The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1899-03-21
FIVE CHILDREN KILLED
FATHER CHARGED WITH MURDER
ING ALL HIS LITTLE ONES.
stabbed I'm the Back of the Neck, Their
Skulls Broken and the House Fired
to Hide Evidence of the Crime.

HUTCHINSON, Kan, March 0.-An
atrocious crime was revealed here to-day,
when the coroner and his assistants re-
moved the dead bodies of five little chill
dren from the house occupied by John
Moore. which burned at an early hour. A
coroners jury investigated the and
in accordance with the jury's recommended
tions Moore, the father of the dead chill
dren, was arrested on a charge of murder.
The tragedy has caused much excitement
here and there is some talk of lynching the
prisoner However, a lynching is not looked
for
When the firemen and neighbors reached
the burning house the father was the only
member of the family of seven found out
side. His actions were queer and he would
not talk. While the building was still burn
ing and his children within the burn
ing walls he took a horse from his stable
and rode away. When the firemen entered
the house after having partly quenched the
flames they found the five children lying
side by side in bed the floor, all dead.
but not badly burned. The dead were Carl,
aged twelve: Marie. aged ten: Pearl aged
eight; Charles, aged seven. and Lee, aged
three years.
noon, developed convincing evidence of an
awful crime. The skull of each child was
deeply indented and from the dents long
fractures extended. All but one of the chill
dren had been stabbed in the neck. The
throat of the little three-year- a pretty
boy had been slashed deep that the
spinal column had been severed. 1t was
upon these facts and the strange behavior
of the father that the authorities base
their charge of murder.
When Moore was called before the coro-
ner's jury TO testify, he pretended 10 be-
lieve 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 by the smoke
and that he found the house afire all over.
1t was fifteen minutes, he said, before he
Ny TO save his children because he knew
they must be dead the fire had started
in the room in which they were sleeping.
His riding away from the fire he explained
by stating that his wife was away from
home attending a sick friend and that he
went to tell her of their loss. Moore showed
little concern when the jury returned the
verdict charging him with murder.
The family came here from Emporia
about three weeks ago and rented the little
two-story house in which the tragedy oc-
Cured. Mrs. Moore's father, NJ w. Frank
lin, whose family came here from Emporia
about the same time, stated this evening
that Moore had always been a silent,
morose character, but that he appeared to
have a great ambition for his children. OF
late, according to Mr.. Franklin, Moore has
brooded over the fact that he was out of
work, and the father-in- law seems to think
that if Moore committed the crime he must
have lost his reason brooding over his
troubles. Moore, however. seems to be sane
and outside OF his actions during the fire
there has been nothing TO bear out the in
sanity theory.