The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1900-05-24
A CHASTITY
MURDER.
Overturned FurnitureTeIls
Startling Story of Ter
rible Combat.

West Chester, Pa, May 49,
Mrs. Stella Morrison, aged 26 year 8
wife of Washington Morrison, a
well-known farmer of near Darling
ton S Corner, few miles from this
place, was deliberately murdered
this evening by some person I'M
known, and as yet there is no clue
to the perpetrator of the crime.
Mrs. Morrison's head was bat
tered to pieces with a heavy piece
OF oak which her husband used as
a shoe block in repairing shoes.
She was a daughter of Adley
Brown, of West Chester, and the
first known Of the tragedy was
when her father-in-law, James A.
Morrison, who resided at her home
returned from a fishing trip and
discovered her body lying on the
floor in the dining-room Of the house.
The police of this place are
working upon the case, but con-
TESS they have very few clues. Mr..
Morrison is employed at the farm
Of Minshall Sharpless, nearly a
mile away from the scene of the
tragedy. He had been at his place
Of employment all day, and knew
nothing of the murder until he was
notified shortly before his time for
leaving for home this evening.
There is every evidence that Mrs.
Morrison was murdered in the hope
of concealing a prior crime. She
had been cleaning the house and
been alone since early morning.
Mrs. Morrison was engaged in
washing the ceiling and walls of
the kitchen and had reached a
point just by the door when the
murderer entered the house. This
is shown by the fact that she had
laid the brush she had been us ing
upon the window sill, as though
hating in her work to converse
with some person. The pan Of
whitewash stood by the stove. 1t
would seem that a struggle had
occurred in the kitchen between
the woman and the murderer and
that Mrs. Morrison had retreated
into the dining room, where she
had placed the kitchen furniture
during the work in hand.
Among other articles Mrs. Stella
Morrison had moved into the din
ing room were two axes and a
hatchet. The murderer evidently
pursued the woman into this room
and attacked her there fiercely.
This is shown by the furniture be-
ing overturned. There are blood
spots about the floor. The murder
was completed with the shoe block.
There were, two terrible gashes
upon Mrs. Morrison's head, one
over her right eye and the other,
evidently made with the sharp edge
of the heavy piece of wood, split
her skull almost the entire dis
lance from the front to the rear of
her head. Either wound was suf-
fcient to have caused death.
The body Of the woman after she
had been killed had lain in such
position that the door of the room
could not be opened, and the MUIR
derer had to move it to a different
place in order to escape.
The only clue pointing to the
time when the murder was commit.
ed is> furnished by Daniel and
Lawrence Hackey, two residents
of the locality, who were working
in field a short distance away.
About 2 o'clock, as near as they
heard the woman at the house
scream: sect out of here! Do go
away"
The Hackeys thought the woman
was crying at some chickens in the
yard. They looked towards the
house, but saw no person, not even
Mrs. Morrison. They knew moth
ing of the crime until it was dis.
covered by the elder Mr.. Morrison
some hours later.
The house in which the crime
was committed stands upon the
main road from Darlington's Cor
ner to Dilworthstown, in what is
known as Woodward's Hollow, and
hundreds Of teams pass it every
day. There are no other houses
within half a mile. There is an
immense tract Of woodland within
a couple of hundred yards. Into
this the murderer could easily have
slipped without being noticed.
The police advance two theories
as to the murder. The first is that
the woman was killed by three
tramps who were noticed in the
locality a short time before the
crime was committed. These men
were rough looking and we're seen
at Dilworthtown about 100 o'clock
leaving in the direction OF the
see ne Of the murder. None of them
have since been seen.
The other, and most plausible
theory, is that Mrs. Morrison. who
was a small woman, was killed by
some one who was we'll acquainted
with her.