Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1902-04-22
Wesley Elkins for the First
Time in Twelve Years
is at Liberty.
THE STORY OF HIS LIFE
Was Beaten and in Retaliation Com
mitted an Awful Crime-ls Said
That He Is Not a Degeneration
Struggle for Freedom.

Wesley ElkinS, the boy who murder
ed his father and stepmother July z,
1889, today stepped from the Anamosa
penitentiary to freedom provided he
follows the terms of the parole recon-
mended by the legislature and granted
Wednesday by Governor Cummins. 1t
is now conceded that Elkins was
wrongfully convicted of the crime or
rather that he was too young in the
eyes of the law to be tried and SEN
fenced to Imprisonment for life.
Elkins story is peculiar. He was
born while his mother was engaged in
the prosecution of divorce proceedings
against his father Seven years of his
childhood was spent in the home of a
stepfather. When he was between z
and years of age his mother died and
his stepfather went to Missouri. Be-
ing abandoned, he walked from Wa
terloo, where his home had been, to
Elkader, where his father, who was re-
married, resided. With him and the
stepmother he made his home during
three and one-half years. Then, on
July z, 1889, he murdered his father
and stepmother, confessed the crime
after three weeks, was committed to
the penitentiary in the January fol
lowing and has remained there during
the twelve years and three months in
tervening.
The boy had never seen his father
until he went to Elkader at the age of
Z years. The elder Elkins was Sc
we're man and of primitive ideas. He
was sturdy and believed thoroughly
that the rod should play a definite and
conspicuous part in the training OF
children. He used it unsparingly.
The stranger lad was whipped with
great severity and often. The STEP
mother was also severe.
Punished Hard and often.
So common were the punishments to
which the boy was subjected that his
uncle, James Cooper, repeatedly quar-
relied with the father about it, finally
urging the boy to run away. This the
lad attempted, getting into Illinois, but
he was found by his father and return
ed 70 his home That was few days
prior to the crime. The father pun,
ished him more severely than usual
on account of the effort to run away
On the day preceding the crime the
stepmother whipped him.
And yet the evidence shows that the
elder Elkins was performing what he
believed to be a duty in his treatment
of the boy. He was not charged with
wanton cruelty. He was one of the
pioneers of Fayette county and was
known as the colony hunter in the
early days; strong, brawny, primitive
rough, whole-souled and hospitable
But his severity and lack of sympathy
lighted fear in the heart of the lad in
stead of love.
Prejudiced by Mother.
Besides that, the divorced mother
had prejudiced the child's mind against
his father, consciously or unconscious
iy, and there is evidence to show thai
she taught the boy hatred malice anc
revenge rather than respect.
: Punished with great severity on July
6, 1889, by his stepmother, whose ac
vas commended by his father the DO!
spent the afternoon brooding upon hi:
fancied or real wrongs. He slept il
the barn instead of the house. H,
went to bed with raging headache
His bed was in the hay.
At O'Clock the next morning HI
awoke, still with an aching head. |
was then that he conceived the ide;
Of killing his parents. He arose, walk
ed quietly to the house, entered, tool
down his fathers rifle from above thu