DASTARDLY DADS FROM THE ARCHIVES (Lancaster, Kentucky - 1882)

Here we have a reminder from history that father-committed familicides are not exactly new. In this case, dad JAMES R. WILMOT murdered his mother, his wife, and his two daughters (ages 10 and 15).

The antiquated language referring to "a negro" or "colored man" who brought the news into town is as it appears in the original document. No offense is intended.

Observe that the killer father is praised to the hilt in the last paragraph--the 1882 equivalent of the clueless neighbor "nice guy" platitudes of today. The father's actions are blamed on a relatively small security debt, when it is clear that this farmer was quite well off for 1882. It is also claimed that he suddenly "went crazy" because of this debt, but that sounds rather dubious to me. I also wonder whether the women in this family would have agreed with the high regard that other men around the area had of this man--how "careful" and "honest" and "kind" and "affectionate" he was. I doubt it. I'm sure that had the womenfolk in this family survived, they could have told a very different tale.

From the New York Times, January 19, 1882

http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?_r=1&res=9904E4DF123BE033A2575AC1A9679C94639FD7CF

A FARMER'S FOUR VICTIMS.

KILLING HIS MOTHER, WIFE, AND TWO DAUGHTERS AND HANGING HIMSELF.

Lancaster, Ky., Jan. 18--This town was shocked this morning by the reception of news of the most horrible tragedy that has ever taken place in Garrard County, or, indeed, in the whole State of Kentucky. About seven o'clock a negro came into town, bringing information that James R. Wilmot, a farmer living about two and a half miles from Lancaster, near the Danville pike, had murdered his wife, mother and two daughters. 'Squire R. Boyle, acting as Coroner, immediately went to the scene of the tragedy, accompanied by a large number of people. On his arrival he found the still untouched, lifeless body of Wilmot hanging in this barn, the dead bodies of Elizabeth Wilmot, his mother, 89 years old, and Mattie and Mary Wilmot, his daughters, about 10 and 15, lying in the beds, with cuts across the neck and breast of each, make by blows from a sharp new axe found lying on the floor of the room. The body of Elizabeth Wilmot, the wife, was found face downward on the floor, with three or four gashes in the head and back, make by the same axe. A jury was immediately impaneled by 'Squire Boyle.

The first witness was Miss Alice Calvin, who had been doing some work for Wilmot, and who was sleeping in the room up stairs during the commission of the deed. She testified that the family retired last night as usual. Wilmot, his wife, and little boy, about 8 years old, occupying one bed in the family room, and his two daughters another in the same apartment. His mother occupied an adjoining room, and in one room upstairs was a son, James J. Wilmot, and in the the other the witness. About 5 o'clock this morning she was aroused by a noise below, and going down she met Wilmot coming out of the room where his mother slept. It was too dark for her to see any objects distinctly, but she noticed something in his hand which she supposed to be an axe. She asked Wilmot what he was doing, and he replied that he had killed the whole family and was going to kill himself. Horror-stricken, the young girl rushed through the other room, and meeting the young boy, caught him and took him out of the house with her, and went to a colored man's house near by. Just as she was leaving the family room an older son, James J., who is about 20 years old, attracted by the noise below, came downstairs in his night-clothes. This son testified that as he reached the foot of the stairs he came in contact with his father, who had a gun in his hand. He asked his father what he was doing and he replied that he was going to kill himself and would kill him too. His father grappled with him and threw him down, but was unable to hold him. The old man rose, grabbed the gun, and aimed to shoot, but the son knocked the gun up and the ball went into the ceiling. The young man then broke loose and ran for his life, the old man following to the steps over the side fence and then turning toward the barn. The boy continued running until he had aroused some of the nearest neighbors, who hastily went to the scene. No one was bold enough to enter the house until daylight revealed the dead body of James R. Wilmot, dressed only in shirt and drawers, swinging under the shed of the barn. He had taken a plow-line, fastened it around his neck, climbed up the side of the crib, fastened the other end of the line to a beam, and then jumped off.

For some time Wilmot had been brooding over a security debt of $450 which he had to pay for his brother-in-law, and this had so worked upon his mind that it is believed he finally went crazy. On the day before yesterday he talked rather strangely to members of his family, saying that the stock were all going to die, and himself and his family also, of starvation. Two or three times within the last few days he expressed a fear of death from starvation. James R. Wilmot was about 60 years old, and a farmer by occupation. He was a careful businessman, honest in his dealings, and eocnomical in his habits. He owned a farm of about 250 acres on which he lived, and was worth about $8,000 or $10,000. He was kind and affectionate to his family, and to his aged mother he was the most devoted of sons. It is considered singular that his little boy escaped his insane purpose, but it is supposed the boy hid while his father was engaged in the awful work. The bodies of Wilsmot and his four victims will be buried to-morrow in the family burying ground, a few hundred yards from the house where the tragedy took place.