The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1897-12-15
BRUTAL MURDER
OF A FARMER.
Qs0rye d. Farra Slain By His Farm
Hand
ROBBERY Was THE MOTIVE.
After nurdering the Farmer the F.end At
tempted to tile the Crime by Setting
the Reuse Gu ire.

| Caste and farnhufst rbnH., WAS MURDER
| cd Ia t night by Oh ,ri,.s ThOrD, II Go!OrGtl
| farm hand. III crime asnnt disonvc? {!
| until 30 o'ciuck his morning, VIII n
| farra's daughter came down s'a rs 10 PC
| pare breakfast ald discovered the body
| Ot her father lying on the Sitchca floor
| with bis skull crushed in and bis jaw
| broken.
Tha cries of tho girl brought her sittlc
brother Willard &nd he Immediately nri'
lied the police and the stats def. ctiSc, and
tie lntlcr star cd an Investigation lMAu-
diateiy and trlrgraphnd II description OF
the murderer to all the moi Ih5Orn. cities
and towns.
When IL reporter of tho REPUBLICAN
visited the sceuC Of Til" murder hu found
officers Ma'oncy and Kane were in chargn
Of tho house Farra's body lay on tho
hlor OF tic Nt"hon between tho lounge
and stove.
Hi, head lay in plol of blood which
had ilowel !row his wounds. The ft
side OF the mans head had been stove in
and his right jaw mashed Las night
about 80 o'cloUk Mabel and Willard, tao
Two children of Farrn, went to bed. At
that time their fat ,cr was sIcc;ing on tho
lounge und,l horn had his feet in no oven
ana was deeply interested in "A hook.
Both children sleep in lhetatri9 room,
and nftrr going upstairs y illnrt light | II
fire in the stove and did not get to sleep
unit. midnight, rs the fire did not burn
f.ecly
About $50 o'clock this morning Mabel
went down stair, and in Ding behind tho
stove to secure her shoes Sh, ha% the body
OF her father on the ilo,r.
His hand lay in u peculiar position and
his load a was covered by Thorn $
coat The child pulcl off the cotY and
was Mortified to soc that her father had
been murdered during the night.
Thorn laid down the BOOK he had been
reading on II b nCh near the winIow. Then
picking up II urpounA wclrht hn Whlhcd
across the rnum to whore Farra lay s'rcp-
ing and cruShet! in his skull by IL blow on
the left side Of the mead. Id
y III, man turned Ovor and received an
OF her blow that mashed his rght jaw.
Then he pulled the body off the lounge and
ritlrd Fnrra ,,OckCls. He 10 lk thu pocket
book which the farmer carried and which
according TO the deal mans son contained
Only 81 10 AHGut 5 o'clock Furra handed
his pocket book to Willard as he wa, COM
ing to town, anlaftcr the boy took some
chang, to pllrrha.c mcap with, there re-
manned only .l.lO
Later in Inc evening Edward Murphy
called ~ Fa!ra ard gave HING in pay
ment for corn and hay. lhrrn was cog
INFANT ct the fact that Murphy paid Farra
some mnncY and was OF tho CphlGn no
doubt that $40 sum was II larger one.
After I'll ro't,i Ing hat the amount "f
money III rAg'i.', possession WA 50 sHall
the !irndlaf murderer attempted to hda
the crime By nu"ni4g h. hoaHr.
In the corner Of the Kitchen near the
stove wni II large b X containing cotn
cub@
H., took part of them out and fl1crd
them under Two cane scat chairs in close
proximity to farra's body. He set the box
Of cob, on fire ana then hrJkt the lamp so
that Tie oil saturated ;hc Cbbs un!e. tho
chars. The cuhs in the corner were all
burned Tie majority of tho cob undt
the chairs and the scat Of one of thc chairs
was burned
The flames from neither fires did not sue
coed in reaching any hing that was OF an
inflnmmable nature and coz cquGnily tho
house, and no duuGt tho two children
were not destroyed by lire.
TUE MURDERER.
Charles Thorn. the murdcror OF Farra,
Is Il man of about 81 years Of age, stands
six feet in height and weighs between $50
and 100 pounds. He has been employed
on the farm for about two weeks. lin
said he was single man aud that he
came from Baltimore. and said again thrt
he was II resident of New York and Phil
adelrhla. He Wore II blue storm owe coat,
striped shirt, bus overals ania siou oh
hot.
His complexion is brown. Thorn has
sharp face and wears u black mustache.
On account of the time at which tho MUIR
der was disc Nvered he had II good chance to
make his escape.
TIE MURDERED MAN.
George d. Farra, the murdered man, was
born on October II. ISL! ami moved to
Wilmington about ID years ago from
Chc,ter county, Pa. About two years ago
lie removed to the Bradford farm.
His wife died ten years ago. His children
are John ID. Farra, Scott street Mrs Harry
Rowland, 80 Bronster stree, Phila Mrs.
William Day, No .04 EAST Sixth street
Mrs. Wallace Cobb, No. 2i.6 Buuvtr aye.
nue.. Philadelphia, Grace, Ralph. lilda,
willard, Mabel and Noomn Farra. Tho
latter is II little over ten years of age and
is at present with Mrs. Sarah Ryan, Of
Rising Sun, Nd. --s
Deputy Coroner Chandler was notified
of he murder and Immediately repaired
to no scene. After an Investigation lie re.
moved the body to the ro-idence OF one Of
the mans daughters, Mrs. William Day,
No. 2Gi East SIXTH street The Coroner
and the detectives are working on the case
with the hope that they may b. able to
capture the licnd.
Tho news of tho murder caused consid.
erablc excitement in this city. The farm.
cr5 in the ncigbOrhood, as soon as they
heard of the murder, repair ell To the farm
and offered their sprvl CeS to the family.
he two pClco officers We're hesicgca by
hundreds Of people who walked out to the
farm to see if possible tho body, and learn
tie facts OF the murder.
They We're denied both the privilege Of
seeing the body ami Of all information.