The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1911-09-27
CUT With AXE
Six People Bu'ehered as They Slept IN
Their Beds IN Two Houses.
A MOST BRUTAL CRIME

G2 0VNS NeN~ A9~ ~AeANsA
Bodies of the Unknown Assassin
Victims Discovered by Neighbor
Three Days After the Crime Wa
Committed With Their Head
Crushed and Fearfully Mutilated
One of the most brutal crime
known to that section for many year
has come to light at Colorado Spring
Col. Butchered in their beds b.
some persons as yet unknown, VIII
used an axe, the bodies OF six per
sons, three in each Of two neighbor
ing houses, were found there Wed
Resday.
The heads of all victims hat
been smashed in and the appearance
of the bodies indicated that they hat
been dead several days and tina
death came while they slept. A re
port says that the murder has beer
caught and that be has confessed
but this is denied by the police Of
fcials, who, 1t is intimated, fear {
lynching might follow such an an
nouncement.
An axe which had been loaned tt
Mrs. Henry F. Wayne, one Of the
victims, by J. F. Evans, a neighbor
last week, was found, blood-stalned
by Mrs. Evans on Monday near the
back door Of the Wayne home. Nc
attention was paid to this fact, how
ever, as it was thought the axe had
been used in killing chickens. The
dead are:
Mrs. Alice May Burnham, wife OF
A. J. Burnham, cook at the Modern
Woodmen's Satitarium.
Their two children, Alice, aged s,
and John, aged three years.
Henry f. Wayne, a consumptive,
until recently patient at the Wood
mems Sanitarium.
Mrs. Wayne and their one-year-old
baby girl.
The Burnham house Is situated at
Dale street and Harrison place, and
the two houses next to it on Dale
street are vacant. Directly in the
rear is the Wayne home and close to
It is that Of Evans. The discovery Of
the bodies was made by neighbor,
who called at the Burnham home.
Not getting any response and notic-
ing a strong odor, she forced an en-
trance. The bodies OF Mrs. Burnham
and those of her two children were
found in their beds, which were COW
cred with blood, and the wall and
ceiling were also spattered.
The woman rushed to the street
and gave the alarm. Immediately a
dozen persons went to the Wayne
house, where there had been no signs
of life since Sunday, and the same ter
rible scene was presented. In the
beds were the bodies Of Mr.. and Mrs.
Wayne and her children horriNy
mangled, as in the case Of the bodies
in the Burnham home.
That such crime had been COM
mitted in thickly settled neighbor-
hood and left unrevealed for three
days is regarded as incredible. Not
even footprint is to be found on the
floor Of either house and no one could
be found who had seen any one about
the premises since Sunday, when all
the murdered persons at different
times were in neighboring grocery.
Burnham, who lives at the sanl-
tarium where he is employed. about
zen miles from the t!:s. vas arrested
SON after The discovery of he crime,
but there seems nothing to implicate
him in the tragedy. His employers
say he was at work when the crime
must have been committed. He was
last seen at his home Sunday after
noon, and is said to have left there
about 5 o'clock.
Little is known of the Wayne fanl-
" except that Wayne came to the
Modern Woodmen's sanitarium about
ten months ago from Indiana as a
patient. One month ago his term in
the institution was up and he brought
his wife and child here and rented
the house in which they were murder
ed.
When brought into the morgue the
bodies were almost unrecognlzahle.
The heads Of all the six victims were
either cut or smashed and in almost
every case the number Of wounds in
dicated them urderer had cut and
slashed until certain that life was eX-
tinct.