The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1905-11-01

The Bodies of Willis G. and FL oderick &.
Found in a Wood half . Mile Above
Their Home-They Had Been Shot to
Death-Gaspipe Felled Mrs. Ingerick
and Daughter.
Middletown, N. Y.-Orange County is
aroused yer the quadruple tragedy on
the Olney farm, about four miles from
the centre Of ;Middletown. The list of
victims of the worst series Of murders
that ever occurred here was completed
when the bodies of Fred r. Olney,
ffty-elght years old, and his brother,
Willis G. Olney, sixty-two years old,
were found in a wood about a half mile
from the Olney homestead, where the
dead body Of nine-year-old Leila In
gerick and the unconscious form of her
mother had been found the night be-
fore.
Unlike the little girl and her mother,
whose heads were beaten in with q
piece of iron pipe, the two OlRey BROTH
ers had been shot, Fred receiving two
bullet wounds in the side under his
right arm and Willis having been shot
through the head, the bullet entering
the right ear.
Besides the two owners and their
housekeeper, Mrs. Ingerick's daughters.
Leila, and Grace, the latter thirteen
years old, lived on the olney farm.
Willis Olney's wife died a. month ago
and Mrs. Ingerick, about forty-fye,
years old; was then engaged to come
in and keep the house. She was the
wife Of Martin Ingerick, but had sep
arated from her husband. ,
On the morning before the tragedy
Grace %Ingerick, the elder girl, went to
MiddletOWn- on an errand for her
mother. When she left the house the
other members Of the household were
all at home.
After doing her errands In town the
Ingerlck girl started homeward about
5 o'clock p. m, in plenty Of time for
supper. That was the one idea In her
mind, for she was hungry. The table.
all set, was the first thing she saw.'
But nobody sat there The child shout
ed her sisters name and then called her
mother. Nobody answered. 81
The girl was frightened and went to
the home Of Daniel Davis, a neighbour
a quarter of q mile away, and Davis
went back to the Olney house to- see
what was wrong.
In the kitchen he found a crumpled
newspaper lying behind the stove. He
fshed it out and found inside a piece of
gas pipe owe q yard long covered with
blood stains. Then he:began to search
the house. At the foot of the cellar
stairs lay the. body Of Leila Ingerick.
Davis carried the body upstairs and
went for help.
The next house on the other side Of
the Olney farm is owned by John Fish,
a New Yorker. There is a telephone
there and the police were called up.
They arrived at the farm with Coroner
Crist about two hours. after Grace In
gerick had returned. A search was
made Of the house and then the men
went out to the barn. Under a pile Of
hay they found Mrs. Ingerick uncon-
scious. They believed at first that she
was dead, but DR.. A. w. Preston found
signs Of life in her body. Although
she had three wounds upon the head,
any one of which might be expected
to have instantly killed her, she ap-
peared to be only partly insensible.
But all attempts to learn from her the
details of the tragedy were unavaiIlng.
It was believed she might know the
identity Of her assailant, but that she
was determinedly shielding him. Alex
ander Merritt, who took her and the
body of her daughter into town, be-
,N-oarN1 With. %hfc sIno Thn
woman made several attempts. to ar
range her skirts, and three times in the
half hours ride raised her head and
groaned.
The finding Of the little girl. Leila,
in the cellar, while her mother was
some distance away In the barn, has
caused the police to decide that the
two brothers were killed before the
mother and child were attacked. and
that the murder of the brothers was
the principal object Of the murderers-
The police theory is that, after having
killed the men, the mutderers returned
to the house in search Of the mother
and child. intending to kill them to
hide the traces Of their crime.
They first made sure Of the mother,
chasing her into the barn. and then
searched for Leila, who vas found hid
ing In the cellar. With the child's
death their object Of concealment WAS.
accomplished, and the murderer or
murderers, coming up from the cellar
carrying the iron pipe with which the
mother and daughter were evidently
beaten, dropped it on the kitchen floor,
where it was found.
Willis Olney was a widower. whose
wife died last August, and Fred was a
bachelor. Mrs. Ingerick had been em-
ployed as a h~ousekeeper at the farm
for about q month. Her husband lives
at Wurtsboro, q town not far from
Middletowr.
In the house no traces Of robbery
have been found. The only articles OF
value known to have been taken from
the brothers were two silver watches.
The old men owned their farm. They
bore good regulations, although Willis
G.. Olney was arrested on suspicion
when Mrs. Norah Gregory was u
dered not far from his place in 1902.
He was never tried, and Frederick
mcguire wen. to the electric chair for