Rensselaer Republican, Volume 12, Number 20, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 January 1880 — A Weman Roasts to Death Her Two Boys. [ARTICLE]

A Weman Roasts to Death Her Two Boys.

Another case of religious fanaticism or somnambulism, involving the death of two children, came to light to-day. At two o’clock on the morning of November 18 last a fire was discovered in tbe house of Mrs. Beard, at Andover, and her two little boys were found dead in bed in their room in an ell of the house. They lay as though quietly asleep, and evidently had passed away unconscious of the touch of the flames. The fire in this room was quickly extinguished, and no damage was done to the building. On entering the room of Mrs. Beard, in the main building, a second fire was found burning at the foot of her bed, and still later another incipient and entirely distinct blase was found in the closet of her bedroom. The neighbors who first entered the boys’ room noticed what seemed to be a strong odor of kerosene about the bed, and this also led to suspicion that the fire was not an accident. The town officials made a hasty investigation, and concluded that nothing was wrong, but a month ago another and more searching inquiry was set on foot, and an inquest was held to satisfy popular sentiment. The verdict was rendered to-day. The return of the jury is that the fires were sot by some person in a state of somnambulism, or some other unconscious condition of mind, and that person the jury believe to be Mrs. Frances R. Beard. This afternoon Mrs. Beard was arrested and held for trial for arson. She is a widow, thirty-eight years old, has considerable property aud has always occupied a high social position m the town. She has beon a devoted and loving parent and earnest Christian, having for many years been an active member of the Congregational Church. Her grief at her husband's death apparently unsettled her mind for a time, and she was missing for a day or two, being finally found concealed in a neighbor’s barn. She was sent to tie McLean Asylum at Somerville for a few weeks, and apparently fully recovered; but she was subject to religious hallucinations, and evidently committed the deed in some such madness as that which possessed the Freemans at Pocasset. For several weeks before the lire she appeared depressed in spirits, and her mind was particularly morbid upon religious subjects. At a discussion in the Bible class, on Abraham's sacrifice of Isaae, she remarked that she considered that “ parents in these times may at any time be called to make a like sacrifice,” and thejpalm, cool-blooded way in which she said it made her auditors shiver. But this afflicted mother exhibited the strongest paternal love for her children. At a church-meeting, long ago, she rose and made a most earnest and eloquent plea for the abolition of fermented wine at the communion-table, asking in behalf of her boys that this temptation might not be set before them. So impressed were all present tty her spirit and words that it was instantly voted to substitute water for wine in the future. Mrs. Beard's demeanor at the fire was cool and collected. She remarked to one that she went in and threw rugs ou the boys, aud that she could hear them “just roasting.” While one gentleman was at work at the pumps she whispered in his ear that the fire was incendiary, but expressed no suspicion as to who was the guilty party. Since the fire she has not manifested the slightest grief at her affliction. A prominent State officer had a long conversation with her on the subject of the fire, she manifesting the most perfect indifference on tne .subject. He finally altered his manner, and, vividly picturing all the awful horrors of the calamity, he expressed his profouudest sympathy for her terrible affliction. She listened courteously, and, when he had finished, calmly and kindly thanked him, and remarked simply, “ It was an event that naturally awakened human sympathy.”— Boston, Mass., (Jan. 21) Dispatch to Chicago Tribune.