St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1896-01-14
CHICAGO MAN KILLS HIS WIFE.
FIVE CHILDREN AND HIM.
SELF.
ASPHYxIATED AS THEY SLEPT,
TURNED ON EVERY GAS JET IN
THE HOUSE AND WENT TO
BED.
DEsPoNDENT OVER HIS LOSSES.
Children Struggled Against Death,
but Were Overcome by the
Terrible Fumes.

CHICAGO, jar. 13.-Peter Hougaard.
who is thought by the police to have
been insane, killed himself, wife and
five children last night. The discov-
cry was made by the police today.
upon forcing open the door of Hou-
gaard's residence they found the whole
family asphyxiated. Hougaard had e'9
IDENTIFY waited till all were asleep, and
then, turning on the gas jets, had calm
~ lain down and awaited his own
death. The dead are:
PETER BOUGAARD. husband and father,
forty years old.
MRS. BOUGAARD tbirty-eight wears old
HANS, fourteen years old.
JENNIE ten years old.
OLGA, eight years old.
MAUD, six years old
IELLA, two years old
Hougaard was Dane, living at 731
Slxty-hrSt street. He wrote letter
to friend yesterday, telling him what
he was going to do, saying he was
respondent, and spoke of some dia-
monds which the police would find by
his side when they entered the house.
The letter, which was written in Dan
ish, was received by Hougaards friend
today, and he Immediately informed
the police of it's contents. Capt. Glib
bons, of the Englewood station, with
two officers, went to the Hougaard
residence. The doors were all locked
and there was no response to repeated
ringing of the door bell Finally the
police put their shoulders to the door
and forced it from it's hinges They
were almost overcome by the fumes of
Illuminating gas that met them, and it
was some moments before the air from
the open door cleared the interior at
moSphere sufficiently to permit them
to enter Then the police made a hasty
survey OF the first story, found moth
ing, and started UP stairs, where they
discovered the seven corpses. The jets
of every gas fixture in the house had
been opened, and death had evidently
come on all the family but the hus-
band and father while they were
asleep. n q
DIED WITH HIS EYES OPEN.
When the police made their way to
the upper floor of the house they en-
tered the front bedroom On the bed
lay Hougaard and his wife, with their
tWo-year-old daughter Tella Hougaard
| had died with his eyes open and his
hands folded across his breast. The
son, Hans, occupied a cot in a rear
room. He had struggled, to some eX-
tent before heawas finally suffocated
and had kicked the clothes off the bed
A large dog slept in this room, and
strange to say, the dog was alive when
the room was entered by the police He
evidently knew something was wrong
for when the officers tried to touch the
body the dog attacked them and tried
to drive them away. Jennie, Olga and
Maud, the other children, slept in the
room next to Hans. They, too. haC
struggled and kicked the clothes off
All had been dead, evidently, for some
hours. Everything about the house
shows that Hougaard planned his crime
with a deliberateness and attention tc
| detail that is remarkable. After the
| family retired for the night he begar
his preparations for the crime He wrote
| letters to Chief of Police Badenoch anC
| left them on the table in the dinins
room. Beside the letters was a box con
tanning deeds to property. In the kitch
en- the police found all the shoes of the
| family, arranged in row, side by side
| When his preparations had been com
pleted Hougaard turned on every ga:
jet in the house, and, getting into bee
with his wife and baby, folded hi.
hands and waited for death 1t /:
| claimed that he had lost considera bic
money lately.
LOSSES UPSET HIM.