The Cotton Factory Times. — 1886-08-20 (Manchester, Greater Manchester, England)

YOUTHTEL DRUM MU'RDEE OF FATHET.:. MOTHER, BROTHER, AND BISTER.—A special despatch from Topeka, Rs., says :—The trial of Willie Sells, aged sixteen years, for the murder of his father. mother, brother, and sister, will shortly begin at Erie. this State. The youth of the criminal. the number and relation of the victims, the entire lack of provocation, the manner of the killing, and all the circumstances of the case make it almost unprecedented in the annals of crime. On the morning of March 8, Willie made his appearance at the farmhouse of a neighbour, Mr. Mendell, and in an excited tone stated that a strange man had been at his home during the night, and, he thought. had hurt his father, as he was lying on the floor with blood oli his face. As this visit of young Sells was at one o'clock in the morning, Mr. Men• dall questioned him closely. Willie said he awakened and saw a man standing in the door be. tweeu the room in which Willie and his brother slept and the one occupied by the parents and sister. '1 got my clothes off the foot of the bed and was putting them on. when the man turned and looked at me and then ran out into the yard. I did not try to arouse my brother, and put on my pants and went into the room where my parents were sleeping to get my boots and overcoat. I saw my father on the floor with blood on his face, but I thought his nose was bleeding, as he was frequently troubled that way. I put on my boots and overcoat, and went to see if I could find the stranger. When I passed out of the door he was standing in the yard, but ran. I pursued him for half a mile, when he mounted a horse held by another man. and both ran away as fast as they could go." Upon hearing this story, Mr. Mendell accompanied Willie home. When they arrived the boy remained outside. Mr. Mendall entered, procured a light, and was confronted with the most horrible spectacle that can be imagined. The door was covered with blood, in which he fairly had to wade. The ceiling was spattered and the walls stained. Old man Sells was lying on the door with the whole back part of his head crushed in. and his throat out so deep that his head was almost severed from his body. Near hitu, also on the floor, was the body of Mrs. Sells with her skull crushed and throat cut from ear to ear:: and in the adjoining room, in the same bed in which Willie had been sleeping, was the body of Wattie Sells with a large gash in his forehead, one of his eyes chopped out, and his throat cut similar to the others. Mr. Mendell found a large hatchet covered with blood and hair lying ou a chair, and about a foot from the body of the father was a butcher knife, which was also covered with blood. After a hurried examination. Mendell returned to the yard and told Willie of the crime. The boy said nothing, and manifested no particular feeling. He accompanied Mr. Mendell to Mr. Rice's house near by. where he went to sleep, or pretended to sleep, until morning. The officers made an examination, but found no trace of the stranger or horse tracks, although Willie's tracks were plainly indented in the mud. Return. ing to the Sells's house, a wash basin of bloody water was found on the stove, in which the perpetrator had washed his hands. It was discovered that Willie had washed his hands and wrists, but; above the wrist:, blood was found on his arms. There was blood under his finger nails also : and his underclothing was considerably stained. There was a purse containing 5100 under Mr. S'ells's pillow and two watches hanging in plain sight were undisturbed, so that there is no probability that the crime was committed for the purpose of robbery. Previous to this horrible occurrence the boy had borne a good reputation, and to this day stoutly denies the perpetration of the deed, and affirms that if he committed it, it was in his sleep or while his reason was dethroned. It is said that he was a constant reader of dime novels, and had several tunes expressed a desire to become a hero.  Published at 1, Warren-street, Cross•street. Mau. cheater, by