The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1899-03-24
He HAD BAD SPELLS
John Moore, the, Hutchinson
Butcher, Tells His Tale.
WIFE'S FOLKS CRIMINALS
Murder and Burning of His
Children a Nightmare.

and burned them in their beds at Hutch-
inson. tells the story of his crime in the
following sworn statement, which he made
yesterday:
Following is Moore's statement in full'
Mcpherson, Kan. March p. i.S-
State Of Kansas, McPhe- son County S.
l John Moore. of lawful age, beng hrst
duly sworn, on OATH, make the IoAo~lps
statement in relation 70 myself, and the
circumstances surrounding the death o.
NV children at Hutchinson, Kansas, en-
SUNDAY last: I an % years cid, and Vas
born in Paris. Edgar county, Illinois. My
father ran of and left me when l Was
small. and I haze never heard OF MIN
since. and l have no other relative
have lived arour.I thu best l could fi0n
Mace 10 place I'LL / was about l. years
old. ant then gent - Kansas with --aIS
Ketuer. In two or three years after was
married TO my present wife, the daugh'r
af Wright Franklin l was farm renter
around Emporia until last spring, ana N /
the summer I was down n the Indian /
Territory. leaving my family n Emporia
In the territory l worked in the Usage /
nation. and returned 10 Emporia IN DC
| left Emporia a month ago this afternoon |
| and drove overland to Hutchinson. ana |
rented the small house where the death of |
| the children occurred. Ny fa.her-in-laws |
folks lived there. l moved there contrary |
| TO my wishes, but did 50 on account OF /
nv wife who wished to live there, and she |
rented the house. I did no. have any Work |
and only SIS in money and was $3.50 ii |
debt for a stove did not wish 10 move
there on account Of my wife's folks. be-
cause they were a hard SCI. The old man
has been in trouble a good many tines,
and one of the boys. Nit FransllH, * now
in the Reformatory at Hutchinson. sent
| up from Empora for stealing alfalfa He
| is my wife's brother, and my moth5r-in-
| laws brother, Jim Pense, : in the Kansas
penitentiary, sent from Emporia for the
same offense. and my wife's brother
Charlie. was IN the Empor.a Jail for u al
ing chickens, and my father-in-iaT was IN
the Emporia jail for a term for icing
in a cutting scrape. This was good
MANY years ago He was drunk wbie
in this cutting scrape. For all these
| reasons 1 did not want 10 live near tn' m,
but went there to please my wife, ana
have wished a thousand times l nad no.
done so. The world looked awful black 10
me- and I was completely discouraged. and
did not know what 10 do. l nave oeen
having bad spells for seven or eight years
and Dr. Morrison of Emporia has peen
docloring me for them. When tney
began to come on l feel numbnese down
nv body and my legs and my heart VIII
thump and futter my head Will begin 10
ache and pain. 1 have ringing IN my
head nearly all the time. My head would
get heavy and everything would swim
before me and at these times l dld not
know anything. Before these spells came
on nv water would become red, and
would feel like I did not care to i've
During the perio that l had these
| SMELLS l would keel over. The hrst one
had was on li2 creek, about eighteen
miles north Of Emporia. 1 wac curry
ing the horses and fell over and did not
know anything till after I got 10 the
house. and my wife told me afterwaTd
that when she saw me she thought that
was crazy. / often have these spells.
Each time 1 had one Of them 1t seemed
to be worse than the other. 1 never could
tell much about when these would come
on. but they generally followed when l
IL
for two or three days before Sunday, and
also felt pretty badly discouraged. Ny
father-in-law was over there Sunday after
noon, and he and my wife went away
about o'clock This has been an awful
hard winter on me and wanted my
father-in-law to take the children and lei
me and ny wife work out and ne would
not do it. Three OF his children were over
; eating off of me. and 1 told him I wanted
10 pay the $3.50. and If I did I would not
have anything to live on. ] always paid
? my debts / thought we could move into
the same house and he could look after
the children and then we work out. and
that would kind Of help along a little and
, the children would be looked after, but
he would not agree 20 any Of these things
. This was about o'clock in the afternoon.
5 Nv wife went 20 stay over night with
4 Mrs Walker. with whom she had been
working for two or three days. After
this I went 20 my brotheT-in-law's, Lee
Ensley, and I staid there until about 9
O'Clock and the children staid a. home
I I got supper for the children, and We all
ate together. felt pretty blue and dis
p, couraged. and the children were ar n oed
2 when I came back. and were asleep They
4 were all five on the f01r in one bed. When
{ came in I turned the lamp down and
went 20 bed. ! then had one q my worst
. spells. and nv head hurt ne swfully and
P everything seemed floating before ne and
a The next thing that I remember after this.
n vas IN trying % get out % the house ny
self TIE whole thing seemed 20 b. al
= awful nightmare 20 ne didn't talk -
= any OF The children. I Dc not recollsct
anything aboat the hatchet OF the kaite-
= Il r done that T d0n't nave any recollsctio1
: ~ t. told nay wife mat 7 vas gong
g 10 leave and r. looked that had % ieave.
J. and she told ne % leave. and could 12t
T. bear ~ leave ~ children and leave thf-n
8 with thai family I could rot bear 20
= .a!nk % Leaving thern 90 i've Ike ths
Franklin chldren. NJ l1-Tear-old boy
= c7u16 read and write and coi.t fz1Fe
: pretty waI I told ny Efr that ~ ]
{ wanted % 1--we f7r Ess 70 see Nhat 1T
= Children voe-S c-rne 20 and taese t1ircs
e ku4 = drove r1e g. desperation sr.t H-5e7
2 Ioame fn and thesz taInrs locksd 20 back
e - M Seemed 60 iose IL reason !
have NJ -sreuec-ion AFTER tzs g zl.l-s
= he children. I tzs1 rsco-.s-t p Eo.rz
e over % tae rssEa5--s u1sn t7e -1Ese sas
= 1--nirz and enc castren ssrs "a cas-z
= y se.n= as though I hsH fearful dream
Z 90 ------ enc On f-T7 -E-e fh@~e ard 2