd Cole, of this town, in
which the former was killed and the
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