St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1915-01-06

a
on the floor of the horse barn, his two
little daughters on each side of the
body of their mother. was the ter
rible sight Charles =. Wheaton found
when he reached his home on Crow
Hill on his return from carrying the
children of that neighborhood to the
schools in this village last Monday
morning. The shying of horse as
it smeIled blood at the door was the
first intimation Mr.. Wheaton had of
anything unusual, He forced the
horse ahead and was Mortified to see
Lanes lifeless body on the floor.
Thinking the man had suffered a
shock he ran to the house crying
Nancy" his wife's given name and
the response was from Charlotte,
four years old and Helen two years
old, Mamma is on the floor in the
bedroom. Rushing there, on either
side of his wife's body, he found the
two little girls trying to get a re-
spOnse from a voice that had been
forever stilled by the hand of a bru-
tai murderer. Her clothes were satu-
rated with the blood that had poured
from the woman's heart. ]. Douglas
London, worthless character, was
the murderer and at that time he lay
dead on the barn floor at the place
of ]. P. Kilburn, a quarter of a mile
away.
Drs. J. M. Allen, W. B. Fitch and
| Charlotte Fairbanks were summoned
and notice sent Sheriff WOrthen and
Chief of Police Finley, who with
to the Wheaton home but every thing
/ was hovOnd human aid
First knowledge of the Crime.
London, who had been working
some for the past three weeks for
Louis Gadapee in Danville, came to
! the home of Mr.. and Mrs. Kilburn last
Friday night and he stayed there un-
til Monday morning. Sunday he said
he was not going back to Gadapee's
but get job in that vicinity. Mon
day morning he told Mrs. Kilburn he
guessed he would go back to Gada-
pee's and taking a 32-calibre rife
he had recently traded for, started
away. About 8 o'clock he came back
into the Kilburn home and said to
Mrs. Kilburn: II have shot Nancy
and Will and now am going to shoot
myself" you have done no such
thing" cried Mrs. Kilburn ST have
and mean business" was his reply
Don't do it where 1 can hear" said
Mrs. Kilburn, and he told her she
could take her baby and go care for
the little Wheaton children he had
| left alone or go to her grandfathers,
A. +. Lawrence's, and give an alarm
She grabbed the baby and started for
Mr.. Lawrence's place and that was
the last seen of London alive. She
gave the alarm at Mr.. Lawrence's
and the two hired men started for
the place and found that London had
gone to the barn and leaning on his
rife had fired a bullet through his
heart, killing him instantly.
Shot Victims Four Times.
The doctors made a hasty examina-
tion of the bodies and found where
one bullet had pierced each body at
a vital point and supposed for a time
that was all the shots that had been
/ fired. Undertaken Calderwood was
called to take charge of the bodies
and when they were removed from
the floor it was found they had been
shot several times. Lane, who evil
IDENTIFY was shot first, was shot four
times in the trunk of the body, each
bullet passing through the body.
Mrs. Wheaton was shot once in the
wrist and three times through the
body, once through the heart which
caused instant death. There was evil
dences that the rifle was held close
to each body for part of the shots
Were Shot Through Doors.
There is evidence that each one
was warned of London's intention.
Lane evidently had closed the barn
door between himself and London
and braced himself against it to keep
his assailant away. A clean bullet
hole through the door at just the
height that Lanes body would come
indicates that London fired from the
outside and dropped the man and
then entered the barn and fired three
more shots into him, finishing the
killing.
Then London reloaded his rife
which was a single shot weapon and
went to the kitchen where Mrs. Whea-
ton was preparing to wash and told
her he was going to shoot her, the
little four-year-old Charlotte says
Her mother started to run through
the dining room to the bedroom and
London fired the bullet passing
through the door to the parlor and
possibly hitting the woman in the
wrist. Mrs. Wheaton evidently
lodged into the bed room and shut
the door and threw herself against
it.
Reloading his rife, London placed
the muzzle close to the door and fired
the bullet passing through her body
He then reloaded his rife twice and