cember he went to their bed cham-
ber, awaked the maid and ordered
her to rise gently, without disturb-
ing, the children, when .she' came
down stairs ; he gave her a line to
the family physician, who lived at
the distance of a quarter of a mile";
ordered her to carry it immediately,
at the same time declaring that'^Mrs.
Beadle had been, ill,all might, and
directing her to May until the phy-
sician should come "with.her : this
he* repeated sundry times with a
degree of ardor. "There is much
reason to believe he had murdered
Mrs. Beadle before he awaked the
maid. Upon the maid’s leaving the
house he immediately proceeded to
execute his purpose on the children
and himself. It appears he had for
some time before, carried H.o his
bedside every night an axe and a
carving knife; he smote his wife
and each of the children with the
axe on the side of the head as they
lay sleeping in their beds ; the wo-
man had two wounds in the head,
the skull of each of them was frac-
tured ; he then with the carving
knife cut their throats from, ear to
earf the’woman and little boy were
drawn partly over the side of their
beds, as if to prevent the bedding
from being besmeared with blood :
the three daughters were taken
from the bed and laid upon the floor
side by side, like three lambs, be-
fore, their throats were cut; they
were covered with a blanket, and
the woman’s face with a handker-
chief. He then proceeded to the
lower floor of the house, leaving
marks of his footsteps in blond on
the stairs, carrying with him the
axe and knife, thelatter he laid on
the table in the room where he was
found, reeking with the blood of his
family. Perhaps he had thoughts
he might use it against himself if
his pistols should fail. It appears he
then seated himself in a Windsor
chair, with his arms supported by
the arms of the chair; he fixed the
muzzles of the pistols into his two

ears, and fired them at the same in-
stant: the balls went through the
head in transverse directions. Al-
though the neighbors were very
near and some of them awako,
none heard the report of the pis-
tols.    .

“ The line to the physician ob-
scurely announced the intentions
of the man; the house was soon
opened, but alas, too late ! The
bodies were pale and motionless,
swimming in their blood, their faces
white as mountain snow, yet life
seemed .to. tremble on their lips':
description' can do no more_% than
faintly ape and trifle with the real
figure,

““Such a tragical seenq filled ev-
ery mind with the deepest distress:
nature recoiled, and' was on the
rack with distorting passions: the
most poignant sorrow and tender
pity for the lady and her innocent
babes, who were the hapless vic-
tims of the brutal, studied cruelty
of nu husband and father, in whose
embraces they expected to find se-
curity, melted every heart. Shock-
ing effects of pride and false notions
about religion!

“ To paint the first transports
this aflectingocene produced, when
the house was opened, is beyond
my reach. Multitudes of all ages
and sexes were drawn together by
the sad tale.. The very inmost
souls of the beholders were wound-
ed at the sight, and torn by con-
tending passions. Silent grief,
with marks of astonishment, were
succeeded by furious indignation
against the author of the affecting
spectacle, which vented itself in
incoherent exclamations. Nature
itself seemed ruffled, and refused
the kindly aid of balmy sleep for a
time,

“Near the close of the day on
the 12th of December, the bodies
being still unburied, the people
who. had collected in great num-
bers, grew almost frantic with
rage, and in a manner demanded