Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1924-02-21
FORMER RESIDENTS
Of DECATUR FOUND
SHOT DEAD IN BED.
Brother Of Two Girls MySte-
riousIy Burned to Death
Admits Owning Revolver
Recently Discharged

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla, Feb. 20.
Full and complete confession of the
murder of his father and mother here
last night and his two sisters in De-
catur, Ga, a year ago, was made
here this afternoon by Frank Me-
DOwell, according to Chief of Police
Coslick and Detective John TrOtter.
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla, Feb. 20.
Frank Mcdowell, nineteen years old,
was taken into custody this morning
by the police and formally charged
with murder, following the tindiny
of the bodies of his father and moth
er, Mr.. and Mrs. j. M. Mcdowell,
shot through the head at their home
at Eighth street and TWenty-seventh
avenue, North. Both the man and
woman had been shot in the left
temple as they lay in bed.
The young man says 1T is horrible
to think of being accused of such q
crime and denies his guilt.
The youth, who gave the alarm
and called the police, said that he
had been struck on the head and
rendered unconscious and when he
came to found his parents murdered.
The police found a pistol. .32-cali-
Der, which had been recently fired
with two exploded cartridges in the
chamber. The youth admitted 1t
was his weapon, after first denying
that he owned revolver. Ho told
many conflicting stories.
Young Mans Story
He told police that his two sisters
had been burned to death at their
home in Georgia a year ago, the mat
tresses on which they were sleeping
being saturated with kerosene and
then fired.
Examination of the bodies of Mr..
and Mrs. Mcdowell this morning
showed that each had been shot
twice. Powder burns around the
wounds on the man indicated the
pistol was close to his head when 1t
was discharged. One bullet entered
behind the left ear and the other
in the left temple. Mrs. Mcdowell
was shot twice, both bullets entering
behind the left ear only half an inch
apart
The police found slit cut in the
front door screen of the Mcdowell
home and have established that the
cut was from inside and have found
a pocketknife belonging to Frank
with hicks in the blade.
They also found a weird religious
note written on a typewriter and
left in the house. The paper had
been cut i'm the shape Of heart
and the remnants were found in
basin in the bathroom Of the house..
The paper is exactly like that used
In Franks fathers Office and. the
writing corresponds to the type on
a machine in the same office. In
the youths room was found q ren-
gious psychological treatise in
which four passages were marked,
each being along the same lines an
in the note found after the murder.
Franks grandmother was in the
house at the time of the shooting,
but slept through it all and could
not give any evidence! She is al
most totally deaf.
The son, Frank, said that he was
awakened by shots and as he started
into the room where his father and
mother were, he was struck down.
lie told the police that he did not
have a pistol, but later admitted
that he had been shooting at a mark
in Bayboro yesterday afternoon. He
said he had cleaned his pistol and
reloaded it after he got home, but the
pistol that was found and which he
admitted was his had recently been
fired and there were two empty
shells in it.
Shot During Storm
Frank says he and the others went
to bed early. as his mother had not
been we'll yesterday. He slept in the
room adjoining that occupied by his
parents, the door between being open
last night. The police were called
shortly after II o'clock, and when
the undertaken arrived soon after.
he said in his opinion the couple had
been dead not more than an hour
and placed the time of the shooting
at 1880 during a heavy rain storm.
Mr.. Mcdowell was in the real es.
tate business, and his wife was. adj
vertising solicitor on local news
paper. They came here from Decatur,
Ga, abo,.t year ago. The youth
says that his father was badly
buried trying to rescue his daugh.
ters at the time Of the fire in Deca.
tur, and that was why they came
here, as his health had been bad
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