The Kootenai herald. [volume] (Kootenai, Idaho) 1891-1904, 1893-11-04
John Daugherty Kills His Wife Near
WatervilIe.
MARRIED LAST FEBRUARY
The Woman Was Hacked to Death with
an Old, Dull Butcher Knife-The
Wretch In Jail.

WATERvILLE, Wash, Oct. 31.-Johu
Daugherty last winter advertised for
and secured a wife by patronizing a
Chicago matrimonial journal. In Feb
ruary of this year they were married,
but almost from the first the two quar-
relied, the breach between them widen
ing constantly, until in the summer the
old man consulted his lawyer in regard
to securing divorce.
A messenger came to town in hot
haste this morning and announced that
Mrs. Daugherty had been found dead
and her murderer discovered. The
coroner, deputy sheriff and a number
of citizens Immediately went out to in
vestigate the matter, and on arrival at
the farm a shocking sight was pre-
sented. The body of the murdered
woman was found lying on its face be-
tween two small stacks of unthreshed
grain, where she evidently had been
dragged by her Infatuated murderer.
Death had occurred several days pre-
vious, but the body was in an excellent
state of preservation. When the body
was exposed evidence of a shocking
and brutal crime was revealed. She
had been hacked to death with an old,
dull butcher knife, and the weapon was
found sticking in one of the straw stacks
not six feet from the body.
The fiend had slashed and gashed
the face and body and must have
stabbed and hacked the woman long
after life had fed. 1t was evident
from the cuts that the woman had
fought desperately for her life. The
insides of both hands were hacked to
the bone, the index finger of the left
hand being almost completely severed,
as though she had grasped the blade in
an attempt to wrench it from her as
sailant. The backs of her hands were
hacked and the left hand almost ampu-
tated at the wrist, as if she had thrown
themu up to shield her face. A dozen
stabs and cuts disfgured her face be-
yond recognition. A part of the
right ear was cut off, the nose slit,
several stabs about the temples, one of
which penetrated the bone. The fatal
cut was where the fend incarnate had
thrust the knife into her throat on the
right side, driving it with such force
that the point came out under the left
ear. There was also several Commissions
on the body and stab above the right
hip.
The murder had evidently been COM
mitted near where the body was
found, as no evidence of a struggle
could be found elsewhere.
A neighboring farmer discovered the
guilty wretch in a vacant house in the
vicinity almost dead from exhaustion.
| When able to talk Daugherty admit
ted that he had killed his wife. He
gave as his reason that she had threat
ened to poison him and stated that she
had given him rat poison in his tea. He
stated that the deed was committed
some FIVE or six days before; that he
had been wandering around the neigh
borhood, hiding in barns, and at last
had broken into Johnson's house. His
condition was such that he could only
make rambling statements. He was
taken to where the body was exposed
and answering to the interrogations of
the coroner identified the body as that
of his wife, and acknowledged commit
ting the deed.
Feeling ran very high araong those
present, and at one time it looked as
though the self-admitted murderer
would be strung up on the spot. He
was rushed away, however, by Deputy
Sheriff Barnes before any concerted ac-
ton could be taken.
Daugherty is now in jail, suffering
from the effects of exposure, and it is
not yet certain that he will survive to
meet the punishment he so richly de-
serves.