Newspaper article on the Major's murder, Mt Vernon, Macomb County, Michigan Copyright (c) 2001 by Stewart J. A. Woolever Jr. This copy contributed for use in the MIGenWeb Archives. MIGENWEB ARCHIVES NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by any other organization or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed MIGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. The submitter has given permission to the MIGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access. This file is located at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/mi/macomb/mtvernon/newspaper/m26007.txt SLAUGHTER! Double Murder and Suicide! WILLIAM MAJOR Kills His Daughter and Grandchild! A Mt. Vernon Horror! Dec 28,1889 A report having reached this office, Saturday morning, that WM MAJOR of Mt. Vernon, had murdered his whole family, we secured going and in company with PETER --NASON drove up to the scene of butchery which is located about two miles west of Mt. Vernon coroners and seven from Rochester. When we arrived the teams were hitched all about and groups of men, women and children were discussing. Dead Body of a Man Aged 57years, suspended by the neck by a common clothesline, dead. He had evidently taken his time in adjusting the rope, fasting it at the top through boards partition, in a methodical manner and after making a slip noose at the other end, deliberately thrust his head and neck through it and throwing the full weight of his body on it had evidently slowly strangled to death. His clothes and hands were covered with blood, while his face though grim in death wore a fiendish look of malignant triumph. We tuned and went into the house. The scene that presented us there was one of horror. BLOOD, BLOOD Everywhere, upon the floor of the kitchen and living room together was a blood soaked pillow and two bed quilts also covered with blood, -- by was a bloody ax and hatchet, Two bedrooms opened to the west end of this room, in there lay the dead form of a beautiful --en haired little girl of Three years, its forehead horribly gashed from temple to temple from a cruel blow from an ax or hatchet, while a ghastly bullet wound was found near the pulse less little heart. Blood, Blood upon every side. In the other bedroom lay the. Child's Mother Her face cut and slashed with an ax and one bullet in her body, still alive and conscious. At a near neighbor's house, her brother, Mr. GULLICK'S. The wife of the murderer lay with her head pounded almost to a jelly, with two bullet wounds in her body, one near the heart, the other in the groin, also alive and conscious. Moving about in a sort of dazed and confused manner was. 14-Year-Old Boy Named JESSE, a forced witness of the bloody acts, an only son of the murderer, but he could give no information, save that he had been permitted to escape. The following concerning the terrible affair was obtained from the lips of the wife of the murderer, as she lay in her blood and in great anguish. Of course, theory, in a great measure is brought into requisition, as the boy is unable to give any clear account of the tragedy. She said that the family retired at about 9 o'clock, having spent the day at Romeo. In about an hour, The Husband Arose But as he frequently did so, after retiring, she thought nothing of it and sank into a sound sleep from which she was awakened by the loud report of a pistol while a stinging sensation in her body told her that. She Had Been Shot Springing up she screamed for help. The fiendish husband then fired another shot, which also took effect, and then seizing a hammer commenced pounding her head. She grappled with him and wrenched the hammer from his grasp and threw it under the bed. The Daughter Hearing the noise, rushed in and lighted a match and was met by the infuriated father, who extinguishing the match fired at her, the ball taking effect in her body. The Little Girl Came out and was also shot. After discharging another chamber, the ball entering a back door, the man seeing that his work was not fully accomplished rushed out the door and procuring an ax and a hatchet also, came back and finished, as he supposed, the bloody deed. His wife in the meantime, had made her escape to a neighbor's JAS GULLICK, her brother a short distance from the place where she AROUSED the Family And was taken care of, JESSE, a 14-year-old son, also slept in the room occupied by his sister, Mrs. DEPEW. The noises awakened him and he crawled under the bed: He piteously begged his father. To Spare His Life Come out my son said the father I won't hurt you, for you're a good boy; and telling him where he would find $150.00, with which to divide with, His Sister PHOEBE Then visiting Romeo, he rushed out of the house. By this time the whole neighborhood was aroused but not a man dared to enter the room. A son of JOHN MAJOR, a nephew, was soon there armed with a revolver and Winchester rifle. He immediately entered and found Mrs. DEPUY and little daughter on the floor. In Their Blood He gently raised their heads, placed a pillow under them and covering them with quilts proceeded recon ---- remises. We would here observe that the only light by which he was guided was a lantern, which he had taken from a neighbor outside. Carefully entering each room he locked the doors behind him. He made up his mind to Shoot His Uncle On sight, but the old man had left the house. The boy had made his escape after the hammer, ax and hatchet had been used, and was, as we have stated, so dazed by the horrible scenes he had witnessed as to be unable to give any connected account of it. It was supposed that the murder had escaped to the woods, but was not the case. That he had Meditated the Whole Affair Planning it in every detail, was evident from the systematic manner in which not only had the rope been arranged, even to the placing the end of it at the top through a loop to keep it fast, but from the fact that he had purchased the revolver that day, never having owned one before. And further, the rope was arranged in a dark corner of the corn house, and he had no lantern with him. The revolver, a 38-caliber, 6 shot weapon, was found in his pocket, as he hung there, with all the chambers, but one, discharged. When such a terrible deed as this has been committed, the air is always Full of Rumors Concerning the motive that led to its commission, so in this case. During