The producers news. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1918-1937, 1923-05-11
MALTA RANCHER
MURDERS FAMILY
IN FIT OF INSANITY KILLS WIFE
AND SEVERAL CHILDREN, TWO
BOYS ESCAPE. ONE VICTIM
MAY LIVE.

Malta, May flames E. Hovey
made a murderous attack on his fam
lily last Sunday morning in fit of in
sanity and succeeded in killing his
wife and two children and one other
now lies at the point Of death while
two boys, 9 and II years of age, were
the only ones to escape from the
maniac to summon help and notify the
neighbors of the terrible tragedy in
the Hovey home.
The Hovey home is about 35 miles
southeast of Malta, and the authori-
ties went out and Brought the bodies
to town and the two boys and little
daughter that survived the murderOus
attack are also in Malta.
Following the assault on his family
Hovey went to the granary and turn
ed a shotgun on himself and almost
severed his head from his body.
The conditions at the ranch seemed
to tally with the report of the tragedy
as told by the boys and that has been
accepted as the authentic account Of
the affair.
According to the story told by the
two boys who escaped and summoned
aid, they We're awakened by the cries
of their mother shortly after 5 a. m.
They made their way to the kitchen
to find their parents clad in night
clothes, engaged in struggle in the
center Of the room. The father was
brandishing an aye and the mother
was attempting to keep close enough
to Hovey to avoid a full swing from
the weapon. The mother had already
received several scalp wounds
As the boys entered the father sue
ceeded in delivering a crushing blow
to the top of the skull, the woman
falling to the floor and dying almost
instantly. The father then turned on
the boys and attempted to beat them
on the head, the boys retreated to the
yard and the father followed In the
struggle that followed the boys took
the axe from the father, who ther
/ picked up a fence post and again at
/ tackled them He uttered few words
! but went about his attack paying nc
attention to blows from the young
sters.
Realizing that they could not hope
to overpower him, the boys ran to {
neighbor for aid. On returning t.
the ranch the body Of the mother
with head and shoulders badly mutt.
lated, was found in the yard appar
entity having been dragged from the
kitchen.
On entering the house the neighbor,
summoned by the two BOYS found :
baby girl Is months old. and a gir
of three dead near their beds. A
third girl, six years of age was .founC
lying on the floor badly beaten anc
unconscious. A search of the prem
ises revealed Hovey's body in tn,
corner of a granary with a shotgun
living nearby. Investigation reveale,
that he had shot himself in the necl
severing the iugular vein and break
ing the spinal column. The gun haC
neither trigger nor stock. It ha,
been discharged by releasing tn,
hammer while the muzzle was hel,
close to the body.
According to officers from. here tn,
killer used a club to beat the tw,
children to death and after knockins
the third child to the floor ransacke,
the lower rooms of the house, Ieavins
| the house in a turmoil with bloc,
stains on the beds and floors.
Hovey had formerly been an inmat
of an insane asylum and was re
leased less than a year ago. Accord
ing to surviving members of the fam
lily and neighbors he had been suffer
: ing from an hallucination that SOM
one was trying to take his land an,
that he should kill his wife.
Recently his actions were said t.
have attracted considerable attention
J among the neighbors, the cause of tn
Z present violent attack is unknown
The trouble is not thought to hav
l. been caused by financial worries as h
was rated as a prosperous farmer.