“A man named Colonel Wilson Houchins, living near Fluvanna Court House, Virginia, killed his wife and child and mother-in-law with an ax, last Tuesday, chopping them in a frightful manner. He then sat himself upon a keg of blasting powder, smoked his pipe and then touched off the powder and disappeared in fragments. The angel of death spread his wings on the ‘blast’ and took Houchins suddenly away. A portion of his body was found in a tree and his head was elevated to the top of a barn, while other portions of the blasted individual were found scattered, in rich profusion, through the barnyard. Houchins left a note saying his mother-in-law had driven him to it, but it is evident he never got such a ‘blowing up’ from her as he did when he ignited the contents of the keg. When the last trump sounds the fragmentary Houchins will be difficult to identify. Though demoralized and scattered he will ‘rise again.'”1
“A dispatch from Gordonsville, Virginia, dated July 23rd, says: Wilson Houchins, who lives near Fluvanna Courthouse, has for the last five years threatened to take the lives of the members of his family. Not long since his wife discovered him stealing over her with a drawn dagger. She in some way prevented the fatal act then. He begged her not to say anything about it.”
“Since then Mrs. Houchins has been compelled to take her little ones, three in number, and leave home to save them on several occasions. Yesterday Houchins carried out his premeditated design by murdering his wife, mother-in-law and a child, then killing himself. The oldest boy, about seven years old, saw his father commence the attack upon his mother, seized the baby, who was lying in the cradle, and made for a neighbor’s house, thereby saving himself and the infant. The murder was committed with an ax. The cause of this horrible crime is not fully explained. The man, however, is supposed to have been insanely jealous.”2
“Wilson Houchins, a well-to-do farmer who lives near Fluvanna Courthouse, Virginia, on the 22nd killed his mother-in-law, his wife and infant child, splitting open their heads with an ax as they were seated around the breakfast table. He then went into his storehouse and sat down upon a keg of blasting powder, which he deliberately ignited, and was blown a distance of seventy feet, his body being horribly managed and dismembered. The oldest son, aged seven, together with the his next younger sister, ran from the house when their father commenced his murderous work, and so doubtless saved their lives. Houchins left a letter, directed to the Coroner, in which he says his mother-in-law has poisoned his wife and children against him and tormented him to death; but whisky, he adds, has also had something to do with it. It is said he had made frequent threats to kill his family before putting his horrible project into execution.”3
“In the adjoining county of Fluvanna, about eighteen miles from this place, and five miles from the county seat of Fluvanna, a most fearful tragedy was enacted on Monday last, resulting in the death of Mrs. Wilson Houchens and her mother, Mrs. C. Robertson, at the hands of Wilson Houchens, the husband and son-in-law, and the suicide of Houchens after the perpetration of his bloody work. The scene of the tragedy is an old-fashioned farmhouse, which was occupied by Houchens and his family, consisting of his wife, other-in-law, and three little boys of tender age- the eldest being only nine years old. The only other person on the premises was a colored servant woman. On Monday morning Houchens arose just at dawn, and proceeding to an outhouse occupied by this servant woman, demanded admittance. The woman not promptly responding he walked away, but soon returned and broken open the door of the room, when the negro woman discovered that his clothing was covered with blood, and disputing his entrance, succeeded in pushing Houchens out and securing the door. Houchens then returned to the dwelling house, and the woman, escaping through a rear window, fled in terror to the house of a neighbor.”
“In the meantime Mr. John Slaughter, a farmer of the neighborhood, was surprised by the arrival of Houchen’s eldest boy at his house at an early hour in the morning with the startling information that ‘everybody is dead at my father’s house.’ The boy then went on to say that his father had killed his mama and her mother, and then killed himself.”
“Mr. Slaughter immediately accompanied the boy to his home, and there a horrible sight was revealed. On one bed lay Mrs. Houchens with her skull mashed in and her throat cut. There were several wounds, also, in her breast. A stick of firewood and a razor were on the floor by the side of the bed. Near the side of his wife lay Wilson Houchens, his throat cut in four different places. In an adjoining room was the body of his mother-in-law, who had shared the same fate. On the old woman’s arms and hands were several wounds, indicating a desperate struggle for life. The eldest boy was aroused by the death struggles of his father, and after pulling off the dying man’s shoes, dressed his little brothers and proceeded, as stated to make known the terrible facts to the nearest neighbors.”
“Houchens was a man of weak mind and remarkably jealous of his wife. On a previous occasion he had threatened her life, and she abandoned her home, but was induced by his persuanions to return. Mrs. Houchens was highly esteemed in the neighborhood, and the jealous rage which induced her husband to perpetrate the horrid massacre was entirely imagination. Yesterday the bodies of the deceased were buried on the plantation, the husband and wife being deposited in the same grave.”4