the past year he informed his son-in-law, who was living in Brandon, Oakland County, that he would deed his [DEPEWS] wife 17 acres of the farm if they would come and live on the same. This was agreed to and preparations to come were made, the lumber to build with having been purchased and builder engaged. At this late date, for some reason, the family backed out and refused to comply with the agreement, which it is thought embittered MAJOR against his son-in-law and family. What Mrs. MAJOR had to do with this transaction we are not advised. Again, it is alleged, that A B-A-A-D WOMAN Looms up in the background, creating jealousies and contentions in the family. As it is not in our province to speculate in the premises. Mrs. DEPEW died Sunday morning but Mrs. MAJOR is still alive. The daughter PHOEBE is also in a critical condition, the outgrowth of the thus closing the foul tragedy. Funeral services were held at the Mt. Vernon M.E. church over the murderer and two victims Monday noon at 12o'clock and an immense concourse followed the remains to the Cemetery. THE MT.VERNON HORROR-1889 ANOTHER OF MAJOR'S VICTIM DEAD Mrs. DEPEW succumbs to her wounds. Mrs. MAJOR gives "The co" author interview, but will not confess the true motive for the murder, although she knows it. Rochester, Mich., Dec 30. Mrs. WILLIAM MAJOR, the widow of the Rochester murder fiend, knows more about the causes, which led to the terrible tragedy than she has yet told. When first asked to explain her husband's deed, she said that she knew much but would never live to tell it. Both facts in that statement are only to true. Dazed, crazed and unconscious from pain, she rambled in talk all Saturday, occasionally asking for JESSE and repeatedly hoping that WILLIAM would found dead. Late in the evening she seemed to get mind again, and spoke to The News as follows, still reluctant to tell all, and repeatedly insisting that WILLIAM had been unusually kind of late. "No" we hadn't had any quarrels. He has been better and kinder than ever before," said the poor woman, with certain death almost staring her in the - - -. "No; that wasn't it," ----- there not some property troubles?" "Well yes, WILLIAM had wanted JOE [meaning Mr. DEPEW] to move down from Ortonville and live on the farm with us. JOE had half promised to do it, and so WILLIAM went to work and gave him a deed to 19-acres, and started to fix up the little house for him. Well JOE he changed his mind because his brother wanted him to stay where he was. "Then, when JOE said he wouldn't move down with us, WILLIAM took it terribly to heart and couldn't get over it. He had set his mind on it. Maybe he thought SARAH [meaning Mrs. DEPEW] and I were conniving against him in some way, especially when JOE got the deed and then didn't move. "He was fond of JESSE. He lost one boy some years ago, and he couldn't do enough for this one. That's how probably he didn't begin on him. But I don't know. That's the trouble, She does know, but isn't quite ready yet to tell it. The full expiation of the affair will probably die with her. The general impression among the neighbors now is that the 19-acres deal with Mr. DEPEW and his failure to do as he promised was the prime motive. --- Course not ---thrall one----plenty in rage for a man of MAJORS caliber. JESSE MAJOR, the boy who escaped death does not talk frankly about the relations between his father and mother. He says that he was very much afraid of his father. Showing that possibly he might have been harsh about the house. He does not appreciate the affair in its awfulness, but assumed his father's duties and did the farm chores without assistance Saturday and Sunday. A GLOOMY NEIGHBORHOOD The neighborhood which MAJOR lived in one thoroughly conductive to such crimes, There are woods, woods, woods, gloom dark, dismal and swampy. The homes are small, the dwellers pinched with poverty and hard times, the houses one-storied dingy, weather-beaten, paint less, scanty and cheerless as an island coast. The wind sweeps across the hills, down into the valleys, --, searching, and sends the skinny stock shivering behind piles of straw and poles, improvised shelter. The neighborhood seems one ripe for suicides. Just over the hill from MAJOR'S a Miss RUSH killed herself but a few years ago. This started the mania and Miss PHOEBE MAJOR tried to die the same way, just a mile through the woods and over the hills a farm hand next hung himself. " Why I wouldn't give you five cents for all I can see from the hill. The whole neighborhood is haunted. It's a regular spook's paradise," said a big pompous intelligent looking farmer, as he drove from the scene behind a prancing team. THE CRIME DELIBERTY PLANNED The deliberateness with which the murder was planned makes it doubly appalling. MAJOR sent for his daughter to have her present at the slaughter. He asked them to spend Christmas at his home. On the day of the killing he suggested a trip to Romeo, wherein all should participate. The gig wagon was loaded with the doomed family. They laughed and chatted, and all was merry, as the day was bright. At the village MAJOR slipped away from the family. He visited a hardware store, purchased a revolver and 10 cartridges. He slipped this arsenal into his inside pocket and rejoined his people. Shopping all done, the wagon was refilled, all returning except the daughter PHOEBE, who remained behind. This man then rode home eleven miles with his family, carrying the revolver with which he hoped to kill them. Was it madness? If so there was a method and coolness which is absolutely blood curdling. They reached home at "chore" time MAJOR did the work as usual. He spent the evening at a near by neighbors, and now several old women declare that he did "act sort of queer, kinder sullen like," but they didn't piece it at the time, Within two hours after he left the neighbors the deed was done.[ there are 2 sentences that are smudged unreadable SJAW] Mrs. DEPEW died Sunday morning at 3 o'clock. She was unable to talk any and died -- stupor, reaming from the pain from her wounds. Mrs. MAJOR is a trifle better this morning her case is more hopeful than on Saturday, but nothing short of a miracle can save her life. The funeral of MAJOR and his innocent little victim, MAUDE DEPEW, occurred this morning. Mrs. DEPEW will not be buried for a few days. September 20, 2001 Stewart J. A. Woolever Jr