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» HIS FAMILY'S LIFE.10ar-I It Wad Sought by an luaana Farm-or In Michigan.dHIS DE'D PAKIIiLLY SUCCESSFULto | -to H* Kill* Twk of Ml* Throo lnut?htt*n», ( Mortally Wound* th* TMrd Had 111*Wife, *«rlniul/ (njuro* Us* S«u» mtiil Tlt»n CoiuiutU Sulclilo.A MOBY TALK.Ouaxd Harms, Mich., Nov. 3.--Ato I tragedy unequaled i» the criminal annals of Kent County wan enacted in Vergonnea township, about twenty miles oast of this city, at 4 o’clock Monday morning. Haggai Westbrook, heretofore an industrious and prosperous farmer, did Lis best to ext- rmlnate his•it- entire family, slaughtering two of his three young daughters, mortally wound-^ ing th* third and his Wife. seriously ^ though not fatally hurting hta son. and '* then closing the carnival of blood bycufc-, i ting his own throat from oar to oar with 1 rd iiu old razor. Westbrook lived wih his le family on a tine farm of 160 well-lm- * ne proved and highly-productive acres, autl 1 ! had the respect and esteem of all his | ( 1 neighbors. A few months ago by bad * ' business management he suffered tlnan- 5 *' i eial io. w,. it ia supposed, -as preyed on his mind to such an oxiont as f iis ' to atfect his brain. Insanity is tho only 1 uj , explanation for tho tragedy. lt;The WVst brook family retired at the c usi.al hour Sunday night, and nothing 6 strung* was noticed in the appearance of 1 the father. Wont brook, with his wife.o* j occupied a room down-stairs; their three it-*, da-.gh ranging in ages from ;* to 14,. (xv upied a room near them, vvhilo cj the son. aged 15 years, occupied a room c up-stairs. The husband and father arose a Cow minutes before 4 o’clock in the ** morning, lighted a lamp, dressed him- Iu self. sind proceeded to the kitchen,\ where lie obtained an ordinary earpon-a ter’s hammer. lie then went to.*1 the bed where his wife was sleep- ning and struck her three heavy »Mows ou the forehead with tho tweapon, cracking her skull. Ho loft flt;» her un^conscious and went to the bed- uH room where wwro sleeping his three f-* daughters, one of them a mere babe. He tlr carried tho lamp w ith him and with its w. light dealt tho three innocents blows si* similar to those administered on the iiskull of his wife. m11 Westbrook then proceeded up-stairs to cihis son’s bedside. He turned tho boy clt;v j upon his back, his faeo being toward the tly , wall and a way from him, and raised hi* la- | death-dealing hammer. Tho blow b11 glanced from the young man’s forehead, w c S awakening the !oy. and just as the sec- elt; 1 ond blow was descending to silence him cl I forever he caught the weapon and ti; i wrenched it from his father's bund. tl4 Tho insane murdlt;©rur hastened down- n r stairs and the «on followed. Upon 9! reaching the foot of the stairs the boy tt k hoard groans coming from his mother s Si I room, and when h* had gone to her side eti and made the awful discovery that sho ot: had been one of the victims h« rushed out- afutd ala tl• tho neighbor*. In going through the re , kitchen ho discovered bin father pustretched dead upon the* floor. West- fobrlt;vk. after failing to kill his son, had cut his ow n throat, and must have died tilt; instantly. afThe baby died within a few hours, W( Another daughter died Monday after- wlt; noon, and no hopes are entertained for th ’ the recovery of tho third. The mother a j is still alive, but is in a precarious con- th I dition. with her skull fractured. Still Af j there is a possibility of her survival. Ju : The son alono of all tho family escaped, gu
Newspaper Details
Benton Harbor Weekly Palladium
Benton Harbor, Michigan, US
Fri, Nov 08, 1889
Page 4
Full Page
Clipped by
Michael D.
USA 06 May 2024
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