A pupil Assassinates His Teacher, Peter Price, Gentry County, Missouri >From "History of Gentry and Worth Counties", Crimes & Incidents, St. Joseph, Mo.: National Historical Company, 1882. ********************************************************************** From the St. Joseph Herald of January 28, 1876: Gentry County has again been the scene of a cold blooded and atrocious murder. This time the innocent and unsuspecting victim is Mr. Peter Price, teacher in Athens Township, about three miles south of Albany, aged twenty-three years, a young man of exemplary character and beloved by every person who had formed his acquaintance, his quiet, inoffensive and unassuming manners making him firends wherever he went. The scene of this diabolical and premediated attack was the school room, and the actors the mother and son; weapons, bowie-knives. The nominal cause for the hellish act, it appears, was that some member of the Hudson family had become affected with a cutaneous disease, which the physi- cian in the neighborhood pronounced the "itch," and a general invita- tion was given some time ago to any one finding himself afflicted with any such infectious disease to be absent himself from the school for a time, till cured, no person being named; but of course the guilty par- ties, (Hudsons), took it to themselves, and from that time threatened the teacher's life, and circulated evil reports about him, which he, on the day the deed was done, told one of the girls to remember; that she knew what falsehoods she was circulating about him, which was all the punishment he desired to inflict. Whereupon, young Hudson went home at noon, and soon he and his mother returned to the school room, armed with their concealed daggers, and approaching the desk, where the tea- cher was singing with his pupils, commenced the quarrel, and young Hudson drew his dirk from his sleeve and plunged it into Mr. Price's breast, half an inch below and to the right of the left nipple, inflic- ting a frightful and mortal wound, while his mother encouraged him in his bloody work, and when he made his escape from the door spread her hands to prevent Mr. Price from pursuing, who, feeling his life blood gushing forth in torrents and his strength rapidly failing, started for home, about a mile and a half distant, but fainted from loss of blood when he had accomplished about a mile, and was carried home, where his wound was attended by Dr. Campbell, of Albany, and Dr. Dyke, who both believe that he can only survive but a very short time, as the wound entered the lung. The mother and son have both been secured, and now lie in jail awaiting the issue of the case. Mr. Price finally recover- ed. The boy was sent to the penitentiary for ten years, where he died. ==================================================================== USGENWEB NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the Internet, data may be used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material. These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or for presentation by other persons or organizations. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for purposes other than stated above must obtain the written consent of the file contributor. This file was contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by: Joe Miller Penny Harrell ====================================================================