The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1915-03-27
SEEKING .CARLAW
REWARD OF $500 OFFERED FOR
THE CAPTURE OF SISSETON
MURDERER.

Sisseton, March 81. ~ Roberts
county authorities are still at sea re-
garding the whereabouts of George
A. Carlaw, the manager of the Da-
kota Central Telephone company's
exchange here, who murdered his
wife and daughter or March 13.
A reward of $500 is being offered
for the mans arrest and detention
until the arrival of local authorities
Carlaw was last seen at %Gracevillo,
Mimi, on the evening of the murder.
He drove from Sisseton to Browns
Valley, left his team there and walked
to Beardsley, where he hired a livery
rig to take him to Graceville. lie
had a start of thirty hours over his
pursuers, as il was not until late the
following day that his horrible crime
was discovered.
Without a doubt, the Carlaw muir
der is the most heinous in the history
OF northern South Dakota, even rival
ing the Christie murder near Aber-
deem five years ago when Emil Vic
tor, a comparative stranger. murder
ed Mr.. and Mrs. Christie. their
daughter and a young son of j. I.
Ronayne of Aberdeen, who was visit
ing at the Christie farm. In that in
stance it was a stranger who COM
mitted the deed. Here it was a ia
Their, numbering his own wife and
daughter.
The cause of the crime is still un-
known, but Investigations being car
ried on by the telephone company re-
veal shortages amounting TO several
hundreds of dollars.
When Z. ID. Baker, special agent
for the telephone company, came to
Sisseton on March IL to check up the
books, Carlaw complained of a head
ache and went home, He did not
show up Saturday, and when the
family did not appear at church on
Sunday, friends began to get worried,
and finally the authorities were ask
ed TO make an investigation.
This resulted in finding the moth
er lying on the bed with her skull
fractured in four places from blows
from a heavy wrench discovered ly-
ing near the bed and her body bear
ing wounds from which she had been
stabbed three times with a butcher
knife left on the table in the sitting
room.
Frances, the 16-year-old daughter.
was found in the parlor, lying ON the
floor. where she had been struck
down by her unnatural father with
the same wrench which had killed
her mother. Her skull was fractured
- $500 -l,Ar- $3.50 h. At-Ank xvra
cut with the butcher knife.
That the murder was ~premeditated
is the general belief. For several
days Carlaw had been acting queer.
He had attempted to sell his house
at a considerable sacrifice and for
several days before the murder had
borrowed amounts of from $40 to
$50 from friends. He had about $500
of borrowed and company money on
his person when he left Sisseton fol-
lowing the murder.
The blinds of the house had been
tightly drawn and the curtains pulled
down and pinned. The doors were
securely locked and when Carlaw
made his exit he left through the
basement door, having rugged up a
heavy plank so that when he closed
the door the plank would fall in place
and effectually bar entrance.
In the bottom of his buggy, which
he left at Browns Valley. was found
another sharp butcher knife. it being
thought that he took this along with
him to end his life in case he should
be in danger of capture.
From the time he left ~Graceville,
he has absolutely disappeared, no
trace whatsoever having been picked
up from that point.