Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1909-03-29
MOTHER CUTS THRoA1s
OF CHILDREN AND HERSELF
Third Child Rescued Terribly Wound
ed and Two Others Escape From In
sane Parent After Being Beaten
With Stove Poker-Tragedy Occurred
Near covington, Linn County.

most shocking tragedies in the history
of Linn county is reported from the
village of Covington.
In fit of temporary insanity Mrs.
John Lensch, wife of farmer living
three miles west of Covington, set fire,
to her home. made a terrible cash In
the throat of her 4-year-old boy, beat
the life out of her 2-year-old daugh--
ter and her 6weeks'-old baby with a
stove poker and then cut her own
throat and was cremated in the ruins
of her home with her two babies. The
two other children, boy and girl,
who had tried to prevent their mother
from setting fire to the house and had
received many blows of the poker, fed
to the barn and hid there until the ar
rival OF neighbors. attracted to the
house by the smoke The boy whose
throat was cut, had strength enough
left to cry and neighbor broke into
the house and rescued him. He Is in a
precarious, condition but it Is hoped
that he will recover.
One Imperiled Child Rescued.
Mr.. Lensch and another man who
works on the farm. were in Cedar Rap
ids when the tragedy occurred. The
first to discover what had happened
was Adam Voehl, who was returning
home from Atkins When half mile
away from the Lensch home he saw
that it was in flames and HE cut across
fields on the run and reached the house
in u few minutes, it was seething
mass Of flames, but as he approached
he heard the sound of a child crying
in the kitchen. He broke open the door
and found the almost insensible form
of the child lying on the floor with It's
throat cut. He snatched 1t up and made
his way thru the flames to the yard.
There he planted the little form in a
wheelbarrow. and went back to che
Lensch home. The fire had almost
burned itself out by that time. The
two older children who had been hiding
in the barn for fear that their mother
would find and kill them, then came out
and told the story as well as they were
able. One is s years, the other years
old, and owing to their tender years
and their extreme excitement 1t was
hard to CLEAN the story from them. /
The Fight Of the Children. ~
They said that their mother ap-
peared to be particularly Irritable all
Saturday Afternoon and acted very
strangely. About o'clock, as nearly
as they could tell, she got some
matches and set fire to the house. to
the curtains, newspapers carpets, any
thing that would burn. They cried and
pleaded with their mother, but she
grabbed the stove poker and beat
them with it over the shoulders and
heads as they lodged Suddenly she
grabbed a butcher knife and sprang
at the next oldest brother. cutting his
throat The butcher knife was very
dull and the children fought iercely
with the demented woman in an eff
fort to save their brother, and thus
perhaps prevented a fatal wound.
Again she dropped the butcher knife
and grabbed the poker, beating them
with it and she also struck the little
6-weeks-old baby and their sweet
little sister, Dorothy, only years old.
All this time these two elder children
were trying in their weak way to save
the lives of the infants and to put out
the fire which was beginning to burn
fiercely. And all this time also, they
had to dodge the furious blows which
their mother aimed at them with the
poker. Finally they were afraid to
stay longer in the house. They broke
the window and jumped out, running
thru the corn cribs and sheds in
the rear of the house and hiding
themselves in the barn.
The Charred Remains.
1t is supposed that the mother cut
her own throat after this. AS soon as
the children had told "a part of their
awful story hurried search was
made for the remains Of the mother
and the two children in the fire. The
form of the mother was seen in the
ruins of the front room, under the
heating stove, which had fallen upon
her. She was consumed by the
flames except for a charred portion |
of the trunk, and there were but |
small charred remains of the two chill
dren. The er11bers of the ruined home
were so hot that it was a long time
before these fragments Of the three
bodies could be removed.
Coroner King Called.
Meantime other neighbors had been
busy saving the other buildings with
what little water there was on the
place. The house was past saving be-
fore anyone arrived. Telephone mes |
sages were sent to Cedar Rapids and
Coroner King was soon on his way to
the scene of the tragedy.
There was heartrending scene |
when the husband reached the ruins
of his home His cries of agony were
heard by women on a farm half a
mile away. 1t was with difficulty that
he was restrained from rushing into
the embers to bring out the fragments !
of the bodies.
Mother Had Made Threats.
Mr. Lensch is one of the most high |
Nv respected farmers of that vicinity. |
He and his wife and family have lived
most happily and Mrs. Lensch had
always seemed to be contented. She |
has been ill much of the. time, how
ever, and the neighbors say that she
often acted strangely and never visit |
ed them. Only few days ago, 1t |
is said, she threatened to kill the
children and herself Saturday after
noon at 8 o'clock she telephoned one
of the neighbors and seemed to be |
in good spirits, tho she talked rather
strangely. She was fairly well known |
in Cedar Rapids as she was the daugh- |
ter of Jacob Gerber, who resides three |