Note: Not for the Squeamish

Chester, IL (1880)

Before 12/7/1880: A man of 22 “became insane a few days ago from religious excitement.”  Adjudged insane and ordered by the court to the asylum, he escaped the police, stripping off all his clothes as he ran, and a quarter mile away, he murdered “Thos. Ryan, an old man of 68 years of age, with whom lived his widowed daughter, Mrs. Smith, and her little girl of 12 years…”  The madman murdered Mr. Ryan and Mrs. Smith with an ax, and beheaded the little girl.  The younger son escaped of Mrs. Smith escaped unharmed.  The madman ran from the scene “swinging the bleeding head of the innocent girl by its long flaxen hair, and swinging it at arms length over his own head…”  After capture, he was sent to the asylum as originally planned.

Category: family non-residential

Suicide: no

Cause: mental illness, no question[An Escaped Maniac Kills Three Members of One Family,” [Wheeling [W.Va.]Register,  Dec. 8, 1880, 1.]

Yes, I listen to classical music while going through the gorefest.