The Foul Murder of Mollie Blanton
8 MAR 1887. Austin Daily Statesman.
A DEMON’S DEED. The Killing of Mrs. Blanton a Horrible and Dastardly Crime. Details as Gathered at the Inquest and From Various Other Sources.
Rumors in the Air and Hot Trails for the Perpetrators---A Hard Character Arrested on Suspicion.
THE STATESMAN extra yesterday, giving the details of the foul murder of Mollie Blanton, created widespread interest over the city, and the universal expression was that the swiftest justice should he measured out to the perpetrator of the damnable deed, if caught. Every circumstance that can be gathered, and every shadow of theory that can be woven, tends but to one conclusion. The murderer went to the place from the rear of the barn which cut off the view from the neighboring houses. Passing from the barn to the kitchen he there made an assault upon the lone and unprotected wife, whose young husband was at work in a field a half mile away. Defending her honor, she struggled through all the house, only at last to be shot down in cold blood by the demon, who feared, if she were left alive, she would disclose his name and be the means of bringing him to a justice swift and richly merited. Officers went out to the scene of murder again yesterday, and, with citizens, spent the day in scouring the country in search of the murderer. In the city Sergeant Palmer yesterday afternoon about 5 o’clock, arrested a negro, named Edward Jackson, on Red River and Ash streets, on suspicion of being the guilty man. Jackson is a repulsive looking, copper colored darkey, and bears a reputation about as bad as can be made. He has heretofore been mixed up in two or three assaults on women and has for a long time been under the watchful eye of the officers. He has been in jail more than once, and is a familiar figure in the courts. His home has been in the Dunson neighborhood, and was last seen in that neighborhood on Saturday. Since that time he has been loafing in the city and suburbs. When arrested there were blood stains on the front of his pants. He, of course, denied all knowledge of the crime, but, for all that, he will be held to await a thorough investigation of the case.
Justice Tegener yesterday continued the inquest proceedings, when the following testimony was taken:
Ada Dunson—I am twelve years of age; the deceased was my sister, who was Mrs. Mollie Blanton; she lived about seven miles northeast from Austin; I started from the house of Mr. William M. Dunson about 4 o’clock to go over and stay with my sister, as her husband was helping to plant corn in Mr. W. M. Dunson’s field; I came across some cows on the way up there, and, being afraid of them, I crawled under the fence inside the field; I went this way about 150 yards, and when I got into the pasture again I saw somebody open the door just wide enough to stick a head out; it was the front door—the door to the west room opening on the south side; the door then closed again; I heard no noise at this time; I went on to the yard fence, which is about ten steps from the house; I crawled under the yard fence, when I heard a shot fired; taking it to be a fire cracker, I went to take a seat on the end of the gallery; I heard someone hollow inside the house; I looked through the blinds, immediately to the left of me, when I saw my sister throw up her hands; she was lying on the floor; I thought she was laying some plan to scare me; I remained on the gallery some twenty minutes, then passed around the corner to the east window, where there are no blinds; I then saw blood on the body of my sister, and I ran away to give an alarm; when I returned with Mr. T. J. Miller and others my sister was not lying in the same position as when I first saw her.
T. J. Miller—I was out in the field when my wife came to me and told me some one had shot Mrs. Mollie Blanton and killed her. I went to the house as quick as I could, and when I got there I saw her lying on the floor in her blood, life not quite extinct. I ran around the house and gave the alarm. I was excited. Entering the house I found the bed on fire. My daughter and I put the fire out.
T. J. Runger testified that he responded to the alarm given by Mr. Miller. He looked under the house and in the barn but failed to find any clew to the dead; saw no blood, except in the room where she was lying; saw no marks of violence on her clothing; the bed in the room was in perfect order and I could not see that anything was out of order.
Lucy Jane Tweedle—I am going on 12 years old and I went to Mrs. Blanton’s after dinner, Saturday, to take some clothes home my mother had washed for her; when I went into the room Mrs. Blanton had a pistol; she pointed it at me and said: “Lucy, I will shoot you;” she then put the pistol on a table and went to churning, singing as she did so.
Dr. T. O. Maxwell testified to having examined the body, and described the wounds the description being as substantially as given in another part of the paper. He said there was no powder burn on the face.
Upon this testimony the jury returned verdict that Mrs. Blanton came to her death from a pistol shot wound and three blows upon her head, inflicted by some person to the unknown.
The following are the details of the tragedy as published in THE STATESMAN extra, yesterday morning:
Again THE STATESMAN is called upon to chronicle one of those terrible deeds which make men shudder and which send a thrill of horror over the whole community. In the issue of yesterday morning a paragraph was published to the effect that a Mrs. Dunston, living on Walnut creek, had committed suicide by shooting herself. This information was obtained from the officers. The word had been brought in by a messenger who was either too hurried or too excited to give details of the occurrence. Yesterday, however, a call was made upon the sheriff and other officers, the information being given that instead of its being a
CASE OF SUICIDE
it was a foul and most horrible
MURDER!
