The Colorado statesman., 1911-09-23
SIX MURDERED
IN COLO. SPRINGS
TWO ENTIRE FAMILIES, EXCEPT
ING ONE, VICTIMS OF
FlEND WITH AK.
THEIR SPLIT
HUSBAND OF ONE MURDERED
WOMAN HELD ON SUS-
PlclON.
Western Newspaper Union News Service.

Western Newspaper Union News Service.
Colorado Springs. wo families,
six persons, were murdered while
they slept in their homes in Colorado
Springs. The deed was either that Of
medman or an unknown enemy. The
crime is shrouded in the deepest mys-
terry and all theories are only guess
work. 1t is supposed the crime was
committed Sunday night and that for
several days the victims lay in the
charnel houses. The six victims of
the terrible crime, which was COM
mitted with an AK, are:
Mrs. Alice May Burnham, wife of A.
j. Burnham, cook at the Modern
Woodmcn sanitarium; their two chill
dren, Alice, aged six years, and John,
aegd three years; Henry F. Wayne,
consumptive, until recently patient
at the Woodmen sanitarium; Mrs.
Henry F. Wayne, Wayne's wife of
three years, and their one-year-old
baby girl.
Mrs. Nettie Ruth, sister of Mrs.
Burnham, and Miss Anna Merritt,
neighbor, discovered the bodies. Not
until the officers had investigated at
the Burnham house was it discovered
that a similar wholesale slaughter
had taken place in the Wayne cottage
next door.
Miss Merritt collapsed at sight OF
the bodies and is suffering from Sc
we're heart attack.
A. j. Burnham, husband of one of
the murdered women, has been taken
into custody pending an investigation.
The police have no information now
to fix the crime on anyone.
Miss Merritt, who was a near friend
of Mrs. Burnham, called with Mrs.
Ruth at the Burnham house early in
the afternoon. Getting no response to
their knocks, Mrs. Ruth, it is said.
opened a rear door with the key of
her own house Entering, they were
staggered by an odor coming from
front room. On investigation they
found Mrs. Burnham and her two
children lying on the bed in the front
room. The bedclothing was saturated
with blood.
Mrs. f. E. Campbell, one of the
neighbors, called the attention of The
officers to the deserted appearance of
the Wayne cottage with it's drawn
shades and Sergeant j. II. Springer
and Detective Tom Gavin forced an
entrance.
They found the three members of
the Wayne family dead in one bed,
their heads having been split with an
ak, as were those of the Burnham fam
lily, while they slept.
That the murderer tried to set fire
to the Burnham home with a view to
destroying the bodies of the three vic
tins became evident upon investiga-
ton.
A. J. Burnham, husband of Mrs.
Alice May Burnham, one of the wom-
en- murdered, who is held on suspi-
cion, is in his forties. He came to Col
orado several years ago from his for
mer home in Michigan, it is thought,
for his health. Six years ago he was
married to Alice May Hill, then twen-
ty years old.
The position of the bodies in both
houses would indicate that the victims
had not chance to make strug-
gle. In the Burnham home, Mrs.
Burnham lay on the north side of the
bed with the little boy next to her.
Apparently the girl had gotten away
from her pillow, as her body lay slight
ly across that of her mother and to-
wards the foot of the bed.
The circumstances at the Wayne
house were similar, even to the minut-
est detail. The family occupied one
bed in the front room, and the muir
derer, after completing his work,
carefully covered the bodies, even tho
faces of his victims, with the bed
clothes. SO carefully was this detail
attended to at the Burnham home
that articles of underclothing, a little
coat belonging to the girl, and the
everyday clothing of the victims were
piled on the beds and were saturated
with their blood.
The district attorneys force is
working with the sheriff's office and
police. Reports that Burnham had
confessed were disproved.
That a confession is not unexpected
was admitted. Meanwhile Burnham s
family relations are being investigated
and the wires are working between
here and the place from which young
Wayne and his girl wife came.
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