The Democratic banner. (Mt. Vernon, Ohio) 1898-192?, 1910-02-11
TO PAY
The Penalty For "The SGxtu.
pie Murder

Richmond, Va, Feb. 10--Unless
Governor Mann sees fit to interfere,
Howard Little, "the sextuple murder.
er" of Buchanan county, will die in
the electric chair in the State peniten-
tiary here tomorrow morning. The
condemned man has abandoned all
hope Of receiving a respite. He is
chiefly concerned ABOUT the disposi-
tion of his body. He wants to be bur-
led at his old home in Mcdowell coun-
ty, West Virginia, and has received
assurance that the small amount of
money he mas left will be used to car.
ry out his wish.
The crime for which Little is to pay
the death penalty was probably the
most fiendish in the criminal records
of Virginia. For the purpose of rob-
berry he wiped out an entire family of
six persons and then sought to con-
ceal the crime by burning the bodies
of his victims.
The scene of the tragedy was the lit
tie town of Hurley, in Buchanan coun-
ty The victims were aunt Betty"
Justis, an aged woman who was gen.
orally supposed to keep a large sum
of money about her, her son-ln-law,
George Meadows, his wife and their
three children.
On the morning of September %
last, neighbors discovered Meadows
mutilated body lying in the yard of his
destroyed home. Two bullet holes
through the body and ghastly wound
in the neck, which almost severed the
head from the body, save the discov-
erers their first evidence of the ex-
tent of the tragedy.
A search of the ruins of the house
disclosed a sickening spectacle. The
blackened masses of half burned flesh
and charred bones of the two women
and three children were found be-
meath the debris, each body bearing
evidence of murder committed before
the house was destroyed by fire.
Bloodhounds were rushed to the
scene and a posse started at once in
pursuit of the murderer. Many signs
pointed to Howard Little as the muir
derer and within a week after the
tragedy he was taken into custody.
Littles wife confessed to having
washed his bloody clothing the day
after the murders. She stated, also,
that he had left their home about
dark the night of the tragedy and re-
turned the next morning with his
clothes all bloody and torn, and said
that he would kill her if she told any
thing about his condition. 1t was as
certained that he had borrowed a 32
calibre revolver a few days before the
crime was committed, and returned it
the following Wednesday with two
chambers empty. The body of George
Meadows was exhumed, and two bull
let's taken from it were almost identi-
cal In weight with the balls taken
from the shells belonging to the weap-
on Little had borrowed.
Littles trial took place last Nov
ember and resulted in a verdict of
guilty and a sentence OF death. Jan.
uary 7 was the date originally fixed
for the execution, but Governor Swan
son granted stay of thirty days in
order that the case might be taken to
the higher courts. In the meantime
Little was taken to Roanoke for safe
keeping, as threats of lynching were
made in the county where the trial
had taken place. Two weeks ago Lit
ties last hope of escaping the electric
chair was destroyed when the State
supreme court of appeals refused to
grant a writ of error in his case.