The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-09-28
WAGON WHEAT, 93C
ACME MILLING CO.,
Old 352 West Washington ST.
AN AWFUL SLAUGHTER
JOHN BOECKER SHOOTS HIS WIFE;
SIX CHILDREN AND HIMSELF.
Bloody Tragedy on an Iowa Farm for
Which There Was No Apparent Cause
All Dead Except a Little Boy.

CARROLL, Ia, Sept. 27.-The slaughter of
mother and her six children occurred at
the home of John Boecker, farmer, living
eight miles northwest of here, last night
Afterward the fiendish, or demented hus-
band and father, at whose hands they died,
completed his bloody work by sending a
bullet into his own head, inHicting a fatal
wound. The family were prosperous Ger
mans, and, as far as is known, lived hap
PLY. No motive for the tragedy has been
disclosed. Boecker's victims are his wife
and these children: Caroline. aged fourteen;
Christine, aged nine; Henry, aged eight
Lizzie, aged six; John, aged three, and an
infant. All are dead but Henry. and the
latter cannot recover from his wounds.
Boecker had an engagement to help a
neighbor thresh this morning, and on his
not putting in an appearance his brother
Henry, who lives about twenty rods away,
went about O'clock to see why he did not
come. The doors of the Boecker house were
locked, and there were no signs Of life
about. Henry tried to get in the house, but
met no response, and finally kicked in the
door and came on a horrible scene. Boecker,
with his wife and baby, slept in a back
room, and the three corpses lay on one bed.
The wife had been shot in the neck with
a shotgun witch stood in the corner; the
baby had been shot and its head crushed
with the butt Of revolver. The man, still
breathing, had a bullet hole high up on the
forehead, and by his side was Smith &
Wesson six-shooter with two chambers
empty.
The Boecker home is a story-and-a-half
frame house, and up stairs Henry and
I f~1fA Io1r
their foreheads, the latter dead. the boy
still breathing. In the opposite corner of
the same room Caroline, Christine and
John were dead. each with a bullet hole in
the forehead, though Caroline had two
Late this afternoon the bodies were still
untouched, the sheriff and coroner being oc-
cupied in arranging for the inquest and
other preliminaries. The inquiry vii. be
pushed tomorrow by the coroners jury. 1t
is undoubtedly case of murder and suic de.
The indications are that Boecker first de-
spatched his wae with the shotgun, shoot
ing her in the neck; then used the revolver
on the baby, first shooting it and then
knocking out its brains with the butt.
Boecker then went upstairs where the five
children were sleeping and killed them. He
must have used a light, for his aim was
Effective, each victim being shot in the fore
mead. All but two children met with in
stant death, for the blood clots were under
their heads and they lay as calmly reposed
as II In sleep. All except Henry who is not
yet dead, were attired in night robes
Boecker had reloaded the weapon while up
stairs and evidently sent the second bullet
INTO the Oldest girls brain just before leav-
ing the room. Going downstairs, he
stretched himself beside the corpse of his
wife and shot himself His right hand was
purnt by the powder, showing the rapid
use of the revolver
The weapon he had borrowed from his
brother Henry last Thursday, remarkfng
that he wanted it to kill rats in the cellar
1t is now recalled that Boecker had since
then practiced target shooting with it,
BOecker was th1rty-four years old and for
over twenty years lived in the same neigh
neen regarded as a prosperous farmer and
only recently bought a 2U0-acre farm a few
miles from the old homestead Yesterday
ne attended Catholic services at Breda with
MS wife and some OF the children Later
IN the day he was visited by q neighbor
who says that when he left the Boeckers'
home in the evening they were seemingly
a happy family and not premonition Of
the awful tragedy enacted few hours
later was given by Boecker or any one of
the household. Members of his fathers
financial affairs were in good shape and
they can assign no motive for the terrible
crime. On the other hand, it is said that
John had disagreed with the old folks and
Henry over the occupancy of the farm on
which John lived and this is assigned bv
some as the cause of the trouble which
eliminated in murder and suicide.