Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1902-04-22
BOY WHO KILLED FATHER
FREED FROM THE "PEN"

SUW L ILL., L LIN
door and shot him through the. head
as he lay, sleeping, in a flood of moon
light.
His stepmother awoke and screamed
and attempted to climb out of the bed,
but was felled by a blow on the head
from club made out of an old fail
and which the boy had taken from
the barn with him to the house.
Makes Sure of Deaths.
on top of that of her husband and
across it, and he groaned as he died.
The lad believed he had not killed him
and struck him again and again on
the head. Fearing, too, that his step
mother was not dead, the boy struck
her repeatedly on the head with the
club, and to stop the twitching of her
legs as they hung outside the bed he
beat them with the stick until they
were STILL The walls of the room
We're spattered with blood and the lad
in walking about in his bare feet left
marks of blood on the floor which are
said yet to be seen.
In the bed with it's parents slept
their babe, young Elkins' half-sister,
about years old. The boy picked up
the child which was crying, comforted
lit, washed it, clothed it, and leading it
by the hand left the house to tell the
neighbors that robbers had killed his
parents. He shrewdly waited until
the usual time for the community to
waken when he gave the alarm.
Suspected BY Few.
To all these things the boy confess
ed But it was not until three weeks
after the crime that his confession was
elected He was not suspected by
many. His story about the discovery
! of the bodies of his parents after their
murder was so well told that he was
generally believed. But there were
those who did suspect him, and their
suspicious were emphasized by the
complete mystery otherwise surround
ing the crime.
County Clerk James E. Corlett de-
voted himself to securing the truth
from the lad. He talked to him and
got the boy to talk freely about every
phase of his life with his parents.
This sort of thing was kept up for
three weeks. Not flaw appeared in
the boys story. At the age of IL
years he exhibited the mentality of a
man of 40. But a slip of the tongue
was the crevice through which the
flood of the confession came.
Slip Brings Confession.
In reiterating his story, the boy va
ried it to the extent of saying that
they (the murderers) had shot his
father first and then dubbed his moth
er to death.
"Why do you say they shot your
father first?" asked Mr.. Corlett.
The boy flinched for the first time
said nothing for several minutes and
then answered shrewdly that he had
thought that they would have attacked
his father first because he was strong
er. Mr. Corlett pressed his advantage
urged the boy to tell all he knew OF
the crime and left him to his OWL
| thoughts.
Terror then took the place of conf
dence, and during the night the boy
sent for Corlett and related the whole
story to him. The authorities were
ling.
Whole State Mortified.
The next day the whole state was
mortified by the revelation. Public dis
cussions We're INDUCED in as to the
best disposition to be made of so de
PRAYED a child. The admitted fac
that the boys former conduct had moi
been bad weighed nothing and he was
regarded by the whole state as devil
This theory has since given way to the
milder one that he is degenerate.
It was determined to follow the
forms of the law in the matter,althougf
the criminal was but a child. Ht
weighed about seventy-five pounds,ant
when the subject was under discussion
in the senate this session a debateI
. stood one of the senate pages before
that body to illustrate the size of thu
lad when the murder was committed.
J. o. Crosby, of Garnavillo, was ap
pointed to defend the boy. He. wa
charged with the murder of his lathe
/ only, his confession was introduced il
, evidence, he entered plea of guilt,
and the court sentenced him to life i'm
, prisonment. On Jan IA, 1890, he wa
, committed to the prison at Anamosa
Not Degenerate.
Those who have investigated the
case scientifically do not believe 81
kins to be, "a degenerate. His conduc
before the murder was reasonably
good. AS a boy he was not quarrel
some nor was he cunning. The evi
dence does not disclose that he ex
hibited peculiar traits of any charac
ter. There was nothing in his con
duct or disposition to distinguish hin
from the boys with whom he played a
Waterloo until he was and at e
kader until he was IL.
In the jail before his removal to TIL
Anamosa prison he was charged witt
two offenses. One was an attempt t.
lstrike fellow prisoner over the hea,
with ball bat; the other to punisl
the child of the jailer for refusal t
grant request. On these point
there has been no evidence. and the