The Bon Homme County independent. [volume] (Tabor, S.D.) 1904-1913, 1910-02-24
WIFE IS BRUTAlLY
MURDERED WHILE
HUSBAND SLEEPS
Henry Johnson, Aged %, Who
Is Under Suspicion, Declared
to Re Demented.

to he Demented.
Marathon, Ia, Feb. 23-Murdered
with an AK while about her household
duties this morning at Z o'clock and
her body mutilated with blows from
the same weapon, Mrs. Hazel Roberts
aged 2S years, beautiful wife of Guy
Roberts, a substantial farmer living
three miles from this place. lies dead
at their home. three small children
are motherless and Henry Johnson.
the hired man. is held here In jail
charged with the CHASTITY crime.
Details of the awful butchery are
not complete. but the shocking ac-
count by the heartbroken husband, told
between tears and sobs. is replete with
all the horror that cold blooded MUIR
der can ssume
Accused Remembers Nothing.
The hearing of Henry Johnson,
charged with the murder of Mrs. Rob-
erts, Is in progress here this afternoon.
1t develops that shortly after Z
O'Clock this morning he appeared at his
brothers home, having driven from the
Roberts home where he kept his own
horse and buggy, and was In a nervous
condition and had not breakfasted. and
after urging went in and ate a little,
stNSh NhfiStl iN SIM Ills otti y o.
with him to the home of his parents
south Of here. With the arrival of the
sheriff he was arrested and brought to
town. He claims that he can remember
nothing of what may nave occurred
this morning. He was a trusted m
ploye about the Roberts premises n
was considered a good man, industri-
Gus, and it had not been noticed that he
was wrong in his mind. He has had
two previous attacks Of insanity, both
coming on suddenly, and there seems
little doubt that he is now demented.
Crime Is Discovered.
Guy Roberts, the husband. was up
With one Of the children who has
measles during the night and slept this
morning in the room upstairs after
Hazel, the wife, had arisen and gone
to the back room to make ready for
the usual Monday washing. When the
husband coming down stairs an hour
after his wife, and missing her from the
front part Of the house. went to the
kitchen the sight that he looked upon
froze him with horror.
Lying on the floor before him was
the wife who but a half hour before
had left his side in health and JOY, her
head cleft with a blow from the sharp
edge of an ak, her body covered with
cuts n bruises. her clothing torn n
covered with blood which also stood
in pools on the floor. Three bright
children unaware of the awful crime
were in another part of the house, n
the husband was forced to be sole dis
coverer Of the victim of the f1endish
crime which had deprived him of the
beautiful and joyous companion who
had shared with him the ambitions for
home n family.
Standing for a moment which to
him seemed a life time, the husband
threw himself down by the side of the
murdered m crying: "Oh. Hazel,
speak to mel" The lips still warm gave
back no answer; there was no move-
ment Of the beloved form of the loving
wife; but the smell Of human blood,
yet warm upon the floor, aroused the
man to a sense of what had happened,
and he rushed from the Gus and
gave the alarm which was promptly
responded to by neighbors.
At first there was no suspicion upon
which to hang a conclusion, but search
was made, the ak was found, tracks
leading from the outer kitchen door
were discovered and within a couple
of hours from the time the murder
was committed at z o'clock a. M, Henry
Johnson, the hired man, was lodged in
Jail at Marathon, charged with having
committed the crime. Johnson is a
young man. aged % or 23 years, and
has worked in this locality for a on
siderable length of time. 1t Is reported
hat at one tim he was insane, and it
is thought that he may have committed
this murder while suffering from a
second attack of mental arrangement.
Struck Her From Back.
The present theory Is that with the
ingenious strategem peculiar to some
demented persons he stealthily crept
up behind Mrs. Roberts while she was
ahGnrhod in her hOIIqahOId dnftaQ
struck her a blow on the head with the
sharp edge Of the ak, telling her to
the floor, after which in frenzied rage
he finished the CHASTITY job by cutting
and pounding her body with the for
midable weapon. He was not seen to
leave the place, but all the circum-
stances point to his guilt.
Guy Roberts and his family have
long been prominent in this locality.
Mrs. Roberts was a Miss Hazel Davis
before her marriage and her parents
live at Webb, this state. Mr.. Roberts
county recorder for Buena Vista county
and lives at Storm Lake. All mem
bers of the family are highly respected.
The sheriff Of Buena Vista county,
together with the brother H.. c. Rob-
erts, arrived here at noon n is in
ve~stigating the crime.
Business in Marathon Is practically
suspended, excitement runs high, and
there is no other topic Of conversation
thar the grave tragedy which has en-
tered the Roberts family.
Where this morning there was a hap
by home with father, mother and three
care free children, the scene is all
changed. The father sits part Of the
time dazed about to the point of insen-
sibility to what has happened, at others
he starts up with cries for his wife, cal
ling to her by all the pet names which
love can command. At other times he
raves over the foul crime which has
deprived him Of his loved one, his lit
tie ones of their mother and would
lead a posse to the capture of the guilty
miscreant, whether 1t be the hired man
or some other fiend incarante who
could bring himself to the commission
of such a heinous crime. Friends are
minsitering to the family and the i'm
mediate evidences Of the crime nave
been obliterated from the room In which
the tragedy occurred. In the meantime
the citizens of the town are diligent
in helping to ferret out the criminal
but there Is no talk Of violence toward
the man In custody, as the thought pre-
walls that II he Is the perpetrator he Is
not fully responsible.