EIGHT SHOT DEAD

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLV, Issue 193, 20 July 1925, Page 10

EIGHT SHOT DEAD

BY HEAT CRAZED MAN. FAMILY WIPED OUT. Half crazed by the heat and hy financial reverses, Floyd Russell, 42, shot and killed eight relatives at Hamilton, Ontario. * 1 Russell then turned the gun on himself, sending a bullot through his chest. Physicians say ho will recover. ■ The murder orgy took place at Russell’ shorne. His victi ns were his own mother, his brother and sister-in-law, and their five children, ranging in age from four months to ten years.

“The mortgage was due. I couldn’t meet it. I wanted to go and take them all with me. so they wouldn’t worry,” Russell said at the gaol. “It was so hot I couldn’t think.”

When the pollco arrived at the house in response to calls sent in by neighbours they found Russell striding about the living-room. “Wait, I want to shoot my picture off the wall,” he told the poljee. The bodies of Russell’s victims were strewn throughout the house. Dorothy Russell, eight, was the only member of the family to escape with her life. She fled to the house of a neighbour at the first shot. ' The io id are: Mrs Rose Russell, 60, Russell’s mother, slain in bed; Emma Russell, 35, his sister-in-law; John Lowell Russell, 35, his brother: Julia, 10; Robert, 8; Grace, 6; Paul Louis, 3; and Richard, three months, children of John and Emma. The location of the bodies, indicated that the family had fled before Russell’s mad wrath. KILLED AS SHE SLEPT. The shooting started at about 5.30 a.m. Mrs Russell, killed as she slept, apparently was the first victim, Russell then ran through the other rooms of the house firing two pistols. The report of the first shot awakened little Dorothy and she fled into the yard screaming. At least. 50 shots had been fired before the police arrived. The bodies of rome of the little children were literally riddled with bullets, Robert, 8, was shot five times, through the head and body. According to the story of the shooting as pieced together by the police, Russell worked his way through the house almost methodically. The first bullet, which killed his mother as she slept, awakened the entire house.

The three-months’-old baby was frightened and cried. The other children fled trying to hide. The crving of the infant annoyed Russell. He went to the cradle and placed a pistol against the baby’s head, firing three times. Then a sound attracted his attention. He whirled around in time to see Robert, 8, trying to creep from the room unnoticed. Five shots ended his flight. Paul Louis, 3 had run to his grandmother. Five shots pierced Ins tiny body as he pulled at her hand, attempting to awaken her. .. . Then dashing into an adjoining room, Russell found his brother sitting erect in bed. The position of tlie body indie ited this. The madman pumped ten shots into him. Two other bullets were for the slayers sister-in-law. Neither was given a chance to get out of bed.

TWO GIRLS SHOT TOGETHER

There were three girls left. Russell reloaded the weapons and crept downstairs. Two of the girls, Julia and Grace, were struggling to open the kitchen door. It stuck. As the girls cowered against the door screaming, Russell short them down and then emptied the pistol into their bodies. . , , . After that the slayer sighted little Dorothy running across the lawn towards ’ a neighbour’s house. As he fired at her Dorothy fell, but she had only fainted. Believing his bullet had struck its mark, however, Russell turned back into the house. As the police arrived battering the door, Russell turned a pistol on himself. “Well, I didn’t do such a good job on myself.” he remarked, looking dazed at his chest wound.