Show THE ABRAHAMIIC SACRIFICE SACRI-FICE A Parent Kills his Offspring While Laboring Under Alleged Divine Inspiration A San Francisco dispatch to the St Louis GflobeEemoerat says Fuller Ful-ler details of the sacrifice of their eldest son by a family of fanatics at Westminster Los Angeles County show that the murder was one of unusual atrocity Your correspondent correspond-ent visited the scene of the tragedy and secured the following information informa-tion Josiah Smith the father who killed his boy because he said he had a revelation from the Lord to do so is forty years old He came to Westminster five years ago and since then with his wife and family fam-ily has been picking up a meagre subsistence by odd jobs Finally the family settled down to fishing establishing their home on a desolate deso-late island off the coast which only could be reached by a boat It was seldom visited except by hunters and fishermen who hired the boat which the murdered boy had charge of The murder was committed on the 4th inst but when a party of hunters who called out from the shore for the boy were told by old man Smith that the boy was dead and that he had been inspired by the Lord to kill his child The hunting party secured the services of a younger boy and coolly went on with their sport only reporting the crime to the authorities that night A constable con-stable and doctor went out next day to the scene of the crime They drove down to the beach and shouted to Smith and he rowed over to them On making the object of the I visit known he crave himself UP quietly The mother and children were then brought from the island and the entire family taken to Westminster West-minster Friday morning Before the officers arrived the boy had been buried about thirty feet from fh house On the arrival of the prisoner and family at Westminster an inquest was ordered and Justice AJdndge accompanied by Dr James McCoy and others Smith included returned to the beach and rowed across to the island Smith pointed out where the body was buried The grave was opened a rough box which the father had made was raised and the lid lifted The sight is described de-scribed as most sickening Decomposition Decom-position had set in to such a degree as to render the moving of the body a difficult and disagreeable task The unnatural parent looked on complacently and spoke of the murder mur-der with no feeling Finally in reply re-ply to the question as to how he struck the blow he stooped over the corpse thrust uis knife into it and drew it out of the cavity without a sign of emotion The weapon was < an eightinch butcher knife Mr McCoy carefully ex examined the body but aside from the fatal cut found no sign of any violence One deathdealing blow was struck just in the center of the chest and with sufficient power to cut the breast bone and enter en-ter to the full length of the blade making a horrible gash eight inches longA A few weeks ago Smith gave up fishing and being asked why replied that the Lord had commanded it and had promised to hereafter provide pro-vide for him From that time on he has made and has commanded his family to make no effort gain a livelihood The boy however put PO faith in his fathers belief and from time to time purchased tea sugar etc with his own money On the Wednesday before the murder mur-der the boy purchased and took home some sacks of flour which angered an-gered his father and this was found emptied out upon the ground to gether with some other provisions close to the spot where the murder was committed Except a few green apples nothing eatable was found in the house The crime was committed about 300 yards from the house The boy was taken to a clump of bushes both parents being present They claim that he knew he was to be sacrificed and made no resistance whatever but calmly knelt before them ready to be offered up While in this position the father struck the I fatal blow One of the first questions asked on I the arrival of the family at Westminster West-minster was whether they would make further srcrifices of their children and both father And mother replied that if the Lord called on them to sacrifice all it would have to be done At the examination neither Smith nor his wife made any effort to conceal anything but told the whole story in its horrible details Smith pleaded guilty as charged and was committed for trial on the charge of murder He is now imprisoned in Los Angeles From the first the I murderer has shown no feeling whatever and regards the crime no II more than he would the killing of a I hog He has been quite a purchaser of Canada lottery tickets and said the Lord was going to send him money from Canada to pay for burying the boy The family are in good standing They have been considered eccentric but not crazy The mother begins to feel great remorse re-morse and to doubt the divinitv of their inspiration |