Evening star., 1909-06-06
STRIKES FELLOWS DOWN
WITH KEEN-EDGE KNIFE
U. S. Meat Inspector and Two
Others Are Mortally Wounded.
HUNDREDS FLEE IN PANIC
Madman Finally Knocked Down
With Iron Bar and Overpowered.
Expert in His Trade, But Had
Acted Strangely.

Special Dispatch to The Star.
BOSTON. Mass. June ga frightful
tragedy was enacted in the plant OF the
North Packing and Provision Company
at East Somerville about o'clock this
afternoon. when John Murphy. q pig
sticker,' suddenly became raving
maniac and ran amuck among more than
hundred of his fellow-workmen. killing
five almost instantly. fatally wounding
three others and slashing several more
10 lesser extent before he was over
powered.
Those killed were:
Thompson Grove. aged forty-two, mar
ried. living at Somerville, almost de-
capitated.
Michael Yencus. Lithuanian. living In
East Cambridge, stabbed through the
heart.
Hubert Smith, colored, living in East
Cambridge. stabbed through the heart.
John Carper. colored. living at East
Cambridge. stabbed through the heart.
East Somerville. stabbed through the
heart.
The fatally injured were:
DR.. Daniel S. Hayes. married. and liv-
Inspector. stabbed in the neck. breast
and abdomen.
John Chicosk. Polander, living IN East
Cambridge. knife wounds in back. breast
and on arms.
John Cheever, Polander. living In East
Cambridge. stabbed in breast and neck.
Panic Among Employees.
There was panic among the employees
In the killing room on the seventh floor
when Murphy began his deadly work.
All hands rushed for the doors with the
maniac In close pursuit brandishing the
razor-edge knife about ten inches in
length. which he used in his work OF
ending the lives Of the pigs. He struck
down DR.. Hayes first and then two
others, both of the latter dying as soon
as they fell. Down the stairs he pursued
the crowd of yelling workmen. slashing
viciously he overlook first one and
then another. Three more men fell vic
tiims to his deadly thrusts and expired
on the landing.
An Italian grabbed an iron bar going
down the stairs and knocked Murphy to
the floor with 1t, but he was up in an
instant and cut several more before an
other blow from the bar stretched him
on his side and the knife dropped from
his hand But he was still conscious.
and, staggering to his feet, he ran into
the ham-smoking room on the third
floor of the building. Here he was un-
able TO breathe, and as he tried to get
away from the suffocating place he was
jumped upon by dozen men. borne to
the floor and CAPTURED. Some Of the
workmen were so enraged by the fearful
scene they had witnessed that they lost
their heads and administered a severe
beating to Murphy before the police could
get him away.
Murphy had been acting rather queerly
of late. His wife, the mother of three
children. says that for some days he had
been complaining that his fellow-employ-
es were daily throwing missiles at him
while he was at work, and that some OF
them were talking behind his back, crit
icising his method of disposing of the
hogs.
Kept his hnlfe Snarpened.
It was noticed by the workmen in the
hog-kiling room that the man was
moody, and that for several days he had
taken advantage of every spare momen,
TO put a keener edge to his deadly knife
Today. when he was standing at the
end of the line Of rollers over which the
hogs. bound by the feet, pass along t.
their death, he was seen to talk to him
self considerably. but as he never failed
in his long-practiced thrust into the jug.
ular veins OF the swinging pigs, no atten.
ton was paid to him. About ten fee,
away stood DR.. Hayes, attending to his
usual duties The latter casually spoke
10 Murphy. and he, turning like flash
jumped at the inspector and buried his
keen knife in the latter's groin. Two
more stabs he gave, one into Dr. Hayes
neck and the other into his breast, neal
the heart.
There were about 125 workmen stretch
ed along several rows of cutting benches
in the room, and when they heard
Murohys maniacal Yell ad saw him
plunge his knife into the inspector
body they made for the door
Murphy turned from his first victim and
dashed after them. striking down the
first two he caught up with. They re-
Ceived unerring stabs in the breast anc
dropped 10 the floor dying. Through The
door and down six flights of stairs fed
the panic-stricken workmen and from
other floors poured out more employees
Waving his weapon over his head anc
shouting imprecations. came the insan.
man. stabbing 10 left and to right He
killed three more in the mad flight dowr
the stairway and wounded several bu
the blows he had received from the iror
bar weakened him and he dropped hi
in hn pnln
from which he emerged only to be cap
tured.
Locked in Padded Cell.
Murphy is about fifty years of age ane
a powerfully built man, weighing abou
200 pounds. He was locked up in a pad
Ged cell at the police station in Somer
willie. and dared any one to annrnach him