Show MATHfWS KEPT K T HIS WORD j 1 BUTCHERED WIPE AND CHILDREN CHIL-DREN WITH A A Concluded the Tragedy By Killing Himself His Wife a Party t Suicide Sucide Agreement New York Jon 17John Matthews a retail grocer some time between last Saturday night and this morning murdered I mur-dered his wife and their two children a boy 10 years of age and a girl of 12 by I hacking them to death with a hatchet Matthews then committed suicide by shooting himself in the head Before dy ing It is believed he turned the beleved on gas I with the Intention that asphyxiation should complete his murderous work The crime was committed in a small bed room I I in the rear of the store kept by Matthews I Mat-thews I The tragedy was discovered by a milkman milk-man On the floor ot the sleeping room I the officer who was summoned found the corpse of Matthews In his hand there was a revolver and there was a bullet hole just above his mouth There were two beds in the room On one of these lay Matthews wife Her head was chopped chop-ped and mangled almost beyond recognition recogni-tion On the other bed the two chliaren I lay Idb side Their laces too were frightfully cut and hacked That the murder and suicide were premeditated was evident Matthews had waited until his wife and children were asleep Then he stripped himself to the waist took the hatchet in his hands and brained his wife After that he attacked his children From letters left it was ascertained that for some time Matthews had been intending to end his own life He had been in the dry goods business further up town and had failed A few months ago he opened tne grocery store and had met with little success His wife a pretty I I little woman had recently undergone a severe operation I was these things evidently that prompted Matthews to I and write unaddressed ths letter which was found open I It is 1 terrible thing 1 have to do to keep my word I promised that all shall I I go with me and delay is no good I I coud only have died alone I love my i wife and little children I told them I did not want to go in any business that my mind was gone and I guess that my nerve is all thats left For five years we have talked the thing over I always wanted to go out in a boat and accidentally accidental-ly capsize I knew that otherwise I would have a hard time of it From a letter left by Mrs Matthews to a friend i was gathered that she was apart a-part to the suicide agreement Mrs Matthews left instructions as to the clothes in which the dead children should be buried and signified the place of interment for the entire family as Highland N Y Matthews was 3 years old j |