The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1928-02-02
| ORN|ER PASTOR
KILLS EAMIIILY
lcontlnued from LII -

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said. 81 am ready to 50 to he'll
for the crime.
II did 1t because / wanted to re-
Heve them Of al troubles il this
world.
The confessed murderer IL the
Rev. Claude Ell. Priddy. 81, former
pastor OF st. Johns M. il. Church,
Bedford Avenue, Brooklyn.
James Priddy, is, and Jack, 10,
were killed their skulls crushed
as they slept. Mrs. Clara Noyes
Priddy. d talented musician, active
in church circles, was killed as she
stood before the radio. doing daily
physical culture exercises.
Fought For Life
There was evidence OF q fight
there, in the living room. Mrs.
Priddy's hands showed cuts, where,
evidently; she had defended her
head from the sharp ak edge.
The Rev. Mr.. Priddy said he had
thought about the crime since he
visited q physician in New York
City and was informed that he was
an incurable.
"He had been brooding ever
since" said Capt. Arthur Powell, Of
the Farmingdale police. de told
me he imagined his wife and chill.
dren were showing symptoms Of
the same disease. and so he killed
them"
The home is a two-story and attic
frame and stucco house. Priddy
- FaffnfaN0
Cement and Gravel Company, whose
plant is short distance from the
home on, Broad Hollow Road. It
was there Priddy got the ak. taking
1t to his room. 1t was found beside
his wife's body. There had been
no attempt to hide anything.
Priddy. born in. Ohio, was grad
uated from Ohio Wesleyan Uni-'
versity in 1900 with the degrees Of
a. B. and A. NJ, and then spent
three years In the Boston School OF
Theology. In 1904, he married Miss
Clara r. Noyes. graduate OF Bos-
ton University.
He held several pastorates in the
West, and then went to the parish
OF st. Johns Methodist Episcopal
Church at Bedford Avenue and Will
son Street; Brooklyn, in 1907, leaving
that church in 1910 to answer a call
from the First M. e. Church at
Stamford, Conn.,, regarded as one
of the best posts in the New York
East conference.
In Stamford he became widely
known for his militant campaign
against saloons and vice.
After killing his wife and two
children with the ak, Priddy said
he walked about the village, try
ing to get my head clear
His crime was discovered in his
absence by q neighbOr. Mrs. White.
who looked in a side window when
she failed to get any, response 20
her knocking. She saw the slashed
body of Mrs. Priddy on the floor.
At this moment Francis Gray, fore
man of the cement plant of which
Priddy is head, stopped on his way
to work to offer his employer a ride.
Mrs. White informed him of her
ing in, found the bodies of the two
He notified the police.
Priddy was taken to State police
headquarters in Bay Shore. Il. T.,
last ilEuls WhUIG II ne IepedIeu 1lAS
story that he had sacrificed his
soul to save his family the tor
ments of his malady.
Coroner Edwin s. Moore, of Bay
Shore. after questioning Priddy
said:
IT am convinced he is mentally
deranged."
Moore said he would ask the
district attorney to apply to Coun-
ty Judge George II. FuPman for y
writ of examination to permit
Priddy to be examined by pSy-
chiatrists from the State Hospital
for the Insane, at Islip.
If Priddy is found insane, there
will be no trial, and he will be
sent to the Mattewan asylum.
State troopers declared that neigh,
hors of the Priddy family told of
conversations with Mrs. tPriddy. in
which she had expressed a fear
some. time ago that Priday would
kill her and thu childrans