The victim of the crime, which from all that can be gathered, had for its object a darker and more damnable aim than murder, was a daughter of Mr. Will Dunston, the wife of Mr. Thomas Blanton, a well to do and highly respected young farmer who lives in what is known as the Dunston neighborhood, on Walnut creek, about seven miles from the city. Mr. Blanton was married to Miss Dunston about two or three months ago, and had fitted up a cosy little home, where happiness ruled supreme, and where love sang in every breeze that swept across the threshold. Saturday afternoon, between 4:30 and 5 o’clock, while the young wife busied with her household affairs, her thoughts, doubtless, upon the husband at work in the field a half mile away, the dreadful tragedy occurred, a bright life was blotted out, and a home, but a little while before, aglow with happiness, was enshrouded with the gloom of despair.
THE CRIME
The exact occurrences within the house where the death dealing shot was delivered may never be known, and only the circumstances and situation can be given to throw light upon the case. From the position of articles in the house, it is supposed that Mrs. Blanton had begun to prepare the evening meal for her husband, to have it ready for him when he returned from the field. A fire was in the stove and a frying pan with meat in it was on top. A churn with milk in it and a chair by it showed that the busy little housewife had started to give this part of her daily duties attention.
The house fronts to the south. There are two rooms in front and in the rear of one of these rooms is a dining room, back of which is the kitchen. Alongside these rear rooms is a porch on the east side. Doors lead into the dining room and kitchen from this porch. In the room immediately in front of the dining room there are two beds. This was the family room and the one adjoining in the front was unfurnished. There is also a small porch in front of the house. This much by way of description of the premises.
The theory of the officers who have fully investigated all the bearings of the case go to shown that the murderer must have come by the barn which is in the rear of the house and entered the kitchen from the back porch. What struggle took place then
IN DEFENSE OF HONOR AND LIFE
may not be known in all time to come; certain it is that the unfortunate victim passed out of the kitchen through the dining room and into the family room. In this apartment, there was, lying on a table in the corner, a large Colt’s forty-five calibre six-shooter. This, it is supposed, she grasped, her assailant meanwhile struggling to overpower her. A shot from the pistol struck the corner of a bed in the room, passed through the mattress and foot board, setting the bed clothing on fire. How long a struggle ensued is one of the
UNKNOWN MEASURES
of the crime. It must have been a fight of desperation, for the left hand of Mrs. Blanton was powder-burned, going to show that her assailant had wrestled with her for the possession of the weapon. Releasing herself, she must have run to the front door at this time, as a little sister about nine years of age, who was on the way to visit her and who was coming up the pathway from the main road, saw her open the door, throw her hands above her head and then disappear within. The little girl going on toward the house, heard in a few moments another shot and then all was still.
THE STATEMENT OF THE LITTLE ONE
is to the effect that she was frightened by the shot and waited on the front porch for a few minutes. Then she went to the side window and there saw her sister lying on the floor with blood all around her. She ran over to an adjoining place and gave an alarm which brought men to the house, but time sufficient had in the meanwhile elapsed to enable
THE MURDERER
to make good his escape. An examination of the body made by Drs. Maxwell disclosed a clear cut wound penetrating to the bone on the right temple back of the eye and extending into the edge of the hair and a contusion on the top of the head about two inches long, apparently made with a blunt instrument. This was perhaps made with the six-shooter. There was a small spot under the left eye, which looked at first to be a bruise, but on closer examination seemed to be a burn, and was doubtless made during the struggle in the kitchen by her being thrown against the stove. There was a bad cut on the back of the head, which the doctor stated had fractured the skull. The left hand was powder burned.
The bruises are thought to have been given when she attempted to make her escape through the front door, at the time when she was seen by her little sister. The powder burn upon her hand must have been received while struggling for the pistol and at the time the shot was fired, which went through the bed stead.
THE FATAL SHOT
But after all this terrible ordeal the fatal shot was yet to be fired. The struggle which had extended from the kitchen through the dining and family rooms to the front door was thence carried into the spare room, where the shot that ended the struggle and cut short the life tide was fired. This struck in the right temple, about an inch above and to the front of the ear, ranged upward, passed out on the left side below the crown, and penetrated the wall of the room in the corner near the ceiling. At the point of penetration was a smooth, round cut, but at the place of exit, the ball crushed a place in the skull as large as a silver dollar.
INTENSE INDIGNATION.
Word was brought in yesterday morning to the officers, and Sheriff Hornsby, Deputies Platt and Davis, Sergeant Palmer, Constable Thorpe, and Officers Dornwell and Kinnerly, went out to the scene of the murder. It is not necessary to say that as the fact became apparent to the neighbors that what at first seemed to have been an accident, turned out to be a foul murder, indignation ran to fever heat, and if any one could have been taken in with bare circumstances shadowing guilt, another chapter would certainly have had to follow this account of the crime.
The officers with posse of citizens scoured the country in all directions yesterday, but the rain coming on washed out all traces of footsteps, and the search was reluctantly given up for the day. Sheriff Hornsby arrested a tramp during the afternoon on suspicion, but he proved satisfactorily where he had stayed the previous night and was accordingly released. There are a dozen rumors in the air and suspicion’s finger has been pointed in more than one direction, but as there is nothing tangible in any of these suspicious they are not given weight or credence at this time.
The funeral of Mrs. Blanton took place at Fiskville burial ground at 4 o’clock yesterday afternoon, and was attended by a tremendous concourse of people from the section of country surrounding.
