The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-08-27
BOY CONFESSES ID MURDER|NG FAMILY
  Brutally Kills Father, Moth CT and Brother TELLS HORRIBLE TALE Young Indiana Man Tells Police How He Murdered His Family Because They Opposed His
 Marriage

| Evansville, Ind, August 2s-William Lee 22 years old, confessed late today
 that he murdered his father, Richard Lee,
 his mother and younger brother Clar- ence, and then set fire to the house in the hope of concealng the crime, at
 Bonneville, Ind, last Thursday. In verbal
 and written statements to Sheriff Davis in the jail here, Lee said his motive was
 anger because his parents would not consent to his marriage with Nina Tay-
 Tor of Newburg, which he had planned for Thursday evening, and would not give him money with which to begin housekeeping. When the confessing was
 made public officers started with Lee in an automobile for the state reforma- tory at Jeffersonville to prevent possible
 mob violence here.
 Lee yesterday made a statement that
 he had killed his father in sef-defense
 with an. axe after the father had mur-
 dered his wife and younger son, but Sheriff Davis all of today pressed the restless prisoner for the true story and this afternoon Lee wrote a haltingly worded confession and afterward ampli- fled it by description of the horrible butchery.
 Lee said that Wednesday night he | called on his fiancee and they talked of the arrangements for their wedding. He had $100 in the bank but had spent it. He knew his parents had-$o0 in the house. He returned home late at night and his mother reprimanded him, he said. He told her he was determined to be married the following day and she
 answered that he should not, that he must stay at home.
 Going to his own room, Lee said he brooded until he was out of his mind. Suddenly he rushed into the room where his father, mother and brother slept. "I grabbed an axe by the door, he
 said, and struck for my father but hit my mother. My brother raised up
 and l struck him. Then my father, who had been outside, ran in and started to grab me by the throat
 'I hit him and he fell. I was scared so badly I didn't know what l was do- ing What scared me was that my fath-
 CT had threatened my life and I was an- gry at what my mother had said.' Lee said he lit match to see what he had done and then dropped the flaming lstick on the bed where his mothers body Hay.
 'The flames flashed up and blinded me- he went on and I jumped into my room. but on my trousers and ran to alarm the neighbors. I would not have done this thing for anything if had had any sense lat all'
 The fire in the Lee home was put out before the three bodies, the skull of each crushed, had been more than seorchod. William Lee stolidy helped carry them out to the lawn, insisting he did not knew how his parents and brother came to their death
 Lee had been an idler since boyhood, &C., cording to testimony at the coroner's in quest, which closed today at Boonville. His father appeared to fear him and sup piled him with money, even giving him a fourth share of the proceeds of the sale of some property recently.
 Evidence produced today refuted Lees statement that he rushed from the house immediately after he started the fire. A basin, stained with blood, in which he had washed his hands was found. Long,
 gray hairs, supposedly his mothers, clung to the sides of it. Hidden behind a door was a basket filled with dishes, knives and forks and kitchen utensils, which it is believed he had packed with the idea that he would escape the consequences of the murders and soon have his own home The lives of his father and brother were insured for $7OO and this would have come to him on their death and that of bis mother.
 Newburg, Ind. August 26.-Aready sui fering from hysteria, Nina Taylor, who was engaged to be married to William Lee, was prostrated tonight when slie heard that Lee had confessed he mur- dered his father. mother and brother
 .Oh, Will, why did you do it?' she sobbed.
 Earlier in the day she had said she would marry Lee if he were vindicated.