Rensselaer Republican, Volume 18, Number 6, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 15 October 1885 — DOUBLE MURDER. [ARTICLE]

DOUBLE MURDER.

Albert Cook Slays His , Mother and His Mother-in-Law, at Campton, HI. [Elgin (Ill.) telegram.] At the town of Campton, a few miles from here, Albert Cook shot his wife and mother-in-law, Mrs. Butts, the latter dying instantly. She was 74 years old, and had resided with her children for over thirty years, since her husband's death. Cook has worked for William Smith, who rents the Frank Burr farm. His domestic troubles were frequent and serious. He has threatened to kill his wife at regular intervals, for which offense he was arrested and lodged in jail. His father bailed him out and took him to Chicago, and he had not been seen by his family until this morning. Cook walked into the house at five this morning. He had evidently been sleeping outdoors all night. The first words be said startled the women out of their slumber. He said: “Get out of there, now I I’m most frozen. This is a pretty thing you’ve been doing.” His mother-in-law answered; “And this is a pretty thing you have been doing. ” At this he fired upon her, killing her instantly. The ball entered her forehead and lodged in her brain. His wife-sprang out of bed and advanced toward him in the endeavor to wrest the revolver from him. He backed slowly away from her, all the while firing, until she reached the door leading into the sitting-room, which she closed on him. Two shots entered her abdomen, one broke her right arm, and two lodged in the fatty part of her left arm. Mrs. Cook is a young woman and has lived with her husband for ten years, bearing gently his brutality until it became necessary for her to cause his arrest, he having shot at her once before and threatened many times- to kill her. Cook procured a divorce yesterday. Two children were born to the unfortunate couple. Both are boys, aged 7 and 10. When they heard the shooting they ran down stairs from the bedroom and out to the barn, where B. R. McNight, a farm-hand, was at work. McNight ran to the house and found a horrible sight “Where did he go?” asked McNight of Mrs. Cook. She told him “Up-stairs.” McNight closed the stair door, thinking he would keep Cook locked in until assistance came, but Cook was not up-stairs. As yet he has not been captured. Cook is thought to be deranged, but his father says: “He was always deranged, then. He’s just ugly." The father is a respectable old gentleman, of German birth, and quite recently spelled his name Koch. He intencUcl to take his son to Kansas, where a brother lives.

> According to a decision of the lowa Supreme Court, an hotel-keeper who receives guests while knowing that there is a contagious disease in hi shouse is liable for damages to any guest who may contract the disease’. A new species of bear has been discovered oh Mount Shasta, which is found in no other pajrt of the world. It is about the size of 11 shepherd dog, is white, and very ferocious. Three have be6fa killed lately. A Huntingdon spiritualist states that Ips 12-year-old daughter, though ignorant of the German language, recently spoke fluently in that tongue while being possessed with, the spirit of a German. The skull is better able to resist the ravages of decay than any other bone.