Contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by Dinah Young (dinahyoung@juno.com) USGENWEB NOTICE: Printing this file by non-commercial individuals and libraries is encouraged, as long as all notices and submitter information is included. Any other use, including copying files to other sites requires permission from the submitters PRIOR to uploading to any other sites. We encourage links to the state and county table of contents. ____________________________________________________________ Article from the Huntingdon Monitor May 18, 1893 " MURDERED HIS WIFE Edward Hughes Lodged in Jail for Such a Crime Yesterday Huntingdon county has another murder case on hand, which developed yesterday in the arrest of Edward Hughes, of Minersville, near Dudley. Hughes was brought to jail by Constable John Galbraith, of Robertsdale. Hughes' victim was his wife. According to one story he had been in the habit of abusing her for years, and quarreled with ner frequently. On the 30th of April, during one of his ravings he knocked her from the doorway by hurling a coal bucket in her back. This assault was followed by the infuriated husband striking the now prostrate woman on the head with a stone, and the latter became insensible. A few hours afterward Mrs. Hughes recovered consciousness, but she never regained her reason and hovered between life and death for eleven days, dying last Thursday. Hughes tells a somewhat different story. On the day that the fatality occurred he said he and his wife were playing in the yard, and a small stone he threw against the house bounded back and struck the woman on the temple making a slight flesh wound. This in his opinion was not the cause of her death. The wife is described as having been a delicate woman, much abused. On the other hand Hughes in a big, strong, Healthy-looking man. He is the same Hughes who on the 4th of April stabbed James McCray in the abdomen and came near inflicting a fatal wound. McCray has not yet fully recovered. Hughes was never arrested for the offense." From the The Huntingdon Journal, May 19, 1893 " CHARGED WITH THE MURDER OF HIS WIFE John Galbraith, constable at Robertsdale, this county, arrested and brought to the Huntingdon jail Wednesday evening Edward Hughes, of Minersville, who is charged with the murder of his wife, which occured one day this month. Hughes and his wife had had a little fracus, and the former picked up a stone and struck his wife on the head which resulted in her death. When Constable Galbraith arrested Hughesthe prisoner told him that he had only struck his wife in fun and that he did not intend the blow to kill her, etc." The Huntingdon Journal, May 26, 1893; " A POSTMORTEM EXAMINATION A postmortem examination was made of the remains of Mrs. Edward Hughes, on Friday morning on last at her late home in Minersville by Caroner Harmon and Dr. M. R. Evans, of this place. The examination was made before a jury composed of the following citizens: W. M. Graffius, J. M. Palmer, E. F. Gould, W. H. Sweet, Wm. Brown and W. C. Mears. After viewing the remains the jury rendered a verdict that Mrs. Hughes came to her death by a blow on the back of her head by a stone in the hands of her husband on April 30. The autopsy disclosed a sclap wound of 1=BC inches in length. Hughes will be tried on the charge of murder at the next term of court." "The case of the commonwealth vs. Edward Hughes, charged with the murder of his wife, at Minersville, this county, on the 30th of April last, came up for trial Tuesday morning. The prisoner was arraigned at 9:20 and plead "not guilty". But an hour was occupied in the selection of a jury as follows: Howard Robb, C.H. Reed, J. Porter Henry, William Stallman, R. W. Hudson, L. B. Kline, Wesley Thompson, Robert McNeal, Jacob Hawn, T. C. Brandt, Adam Fouse, and Joseph Brandt. Two constables were appointed to take care of them, and the court instructed them that they must not seperate until a verdict was rendered. Accomodations were provided for them at the Leister House, where they spent Tuesday night. The prosecution by their witnesses showed that a quarrel having arisen in the house that morning, Ed. threw a coal bucket at his wife. She ran out of doors, he followed and threw a stone at her which fractured the base of her skull, and caused her to fall unconscious to the ground. He picked her up and carried her into the house. Some of the neighbors were summoned who further described her condition. Although already in the last stages of pneumonia the woman lived for twelve days; and was afterwards buried without any inquest being held. The facts of the case having leaked out, however, Dr. Harmon summoned a jury, disinterred the body, and with the aid of Dr. Evans made and autopsy. The lower portion of the skull was brought into court and showed fractures altogeather to a length of 14 inches. According to the testimony of the physicians death resulted from the fractures and not from pneumonia. The prosecution also showed a series of assaults upon his wife for five years before her death. According to the theory of the defendant no quarrel whatever occured that morning. On the contrary both husband and wife were rejoicing over the fact that the wife was able to be out of bed again and that their joy was increased by the fact that they supposed it to be a May day. Having gone out of the house in company with his wife to enjoy the beauty of the morning, he threw a stone at the side of the house to frighten her into a run, and that it glanced from the house and struck her on the head. The defendant denied the coal bucket incident altogeather, also the making of any previous assults upon his wife. They also called a number of witnesses, principally relatives of the prisoner, to testify to the fact that his wife before she died exonerated him from any intention to do her harm. The jury on Wednesday evening returned a verdict of not guilty."