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Show HOMICIDIAL MANIA. It Leads a Maniac Mother to Kill ana Cremate Her Chllilreu. Troy, N. Y., July 14. An appalling tragedy occurred at an early hour this morning at Blissville, a hamlet' of Cas-tleton, Cas-tleton, Vt., and near the Now York state line. James. J. Williams, a Welch-man Welch-man in -well-to-do circumstances, was killed about a month ago by falling into a quarry in which he was interested. inter-ested. He left a widow and three children. chil-dren. He lived in a handsome two-story two-story cottage, where Victor, his bright 15-year-old boy, a pupil at the state normal school, occupied the sleeping room on the lower floor. His mother, sister Carrie, aged 18, and brother Edward, Ed-ward, aged 0, slept in a large room in the second story. About 2 o'clock this morning Victor awoke and at once discovered that the house was on tire. His first thought was of his mothe'r, and rushing into her room he found her standing in tho middle of the floor gazing at the burning furniture. After considerable trouble he got her down-stairs, and told her to go to a neighbor's. Then ho ran tip-stairs again and was surprised to see that his mother had followed him. Looking at her closely ho noticed a gaping wound in her throat. Thoroughly alarmed, the boy pushed his mother beforo him and got her into the street, where he confided her to the care of one of tho many neighbors who had assembled. Then he again attempted to enter his mother's chamber. The flames drove him back and hearing no auswers when he called to his brother and sister ho supposed that they had escaped. Meanwhile Mean-while the fire brigade had got to work and soon the flames were subdued. But neither Carrie nor Eddie Williams were to be found, and tho people feared tho worst. The wounded woman was questioned concerning con-cerning tho missing children and acted as in a frenzy. Ever since the death of her husband' she has acted strangely and the neighbors began to believe that she was a maniac, and they were not long in doubt, for when tho house was again entered the charred bodies of Carrio and Edward were found with tho heads almost severed from their bodies. Tho legs and portions of the trunks were burned to a crisp. The surroundings indicated that the children chil-dren were dead before tho liro started. Mrs. Williams was questioned but her replies were for, a long time incoherent. Finally, however, she said that a man entered the house at midnight, cut the throaU.of tho childreu and heiself and then set lire to the house. Then sho told other and different stories. The t ruth of the matter is that Mrs. Williams, while suffering from homicidal homici-dal mania, killed the children, saturated satura-ted tho place with kerosene, aud, after applying the match, cut her own throat. She probably forgot the presence pre-sence of Victor in- the house. Mrs. Williams is still alive, but cannot possibly possi-bly recover. Although very weak, she resists the surgeons, and materially impairs im-pairs their work. Mrs. Williams was a Williams beforo her marriage, and is a sister of William E. Williams, tho Philadelphia Phil-adelphia manager of tho Columbia Marble company of Rutland. Her mental men-tal condition is the result of brooding over the tragic death of her husband. |
