Democratic Sentinel, Volume 14, Number 41, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 November 1890 — A BOY MURDERER. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

A BOY MURDERER.

The Yonngant Convict in the United State* Wonderfully innocent-looking is pris oner No. 1900 in the lowa State Pris an, a slim boy eleven years old. He ie rather a handsome boy, with a broad forehead and a thoughtful face, as the photograph shows. He is the youngest prisoner ever received at the prison or it is believed, at any other State prison. Prisoner 190ri is sentenced to the lowa State Penitentiary for life. Hicrime was the brutal and premeditated murder »f his father and stepmothei near Edgewood, Clayton Countv, in July, 1889. Early one morning Wesley drove the old farm team furiously up to a neigh bor’s house. He had the baby in the wagon with him. He had an awful story to tell. When he aiose that morning and went to his parents’ room a terrible sight met his eyes. Lying stretched out on the bed was the body of his father with a bullethole through his head. Half on the bed and half on the floor was the bod\ of his stepmother. Her head was beaten to a jelly. On the floor lay a heavy club, smeared with blood, and his father’s old muzzle-loading rifle, with which the ghastly work had been done. The community was excited and many people were thrown under suspicion. The eldest son proved an alibi. Wesley, the ten-year-old boy, maintained his story. He showed* no sign of grief. No tear came to his eve. Coolly and in a matter of fact wav he related again and again the details of his horrid discovery. It was always the same. He was finally arrested, however, and locked up in jail at Elkader. One day this 10-year old child called the officials into his cell and confessed that the work was his. There was no breaking down, no tears. Coolly and calmly again he detailed the story. His father and his stepmother whipped him and he would not stand it. He waited until his brother was gone away and he was alone in the house with his parents. At 3 o’clock in the morning he got up, stole down stairs and loaded his father’s old muz-zle-loading rifle, which hung on the wall in the bed-room. He put the muz-

zle to his father’s forehead and fired. As he had expected, his step-mother was awakened by the report and leaped out of bed to strike a light. Wesley knocked her down with a club which he had ready. Then, to make the matter sure, he beat her head to a jelly.