The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-01-30
IsTHISB BOY DEGENERATE
sTRAHGE CAsE OF 4 MURDERER
THAT PERIL FxE n IOWA PEOPLE.
RFsrts TO Ostain y Pardon Tor wesley Eihins.
Who KILLED His Father asa stepmother
when Eiovsn Wears Oid-LetteTs That show
Remarkable development In n Frissn.


CEDAR RAPIDS, L., Jan. 26.-A remarkable
case In the records OF criminology will come be-
fore the Iowa Legislature at this session. It
will be an application for the granting OF a
pardon to Wesley Elkins. who Is now a prisoner
in the Ananosa Penitcntiary. Tho Legislature
IA the deciding power, because the prisoner Is
serving q life sentence.
The crime for which he was sentenced was
the murder Of his father and stepmother. The
deed was committed eight years ago. when ho
yas only IL years old. II the subsequent
history Of the boy was a consistent develop
ment of the apparently innate depravity shown
by this deed, the case would be no moro inter
esting than q hundred others. As II Is. the
Wesley Elkins Of to-day seems to have ami
hilatcd n third being; ho appears to have Vir'
tually killed the Wesley Elkins OF eight years
ago. and he challenges the world rs to the wis
dom of revoking his sentence. Whatever tho
decision may be. the student OF human nature
will DO deeply interested in the further develop
pent of this extraordinary personality.
The history OF tho crime is told In o letter
written by s. T. Richards, an attorney at Edg-
wood. la. Mr.. Richards saws:
Wesley Elkins, on the 10th day Of July. 1889.
three uen pounds, brutsifiy murdered his father and
stepmother.. the former then about 40 years
time six miles northeast OF here. in CLAYTON
county, on n small farm about forty RODS PACK
/ Year old. composed the family then lily.
Ing at home: on the morning ,r nams Sis
Confession, he quietly arose from his ted,
passed intothe kitchen, then into mis- parents
bedroom n + placed &c wa his fsth raomi ri flos es 10 h Ma iai "a.
er's head. rs he lay at the front OF the bed asleep.
and fired. killing him instantly: He then her. has hn,
after placing powder and ball In the gun Tin this
condition II was found, he could tind no su, ia
mother had risen. and Wesley, hearing her, re-
!prnsd to her room and and, found her her Sns T
befailen him, and with her back TO the door.
the base OF. the brain a fearful blow with a"lpb
that he had obtained the evening before at the
Fained blow after blow with this club. Telling
9 %he aer he could eaf u reach sP her head he beat it into
Jelly. scattering blood and brains all over the
done, he took the baby from tho bed where tho
parents lay, the baby being despatched with
then started for his grandfathcr's with 1t. At
the fret ncighbor's he said that someone had
killed his parents and hc was on his way to his
Wesley was a bright boy, taking the first prize
good shot. rather quiet and bashtui: He was
never sick to any extent, was not an invalid or
ss,pP,e' t nSr siG ina ne eEet to s" ehiid w,nn His i o fatasp
compelled him to stay rather, close at homo to
sssist the stepmother and help care Tor the baby.
two weeks before the tragedy he left home.
going to an cunts, The father went after him
doubt it was to get away, from this restraint
that he ran away. and. failing In this, he deliber-
can be traced in the family.
disp %.al E,H' S %hi hse he sse %as o, yet a'' u m@GaeF3 his
mother. a is currently reported, attempted to
ranging logs In bis mill yard SO that they would
finally eloped with this pnramour and soon
after gave birth to this boy. Wesley;
before they were removed from where they were
slaughtered. 1t was indeed a sickening scene;
a. the Inquest. and Tor four Jays after, as he
was not suspected for some time, and during
an ans a sl%e H and earn. erow d. t came s0 to see s,A him I and
as he was always o. the street they
i TSu 20 Dc Sa sash a s0S Deed. MN III q hi% IS a a,s tain.
s words S = e ,S liz S Rsysisi;1 a 81 Sss,I e az 3. T isS
done. Yet this boy made no objections to this
usage Of him. neither did he attempt to keep on
cussions concerning himself. During nll of the
time. and while lying in jail. previous to his
to shed a tear or show any remorse; He stated
In his confession that he did tine deed to keep
from tending the baby and staying nj home.
,Wesiey's parents were not religious. and were
In moderate circumstances, always Twin G on a
farm %(rentedl.
~ "A ~" AANhf 'Ao 1891
ly interested in the case, wrote various letters
, of inquiry and investigation and received,
among others, one from a minister who was the
pastor of a church near where Elkins lived at
the time of the tragedy. This minister said:
scarcely know how much into detail to go in
bors ana the family physician believed him 10
be two years older than he states. His habits
gentle and ~tractable except when ~angcrcd then
he was coldly, cruelty, maliciously vlndictlye. 1
One of his teichers told ME that she used to find
II necessary TO ke.P him at school until inc
get out OF his reach, or he would beat them
mercilessly. He had become, angered ut them
Have you written Judge Crosby at Garnayillo
about tho matteri He made more OF a study OF
sver STg insf In 1 eon T"e %anV with the mnrIep and
the trial Indicated that the boy was utterly des-
81 sitS sny Of f, the moral 81 ao fssaitty: s'y Hs stood no sv at pSs
grave when the bodies were being lowered and
Locked ,Ss .,;aS on Il as 8, i nd b.iS in H. a b poss'i q sa EsEe d lit,
into the grave, and turned to talk with
some boys who were on the outskirts Of the
utter Indifference with which he treated the en-.
tire affair. ! understood that when his sentence
moPc person he Would like 10 xiii before he was
Imprisoned. and that was his grandfather; This
heard amy one say I that he heard the boy say It.
though It seems TO me that one OF the Elkader
Allow me to suggest that the pardon of Yves.
10y Elkins would mean the turning loose upon
the world a person who has manifested a tire.
mendous innate mot, acquired capacity for
crime. We have had enough "degenerates'
loose in the country. numbering by the whole
sale.
I confess that your. letter thoroughly startled
me at first. II IL had come from any one that l
did not know, or IL 1t had not come from ono in
whose Judgment and carefulness 30 many peo.
pie ha We the most perfect confidence. i should
have attributed 1. TO a maudlin sentimentalism
such as students OF crime tell us Is so often
manifested toward the worst of criminals.
MI I.l-a C.1ahr ,nfA,..A tNtn tkA D .wya
the boys counsel at his trial. Two years ago.
when the application for a pardon first came
up. Judge Crosby expressed himself as opposed
to it. He admitted that he had not then seen
the boy for n number OF years. but said that he
believed Elkins TO be a degenerate. Tho Cedar
Rapids Republican reprinted these expressions
when the case came up again this year, and com
mented editorially upon them. The next day
the editor received the GLOWING letter from the