The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1894-12-12
MANIAC MURDERER.
ONE OF THE MOST BLOODY BUTCH.
ERIEs ON RECORD.
Kills His Wife and Two Children and
MortalIy Wounds His Two Step
Children, and Then Suicides-Ap-
paIIing in the Extreme.

Rgdgeway, Mo-, Dec. 1.-THE most hor
Tible human butchery ever recorded il
this section was committed five mile
southwest of this city this afternoon.
| David G. Spragg, in fit of insanity
murdered his wife and two children ant
mortally wounded his two step-children
He then took his own life. The weapo,
of death which the maniac welded witt
such appalling results was a large butch
er knife.
The nearest neighbor of the Spragg:
lived almost mile distant, and it wa
some time before the news of the crime
spread. In few hours, numbers of PEG
PIE arrived from the town and an inves
| 'asga ton of the scene was made.
The most sickening sight met theil
gaze.
Lying in the yard near the gate wa.
'dhe remains Of Mrs. Spragg, rnutilatei
| almost beyond recognition. and her dis
heYeled hair drowned in the pool of blooI
surrounding her.
In the little dwelling, in one corner OF
the sitting room, lay the lifeless body OF
little Galley; s years old, and in the other
resting on the slate with which he had
been playing was a. mass OF blood and
brains, While blood still oozed from the
gaping. wounds in the throaas of each.
On the kitchen floor, with blood be-
Smeared all over his hands and face, and
still clenching the terrible instrument OF
death in his bony hands, lay the author
of the awful scene.
Great pools of blood mad coagulated on
the floor, making more sickening and
terrible the scene.
Two s5epchlldren of Spraggs. both IN
der years old, were taken to the home
of a neighbor, where they are dying
from dozens of cuts that cover their little
bodies.
Evidence of a terrible struggle were
plainly visible in the Spragg home.
stoves
were spattered with blood; chairs were
upset, the oil can overturned and things
generally turned upside down
The particulars of the butchery are
learned from Dora Onstatt, a stepdaugh-
ter of Spragg. She is a child of IL years
and after eludfng her stepfatner's muir
derous grasp, escaped to netgnbof S
and gave the alarm. Her statement,
somewhat broken because of the intense
excitement under which she labored, was
Substantially as follows:
Spragg had been complaining all morn
ing of an aching head and his nearest
neighbor, Mr.. Meyers, was sent to Ridge
way for a physician.
Soon after Meyers departure, Sprass
tied Caleys hands behind him and de-
liberately cut his throat. Mrs. Spraggs
rushed into the room at this point and
attempted to interfere when Spragg maze
q lunge at her. She ran out into the
ward, around the house, and then into 1t
again, closely followed by Spragg. In the
house he caught her, and a desperate
struggle ensued. He literally hacked her
head and face into slices and then cut
ting her head almost from the body,
dragged her by the hair into the yard.
Covered with gore and every minute be-
coming more frenzied the human mons
ter now returned to the house again TO
continue his work.
Dora who was sick in bed, had climbed
out of window in the meantime and
escaped.
When the people first began to arrive
they were deferred from entering by
Snragg. who stood in the door with a
loaded shotgun. Finally he locked the
door. and ii was then that he butchered
his stepchildren. Just as the crowd was
preparing to break into the house, two
Shots were heard and when the door was
finally forced open, Spragg was dead and
the scene as described was presented to
view.
The two stepchildren, who were still
alive, were cared for, but cannot re-