The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1899-03-21
THEIR BODIES BURNED
Five Little Children Murdered
by Their Father
is TnE JURYS CHARGE
And Burned in Their Own
Beds.

Passengers on the Missouri Pacific from
Hutchinson, which reaches Wichita at 500
D. m, reported great excitement IN Hutch
:nson last night and considerable talk Of
lynching a man by the name Of John
Moore, who was arrested there at o'clock
on the charge of numbering his five chill
Gren and burning their bodies in an old
house.
Charles L. Joyner, laborer at the
Hutchinson salt works, was on the train.
He said The whole town was in an uproar
of gossip and excitement. He saw the
body of the three-year-old boy. The throat
was cut TIL the head would not hang to
the body without being held there. The
little fellows face was blistered and black
but the flesh WAS not torn. Mr.. Joyner
said it took the coronor's jury only about
fifteen minutes 10 bring in afinnng
charging Moors with murder. = dispatch
from Hutchinson says:
An atrocious crime was revealed here
today when the coroner and his assistants
removed the dead bodies Of five little chill
dren from the house occupied by John
Moore, which burned about o'clock in
the morning. a coroner's jury investiga-
ted the case and, in accordance with the
Jury's recommendations. Moore, the father
Of the dead children, Was arrested on
charge of murder. The tragedy has caused
much excitemeRt here and there is some
talk Of lyuching the prisoner. However,
q lVnching is not looked for
When the f1remen and neighbors reached
the burning house the father was the
only member of the family of seven found
outside. His actions were queer and ne
would not talk. While the building was
still burning, and his children within the
burning walls. ne took a horse from his
stable and rode away.
When the fremen entered the house.
after having partly quenched the flames,
they found the five children lying side
by side in a bed on the floor. all dead,
but not badly burned. The dead were
Carl, aged y; May. aged 10; Pearl, aged S;
Charles, aged Z and Lee, aged years.
The coroner's autopsy, held this after
noon, developed convincing evidence of an
awful crime. The skull Of each child
was badly indented, and from the dents
long fractures extended. All but one of
the children had been stabbed in the neck.
The throat Of the three-year-old, a pretty
boy, had been slashed so deep that the
spinal column had been severed.
1t was upon these facts, and the strange |
behavior of the father. that the autborf- |
ties base their charge of murder.
When Moore was called before the coro-
70
Aeve that an exploding lamp had caused
the fire and that his children had met
death in the flames. He testified that he /
was awakened from a deep sleep bv the /
smoke, and that he found the house adre
all over 1t was fifteen minutes he said
before he recovered MS senses and +ben
ne dld not try to save mis- children. bsca,ea
he knew they must be dead, as the fro
had starteH in the room in which +to,, /
were sleeping. His riding awav from, tha |
nre ne explained by stating that his u-ffa
was away from home ATTENDING y sio,-
friend, and that he went 10 tell bor % |
lhelr loss. Moore showed little concern
"heh the Jury returned the verdict cbsrg
ing him with murder
Inc family came here from E-,-o-,.
ABOUT three weeks ago and rar.a7 o.
little two-story house in which tho +ra.,.s,5,.
occurred. Mrs. Moore's father n w
rankin whose family came hero fro-,
kmporia about the same time sts-a7 49,.
evening that Moore had ALWAYS -,
si-''i'' noroSe character bur thar he an
15..G,, - 10 nave great ambition for his
-. VI late, according to Mr.. Frank
In Moore mas brooded over the fact tba-
nc was out Of work. and the fathsr-.D-rary
seems to think that if Moore commftraT
.ne crime ne must have los. his rsgson
bfoodlng over his troubles
Moore. Moore however, seems to be sans and
o .5 OF his actions during the fire
, r-'e,e mas been nothing to beaar out the