Horrible Murder and Suicide   A Man Beats His Wife and Child To Death With Stones, And Then Shoots Himself   Our dispatch from Louisville last night made brief mention of the fact that a man in Perry  county, Indiana, had committed a double murder and then suicide. The New Albany Commercial of Tuesday contains the following detailed account of the awful affair. We have been furnished with the particulars of one of the most horrible and heart-rending murders that we have ever been called upon to record in the annals of crime in this section. The terrible tragedy took place on Thursday, the 22d inst., in Tobin Township, Perry County about five miles north of the town of Rome, in this State. We lay the facts before our readers, as furnished to us by a gentleman of high standing and integrity, residing at Rome.  About five years ago, a man by the name of Francis J. Smith of New Albany, went to Perry county and entered three hundred acres of land adjoining the farm of Richard Welch, in Poison Bottom about six miles distant from Rome. He then returned to the vicinity of New Albany, and in the early part of the year 1865 (if I mistake not) married a lady refugee from the state of Georgia, and, accompanied by her, came back to this county to settle upon his land. In the latter part of the year 1865 his wife gave birth to her first child, which in a few months, became the object of his hatred  and the sufferer of the most vile and cruel treatment of which a human could be guilty (In one occasion, after most brutally whipping his wife, he held the innocent babe over a hot, blazing fire, until life seemed almost extinct. It however recovered in a few months and the wife thinking it time to choose between death and separation decided in favor of the latter, got a divorce and with her child went to her brother’s in the State of New York, the husband remaining at the residence of his brother in Perry county A few months had passed, and the health of said Smith began to fail, and fearing that death would soon overtake him, became much alarmed, and according to a subsequent statement of the wife wrote to her , that if she ever wanted to see him alive, to hasten immediately to the place of his confinement. She came but was met very coldly by Smith who denied that he ever written such a letter as “the above mentioned” and expressed the greatest surprise at finding her at the door, and stated that as she was unsolicited there, she could then go out upon the cold charities of the community. No friendly hand was offered her None to speak a word of consolation or cast a ray of sunshine over her dark and gloomy path. She passed from house to house dragging through a miserable  existence, until last Wednesday morning, when she was at the residence of H. Groves not far distant from Rome, contemplating a visit to the residence of the Trustee of the township, with a view to obtaining a home and shelter for herself and child and while she was thus contemplating her husband arrived and pressed his desire to accompany her to the Trustee’s office She readily accepted his offer and the two set off on the journey taking the child with them, the poor mother little thinking of the sad fate which her and her dear little child were soon to meet. They traveled on through the wooded valley of poison and when arriving near the farm of R. Welch a drizzling rain set in and under pretense of finding shelter under a large tree of extraordinary foliage standing two or three hundred yards from the road side up a deep ravine invited the mother thither, and after arriving at the designated spot, he made known his bloody intentions, and there in the solitude of the wilderness, was committed one of the most foul, vile, bloody and cruel murders that ever blackened the pages of crime. It seems that he pelted the mother’s brains out with large stones, and with one blow on the head of the child had sent it to him who said ” Suffer little children to come unto me for of such is the kingdom” Many stones were lying near the victims, red with their own blood (What words passed between the murderer and the murdered, can be seen in the confession written by Smith after the murder took place)  After spirits of these two had winged their flight to the mansions of the blest, Smith took the strings from the shoes of the mother tied her feet closely and then her hands over her pulse less breast laid the child beside her covered the two with a light shawl, and then left them alone in the solitary woods to “sleep that sleep that knows no walking” This murder occurred about 10 o’ clock P.M. Smith left his brothers house, went into the woods and procured a forked stick about eighteen inches in length, when he returned, took an Enfield rifle into the yard, placed the butt on the ground and the muzzle immediately under the left breast, touched the trigger with said stick and thus passed away one of the most bloody cruel and black hearted murders of the nineteenth century. The next day after Smith committed the murder he was at his brother’s Commodore Smith. He say down and wrote a letter and handed it to his sister in law, and told her to take it to one of the neighbor’s houses and read it. She refused to go and told him she had not time. he told her if she did not go he would have to tell her what was in the letter. He told her that he had killed his wife and child, and that he intended  to kill himself, whereupon he seized a loaded gun belonging to his brother, and walked out into the yard and shot himself through the heart killing him instantly.  It is supposed by many that the reason why Smith did not destroy his own life immediately after the commision of his crime, was “that he had intended to murder one of the prominent citizens of that county, by the name of John Carr, ere his designs and plans would be fully consumated,” (this however is only supposition).  It seems that the man Smith was an enemy to Mr. Carr, without just cause. Carr is blamed wtih meddling in the family business, and causing three serious results to follow as will be seen in his confession to Whitmer, of Rome, of which we are furnished a true copy, as written and punctuated by his own hand. Mr. Carr is a gentleman of honor and high standing in that county, well known to all as a good citizen and an honest farmer, and the opinion is concurred in by all, that Smith’s assertions are perfectly groundless and Carr stand innocent and guiltless in the eyes of all who know him.    