Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1896-03-04
naraerea His vie.

farm near East Waterfol d, killed hi;
wife last Sunday night.
It was an awful tragedy, and hal
intensified the feeling of that com
munity as never before. for the Ram
says were not bad' but good people.
He has been q school teacher and is
known to most of the educators oi
the county, and his wifo was Miss
Effie KunkIe also a teacher in the
common schools. They were men,
bers of the Presbyterian church in
. cod and regular standing, but for
some time past it was noticed that
Charles had become enthusiastic over
the millenial dawn, which he believes
will be ushered in before long. His
wife, also, it is said. shared with him
the same hallucination, and together
they talked great deal about the
milleDial dawn, and on thas subject
drew inspiration from a book of that
same name. They had other relig-
ious hallucinations, and he went
from bad to worse till at last he be
came 50 crazy that he began to search
the Bible to lind some verse tha.
would Justify him in making a sacri-
fee of his wife as Abraham was wont
to do with his son Isaac. Whether
be found a justification in the Bible
for his crazy contemplated murder or
NOT, has not been made known. The
help of the place had gone to
church to Waterford that quiet Sun
'dav evening, and no one was pres.
ent to witness the desperate strug-
gle that took place between man and
wife. Elmer Kirk an employee Of
Ramsey and joan Kunkle, brother of
Mrs. Ramsey, arrived upon the prem
ises from church about 10 o'clock,
but Lad not the courage to at
tempt to enter the building for fear
of being shot, for it was well known
that Ramsey had fire arms in his
house ever since the band of robbers
broke into bis place about Is months
ago.
While standing in the yard listen
ing, they heard Mrs. Ramsey cry out
s.For Gods sake Charlie, don't"
They FASTENED back to Waterford
and awakened friends The inform
alton spread from house to house till
almost every family was aroused and
remained on the alert all night IS if
the very atmosphere WAS impre ssihg
them with the feeling that something
awful was going on near by. About
II, midnight, Charles Ramsey ap
peared at the house of his neighbor
MIR Lindsay, and wanted to stay with
them the balance of the night, he wss
horrible spectacle to benold. His
face, hands and clothes were smear
ed with blood, and his appearance
terrorized the family of Mr.. Lindsay,
and his awful statement that he had
had fight with the Devil aud lie had
killed ? his wife SO paralyszad the
Lindsays, that they did not know
what to do with the man. He re
mained but short time with them
During the progress of the night one
by one of the families in the Valley
learned that dreadful tragedy had
taken place at the Ramsey home, and
one by one the lights in houses for
miles around twinkled as if on guard
against impending danger, hut every
one feared to venture to the place
where the awful deed bad BEEN COM
r6itted, and it was not till after day
light that the men of the community |
gathered and went to the plac, of
the murder.
When daylight came on Mon
day morning, u number of the
men went to the barn and there
found Ramsey shivering with no
on his person, excepting a
wooden shirt and a horse blanket
wrapped about him. What be did
with, lie bloody clothes he had on when
he was at Lindsay's is not known.
He said that he had had battle with
the devil in the house during the
night, and it had thrown him down
three times and bitten his hand, and
then he was compelled to sacrifice
his wife. His face wss scratched and
his hands were scratched and bruis-
ed, and his fingers had the appear
ance Of having been bitten by human
teeth. He vas taken in charge by
citizens and then the house premi-
ses we're visited.
In the yard lay sundry articles of
household goods and two loaded re-
volvers and Winchester rifle. In
the kitchen Mrs. Ramsey lay on the
floor on her abdomen with arms
folded and with head in the fire place,
dead. Her clothes, however, were
not much dissrranged, but from the
Of tho kitchen a great
struggle had taken place between
himself and wife, for the cook stove
nas out Of place and other articles of
furniture were in q state of disorder.
The orderly state of her dress is ac-
counted for by hsr hair which lay
stretched in the chimney. She had
been pulled by the hair and in that
way her dress was Strengthened.
Her face was bruised and scalded and
a bullet had been shot into her head.
Her brains were out and portion of
them lay upon the chimney hearth.
A tillet of wood was used to crush her
head. The evidence of the awfui''trag
edy almost paraly zed those who locked
in where the bloody work was done.
Officers A. j. Williamson and Joshua
Ferguson and Joseph Gray took
charge of the murderer and lodged
MIN in Jail here about half past eleven
o'clock Monday forenoon. He soon
became wild and acted crazy like in
his cell; now singing; now praying;
now fighting devils that ne said were
coming down through the ceiling of
the room, and he fourished the chair
in the cell in such q wild and reck-
less manner that the sheriff deemed