The daily banner. (Cambridge, Md.) 1897-2008, 1913-03-25
-FOUR FOUND SHOT
DEAD after FIRE
Farmer, wife, Little Girl and
Neighbor We're Slain
rINO RIFLE AND SHOTGUN

Burning of Farm House at Williams
town, N. j., Was to Hide Evidence
Of Greater Crime.
Williamstown, N. j., March 25.-Leo
Wharton, his wife, Mary; their six
year-old daughter, Lillian, and John
ston Hemphill, neighbor, whose bod
les were found after a fire which de-
stroyed the Wharton farmhouse, near
here, probably were shot to death be
fore the blaze.
Examination of their bodies was
made by Coroner Stultz, OF Gloucester
county, and the coroner's physician.
DR.. Duffield.
Part OF Wharton's heart was shot
away, and the top of his head either
had been blown or burned off. The
woman had been shot through the
back with a gun. Three ribs were
broken.
A flattened bullet was in the child's
brain, lung was punctured, ribs were
caved in, and the body crushed
Hemphill had a bullet in his heart
and the body was riddled with gun
shot.
Both Hemphill and Mrs. Wharton
were wounded in way to indicate
that the asailant had stood above
them when he fired.
The officials have two theories. The
first is that Wharton, enraged to the
point of insanity by the belief that
Hemphill had been too attentive to
his wife, attacked the man, bringing
on a gun duel in which the woman and
child were either purposely or acct
dentally shot.
The other theory is that burglars
broke into the farmhouse, were sur
prised at their work, shot the occu-
pants of the little dwelling and then
set the place on fire to cover up the
crime.
Had there been a duel between
Wharton and Hemphill, the fire might
have been started accidentally by the
men in their struggle overturning
stove Or a chicken incubator in the
kitchen might have exploded, the in,
vestigators point out
Mrs. Wharton and the child, frag-
ments of a night dress still clinging
to the girls charred body, were found
under a twisted heap of bedsprings.
Wharton was found in that part Of the
cellar which had been under the din
ing room Hemphill's body was found
under what had been the kitchen.
Hemphill was dressed, and, from his
position, apparently had been trying
to get out of the kitchen door when
the collapse came.
The barrel OF a 22-caliber rifle and
the double barrels of shotgun, con-
tanning a recently exploded cartridge
we're found in the cellar.
Williamstown is twenty-three miles
from Philadelphia. The Whartons NOV
ed to their farm Of thirty acres near
I from Yardley. Wharton, who had
been a carpenter, bought the farm
from Hemphill. Since then Hemphill
had been foreman on the farm of Miss
l. ]. Stanger, about a mile from the
Wharton place.
A strong friendship sprang up be
tween Hemphill and Wharton. The
two men were often seen working TO-
gether on the Wharton place, and prac-
tically every day Hemphill would car
~ milk to the little farm. Mrs. Whar-
ton once told a friend that Hemphili
had done so much for them that she
regarded him almost as brother.
According to Miss Stanger, Whar-
ton some time ago told his wife, who
had reproved him for not taking her
out oftener, that Hemphill would take
her. There never had been any quar-
reling, as far as she knew, about
Wharton's failure to go out with his
wife, Miss Stanger said.
According to David S. Champion,
however, Wharton had told his son,
Vernon Champion, that things were
mot right" at the Wharton home. Yer
non Champion, contractor, employed
Wharton at times.
About the middle of last week
Hemphill announced that he was 60
Ing III " "llildHiStoWH OH OdIuTudy.
On the afternoon of that day Mrs.
Wharton and Hemphill drove in to
Williamstown in Wharton's carriage.
Wharton was noticed about his place
in the afternoon, although it had been
said that he had been observed in
Williamstown.
Still another rumor had it that
Wharton told his wife at noon Satur-
day that he was going to New York
and would not be back until Sunday
night There are some who say that
Wharton was seen to alight from a
late train at Williamstown Saturday
night.