The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1921-01-20
BAB|ESPLEAD
IN VAIN TO LIVE
Winchester Mother Ignored
Cries of Little Ones As She
Killed Three and Self.
BY STAFF CORRESPONDENT.

WlNCfESIER, va, Jan. w.
Nine-year-old Mary Lee Hicks tried
hard to awaken her father early yes
terday morning, but he was in the
deep stupor which follows an epilep-
tic 1T And so Mary. wide-eyed and
terrified, was forced to watch her
twenty-seven-year-old mother steal
to closet, get out an old breech-
loading, single-barreled shotgun,
which her husbands father had used
back In the sixties, and creep down
stairs where her three babies lay
sleeping.
SUCCESSION OF SHOTS.
eession OF shots, then q pause while
the mother reloaded the ancient
weapon. then another, another pause.
and then a third and fourth.
The mother had blown the heads
Off her children. Walter, aged six.
Margaret. aged 1--WE; and Stewart. q
babe Of three.
She killed her children while in
delirium from the nu. Her fourth
shot-evidently one of them had
missed-wakened her husband. Hs
leaped out of bed and rushed to the
st airs to see his wife. wild-eyed and
still clutching the weapon. preparing
to ascend the stairs.
Evidently her crazed brain had
planned the determination Of her en-
tire family.
= MARY" the husband shouted.
~what Is wrong? What are you doing
with that gum"
Instead Of answering. the wife
looked at him with fever BURNING
eyes and smiled. There was no
h,,x sro
murder. Then, while her husband
rushed down the stairs, she knelt.
placed the muzzle of the shotgun to
her forehead, bent one leg until her
foot rested on the trigger guard, and
pulled the trigger with her toes. She
literally blew the top of her own
head off.
FINDS CHILDREN DEAD.
Too late to save his wife, the hus-
band. running down stairs. leaped
over her dead body and went into
the children's bed room. He found
them all dead in their beds, the room
splattered with blood.
Dazed, the father ran back up
stairs, took nine-year-old Mary Lee
in his arms, and both In their night
clothes, ran a mile and a half over
the icy fields to the home Of his
him what had happened and the
father telephoned for a physician,
but it is six and one-half miles
from the Hicks farm to Winchester.
and besides 1t was too late for
doctor.
The mother had done her work
well. She and her three baby VIC
Tins will be buried today in tho
private grave yard on the Hicks
properties.
To Sheriff Luther Pannett, who
Investigated the case. the husband,
Stanley Hunter Hicks, said his wife
had been i'll for three days, but not
until Tuesday afternoon would she
consent to have a doctor. DR.. A.
c. Swhmley was summoned from
Winchester and declared the little
mother was suffering from a serious
case of the flu. He advised
nurse, but nurses are not to be had
for the asking in the country. and
the husband could not give his wife
his time. Farm work does not wait
for illness, so the husband went out
to his fe,a- and tiled them. return
iry home late Taesday, tired and
tdrribly worried He went in to see
his wife end feL a moment later
In al epilspEc 1T
SENDS him TO BED.
rls wife rose from her sick bed
covered she insisted that he go to
bed and sent nine-year-old Mary Lee.
her oldest child, with him to call in
case help was needed. Both went to
sleep.
1t was past midnight when Mary
Lee was awakened. In the dim light
she saw her mother creep to the
closet, get out the shotgun. and then
reach to the shelf for a box Of shells.
She called to her mother. There was
no answer. The mother did not even
look around.
Terrified. the child shook her
father.
Daddy she called. wake up!
wake up!
"But physicians say it is almost i'm
possible to awaken q man In the
sleep which follows a At. Mary
might Just as well have been calling
else to call, little Mary lay and
watched and listened.
Then came the shots The first shot
killing little Walter, awakened his
brother and sister. They screamed.
Mamma don't shoot Marcy,
cried little Margaret aged five, but
their words did not carry to the moth
er'S Crazed brain Calmly she reload
ed the weapon, turned 1t on her baby
girl, and fired again. Then she re-
loaded the weapon again and turned
to three-year-old baby Stewart, al
though only a few feet distant for
some reason her aim missed. She re-
loaded the weapon and took more
careful aim. Baby Stewart, scream
ing, threw up an arm to shield his
face. The shot tore part Of the baby
flesh away. and plowed its way into
his brain. Then reloading the gun
once more, she started up stairs to
kill her husband and the one child
left living.
What passed through her crared
mind when she saw her husband and
turned from murder to suicide will
never be known. Tho husband says
he fairly hurtled down the stairs in
an effort to get the weapon from
her. but he was not quick enough.
Stanley Hicks is a young farmer,
hard working and prosperous. His
father and his brothers are all farm
ers. They have been since the early
Aavs Of the republic. He was mar