Smith’s Confession To all who wish to know why I did it. I have killed my wife Mary and our boy Roger. It is pretty generally known over Perry county that my wife left me about one year ago, applied for a divorce, and one granted by the court; the most of my property was give to Mary. The origin of the difficulty, a year ago, was this Mary got homesick and wished me to sell out and move to Georgia: I would not move to Georgia where her father lived, she began talk of leaving me and going herself saying she knew that I would follow her in less than a month. I always told her that if she went I would not follow her, neither would I take her back if she once left me. After our boy was born she still talked of leaving me, and going to Georgia. I told her if she was determined to go and liked her people in Georgia better than she did me, I would sell enough property to get money to take her to her father in Georgia, then she talked like she was afraid that I would not let her take the boy. I told her she might take him, but she would not believe me, and before she left she threatened to have me fixed so that I could not follow her and take the boy, before she left for Georgia, from what I can learn from one source and another, Mary tells John Carr’s family, of her wishes to go home and her fears of me taking the boy and they put her up to the plan of aggravating me until I should strike her, then she was to swear her life against me and have me jailed until Mary could get of with the boy. Some may ask what motive John Carr had to giving such advice. It was this: When I entered 330 acres of land here adjoining John Carr I entered some land that John Carr wanted and he was out at Vincennes to enter it at the time I entered it. But I happened to enter before him and got it, but he did not say much in my hearing but there was two Germans that I had become slightly acquainted with at the Vincennes, come to me and pointed out to men and said I had better watch them for they had inst. heard them swear that I should never live on the land if they could hinder me from it. And of them was John Carr, I did watch John Carr and although he always appeared to be friendly to my face yet he was always doing some little dirty, dryish, undermining trick to injure me. When I was accused of being a secesh and have like to have been arrested as such. I tried to find out who it was that started the report. I was told that it was John Carr; then I myself seen John firing my woods the wind fair toward my clearing and if I had not come along just as I did all my fence would have been burned up. But all can see that the master stroke to keep me from living on the land was to break up my family by parting me and my wife. I do not believe (nor did I ever believe) that Mary had at the time she left me, any idea of doing me any injury, further than juggling me up until she could get off with the boy. But once under John Carr’s thumb, she was pushed forward to get a divorce alimony thereby having a sale of property which John Carr and company got for almost nothing. Well the sale over and most of the money collected, Mary went to New York, to her brother’s instead of going to Georgia to her father’s Alexander Ramsey went with her for the moderate sum of two dollars per day and all his expenses paid  by Mary (there and back). Alexander was a stranger to me, had been in the army (and some solider boys are a hard set) I was troubled about Mary from the day she left me, knowing some of the characters of this neighborhood; for myself, I cared nothing. I feared that they would swindle her out of her money, then prostitute her, if possible; then kick her out of the county. Well when Alexander Ramsey came back, I did not know but what he had robbed her of her money and left her somewhere on the road. So I wrote to her brother, telling him about Mary starting to his house and wishing him to write me, letting me know if she had got there. Her brother though that me and Mary had better get married again, for he was sure that we were both to blame, (and so, we were and was sorry after I slapped her that I had done so. and I have never had a hard feeling in my heart toward her for anything that she did or said against me since she left me. Well her brother and me corresponded with each other, and on the 23rd of January he wrote to me that if me and Mary did not get together in the course of a month; that Mary was going to leave for parts unknown, and Mary wanted to know if I was going to take her or not. I answered him by telling him the state of my health would not allow me to marry, if I were ever so willing to take her, and I did not expect to live three months. The next thing I heard of them Mary was at my door. You cannot express my feelings when I saw her. My anxiety for her was to get safe to her people last spring, was nothing to compare with what I felt. Here I was at the door of death nothing to help myself with and Mary hundreds of miles from her people among enemies. My brother and wife would hardly let her stay all night She stayed a few days at uncle Billy Ansons, me trying in the time to send her back. Mary said that the reson of her coming was this: When she heard that I was so bad off in health she thought she would come into the neighborhood so if I got down helpless she would be near to wait on me. I wrote to her brother telling her situation, begging him to send her money; he said he would if he could get it. Poor dear Mary has been knocked around for three months past, and if she was lucky enough to get a good place for what she could earn, her enemies followed her and started her from it. Yesterday she had to leave Mr. Grove’s to find a place for herself and sick child; I had been down there to see my sick boy; she come along with me going to see the town trustee, to try and get him to help her, or get her place to live. I loved Mary and my boy, therefore I killed them; and such a horrid way to kill any person! Poor Mary, after I had knocked her on the head with a son, begged me to stop for she would die at that, and she wanted to have some talk with me. I did so. I told her that I did not kill her or the boy through anger, hatred or spite. It drove me mad to see her and the boy kicked about as they had been for the last three months. She said God bless you Frank, I believe you, let me kiss you, and I did time and again before she died I hope that me, and Mary and my boy may be buried near each other. I hope it will be many years hence ever another husband and father will be compelled by such crushing misery to do as I have done. [Signed]  Francis J. Smith, Smith was formerly from the near New Albany , where some years ago he killed a man and was cleared on the plea of insanity. Mary Smith was a refugee from Georgia, where her father now lives. Smith was in very bad health when he committed the murder. He said he did not think it possible for him to live three months. Cincinnati Daily Gazette 5/30/1867