The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1909-06-17
WOMAN IS F0ULLY SLAIN

WOMAN IS F0ULLY SLAIN
BODY OF MRS. V. E. GRIFFIN
FOUND IN A WELL.
Bloody Razor and Axe Tell the
Story of a Ghastly Murder.
Woman's Three Sons Held.
Columbia, June 11.-Another
mysterious murder has been added
20 the list which for the past few
9ars have shocked this community.
city the killing of Maude Allen few
years ago was the gruesome find of
the body Of Mrs. Victoria E. Griffin
IN the we'll IN her yard early this
morning. Her neck cut in two places
and deep cash in her head told the
story OF the foul murder, of which
no definite clue could be traced this
morning, and which was surrounded
with veil of mystery and unusual
circumstances. A razor with blood
ed blade and an axe with blood on
the end and the blade showed that
these weapons were used in the kill
ing.
At 5:20 o'clock this morning Po-
liceman Salters, who has beat near
the union station, was called to GIL
Sumter street by Russell Griffin,
the youngest son of Mrs. Griffin. The
boy told MIR. Salters that his mother
was missing from the house and ask
ed the policeman to come to the
house and look around. Mr.. Salters
went and made an examination. He
describes his search as follows:
Being shown into the kitchen I
saw blood strewn on one part of the
floor near the table. On the kitchen
table was razor which had blood all
over the blade. After looking all
through the three rooms and kitchen
of the house I started out into the
yard to see If I could find any trace
of Mrs. Griffin there. AS I walked
by the well noticed some blood on
the side of the wall. The we'll was
covered up with the bucket on top
of the covering. looked inside and
saw blood on the inner wall. Look
ing down into the we'll I thought I
saw something below the surface Of
the water. I reached down and pull
ed up above the surface the body of
a woman. She was in her night
clothes. I then went for a colored
well-digger and together we were
able to raise the body out of the wa
ter by tying a rope around the
waist"
Mr.. Salters says that there was no
blood strewn from the house to the
well and the appearances were that
the clothes had been placed upon the
woman after she was killed. There
was not as much blood on the
clothes as would be expected had she
been murdered in them. The axe
which he found had one corner of it
broken off and it was here that the
blood was on, running up the blade.
about half way. There was no frac-
ture of the skull of the woman, but
there was deep cash, showing that
the blade end of the axe must have
been used. A feature which is unex-
planned except by those in the house
is that there were blood tracks from
the kitchen into the other rooms.
Thie they say at the house was caus-.
ed by the young boy tracking in the;
blood. without noticing at first that
the blood was on the floor.
Suicide Theory Abandoned.
When Coroner Walker arrived
there were a number Of persons In
the house from the neighborhood.
No information could be obtained
from any of those who lived on eth
er side of the house or across the
street. The theory Of suicide was at
once put up by the members Of the
household, which included two
daughters and three sons. This Cor
oner Walker abandoned at once.
There was exhibited to him a two
ounce bottle of iodine, which the
children said was bought the day be-
fore by Mrs. Griffin. This bottle,
which was shown at police station
by Mr.. Walker, appears to be an old
one, and if the stuff was bought yes
terday it was placed in the old bottle.
uSIS was duOut Oue-udll VI Iue
iodine gone. It is marked poison"
and the theory advanced by the chill
dren of Mrs. Griffin Is that she drank
the poison. OF course, this, while
throwing some light on a possible
motive in the stating of it, has no
bearing on the killing, for the wo-
man was killed with the axe and
razor.
Naturally, the question arises at
once: "How could the woman be
killed in her house while five other
members of the family slept?" The
eldest daughter says that she did not
hear anything during the night that
caused her to awake. She says that
she awoke at 5 o'clock this morn
ing, and thinking that it was time to
start breakfast, went to the room of
her mother and called to her.. Re-
ceiving no answer she went to the
kitchen door and looked to see if her
mother was there. She saw some
thing on the floor, near the table,
which she thought was water and
thought that her mother had been up