The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1912-06-13

the crime was committed. Theories
have been advanced and all have
been exploded. 1t was confidently
hoped by those in charge of the
probe that the dogs would be able
to 60 in a direction that would lead
to something during the night. They
failed tonight, but Villisca has not
given up hope.
Villisca, Iowa, June 10.-Special:
Revenge or the work of a maniac
resulted in the murder of eight per-
sons here some time last night or
early this morning. The entire
family of J. B. Moore and two daugh-
ters of Joseph Stillinger, guests of
the Moores, were the victims. Their
heads had been crushed by an ak.
All were found in bed. The dead
are:
Joseph B. Moore, 46 years old.
Mrs. J. B. Moore, 35 years old.
Herman Moore. IA years old.
Floyd Moore, 10 years old.
Paul Moore, 5 years old.
Lena Stillinger, II years old.
Ina Stillinger, 9 years old.
When the Moores failed to be
about their home at $3.50 O'Clock
this morning, Mrs. o. Peckham, a
neighbor, thought something was
wrong. She called Mrs. r. r.
Moore, wife of brother of J. B.
Moore. r. r. Moore" was notified
that no one was about at his broth
er's home. E. F. Selley q clerk in
Mr.. Moore's hardware and imple-
ment store failed to arouse his en-
ployer when he called the, ]. B.
Moore home. Moore then called the
city marshal J, H. Horton. The two
went to the house. They found the
doors locked. The brother carried
key to the front door Of the house.
The two went inside. Mr.. Moore
was the first to see that murder had
been committed. The bodies of the
Stininger girls were lying on a bed
in a downstairs room. He recoiled
at the sight of the mutilated bodies.
Finds Bodies Upstairs.
Horton continued the investiga-
ton. On the top floor of the house
he found the bodies of the Moore
family. Every one had been killed
by the blow of an az. A hatchet
was found in the house. 1t was
blood stained. Horton locked the
doors of the house after he finished
the investigation. He notified o. E.
Jackson, the sheriff, who lives at
Red Oak, and DR.. Linquist, coroner,
who lives at Stanton. While these
officials were coming here Horton
took charge at the house. He ap-
pointed a guard of citizens to keep
watch and let no one enter the
house. The coroner and undertake
ers were permitted to enter the
house, but they did not molest the
bodies until this morning. When
sheriff Jackson arrived he called out
the company of militia that has
headquarters here. A guard was
stationed about the house to let no
one in.
1t is believed the murderer enter
ed the house at the front door and
left it the same way. Every window
in the house except one was locked.
It's condition indicated that it had
not been opened recently. No key
is thought that the assailant went
out through the front door and that
after locking the door he threw the
key away. Searches near the house
for the key have proved unavailing.
Bodies Removed.
The bodies were removed from
the house to the city fire station at
midnight Coroner Linquist being in
charge. To make room for the
bodies it was necessary to move the
city fire apparatus to the park across
the street. Militiamen are guarding
the station tonight. The inquest
will be held the first thing in the
morning. The provisional jury ap-
pointed is made up of DR.. w. A.
Lemas, w. r. Finlayson and J. Y.
Wickersham.
News of the crime spread rapidly.
Nearby towns were notified and are
keeping a close lookout for suspic-
ious looking characters.
Two men were arrested here to-
day. One could not give a good &C
count of himself. The other said he
was a stranger and feared that he
might be harmed by the crowd. Late
this afternoon it was reported that
a man had been seen near the Law
renceson farm south of the city.
When a posse went in search of him
it failed to locate the man. Farm
ers from every direction rushed to
Villisca tonight to get news of the
crime. They had heard something
of the details of the murder; then,
too, they wanted to watch the blood
hounds. -. -
Thousands Of visitors were in Vii
glisca at $3.50 O'Clock tonight when
two bloodhounds took up the possi-
BILE trail of the murderer of the j..
b. Moore family and the two daugh-
tiers of Joseph Stillinger. In Less;
Continued on Page p. Ssss