Daughter of Oscar B Beckham.
Died same day as her mother.
Emporia Weekly Republican, Thursday, June 27, 1889
Child Murder and Suicide.
Sterling, Kan., June 22. - A horrible case of child murder and suicide occurred here at an early hour this morning or late last night. Mr. O.B. Beckham went to Hutchinson yesterday on business and returning late in the evening retired without disturbing his wife whom he supposed had retied and who had on a former occasion begged him not to disturb her when he came home so late. Mr. Beckham is not a sound sleeper but this morning fr some cause overslept himself and going to his wife's room he tried to open the door for the purpose of calling her, but found it locked. He called her by name several times but received no answer. He then broke open the door and the first sight that met his gaze was his 2-year-old daughter lying across the foot of the bed cold in death and his wife lying on the floor in agonies of death with a frightful wound in her right temple and a 32 caliber revolver lying beside her. Medical aid was summoned but the victim was beyond medical skill and breathed er last about 12 o'clock. In the case of the child the coroner's jury found that it came to its death at the hands of its mother, either by poisoning or smothering and in the case of the mother that she came to her death by a pistol shot fired with her own hand and that she was at the time laboring under a fit of insanity. she left the following letter:
My Dear Husband:-These are the last lines I will ever write you. May God in heaven forgive me for what I am about to do, for life has become intolerable to me on account of ill health. I have not seen a well day since Bessie was born and I cannot bear with the burden of life. Let those live who enjoy life and feel that life is a blessing worth living for. I thank you for your invariable kindness to me and may heaven's choicest blessing rest on you. I can't bear to leave Bessie without the care of a mother so I will take her with me. Be good to Anna and try t find her a good home. Loving, Alice Beckham.
A postscript says, "Give all my old clothes to the poor and needy."
The bodies were shipped to Canal Dover, Ohio, for interment, where the parents of the unfortunate woman reside.
Died same day as her mother.
Emporia Weekly Republican, Thursday, June 27, 1889
Child Murder and Suicide.
Sterling, Kan., June 22. - A horrible case of child murder and suicide occurred here at an early hour this morning or late last night. Mr. O.B. Beckham went to Hutchinson yesterday on business and returning late in the evening retired without disturbing his wife whom he supposed had retied and who had on a former occasion begged him not to disturb her when he came home so late. Mr. Beckham is not a sound sleeper but this morning fr some cause overslept himself and going to his wife's room he tried to open the door for the purpose of calling her, but found it locked. He called her by name several times but received no answer. He then broke open the door and the first sight that met his gaze was his 2-year-old daughter lying across the foot of the bed cold in death and his wife lying on the floor in agonies of death with a frightful wound in her right temple and a 32 caliber revolver lying beside her. Medical aid was summoned but the victim was beyond medical skill and breathed er last about 12 o'clock. In the case of the child the coroner's jury found that it came to its death at the hands of its mother, either by poisoning or smothering and in the case of the mother that she came to her death by a pistol shot fired with her own hand and that she was at the time laboring under a fit of insanity. she left the following letter:
My Dear Husband:-These are the last lines I will ever write you. May God in heaven forgive me for what I am about to do, for life has become intolerable to me on account of ill health. I have not seen a well day since Bessie was born and I cannot bear with the burden of life. Let those live who enjoy life and feel that life is a blessing worth living for. I thank you for your invariable kindness to me and may heaven's choicest blessing rest on you. I can't bear to leave Bessie without the care of a mother so I will take her with me. Be good to Anna and try t find her a good home. Loving, Alice Beckham.
A postscript says, "Give all my old clothes to the poor and needy."
The bodies were shipped to Canal Dover, Ohio, for interment, where the parents of the unfortunate woman reside.
Daughter of Oscar B Beckham.
Died same day as her mother.
Emporia Weekly Republican, Thursday, June 27, 1889
Child Murder and Suicide.
Sterling, Kan., June 22. - A horrible case of child murder and suicide occurred here at an early hour this morning or late last night. Mr. O.B. Beckham went to Hutchinson yesterday on business and returning late in the evening retired without disturbing his wife whom he supposed had retied and who had on a former occasion begged him not to disturb her when he came home so late. Mr. Beckham is not a sound sleeper but this morning fr some cause overslept himself and going to his wife's room he tried to open the door for the purpose of calling her, but found it locked. He called her by name several times but received no answer. He then broke open the door and the first sight that met his gaze was his 2-year-old daughter lying across the foot of the bed cold in death and his wife lying on the floor in agonies of death with a frightful wound in her right temple and a 32 caliber revolver lying beside her. Medical aid was summoned but the victim was beyond medical skill and breathed er last about 12 o'clock. In the case of the child the coroner's jury found that it came to its death at the hands of its mother, either by poisoning or smothering and in the case of the mother that she came to her death by a pistol shot fired with her own hand and that she was at the time laboring under a fit of insanity. she left the following letter:
My Dear Husband:-These are the last lines I will ever write you. May God in heaven forgive me for what I am about to do, for life has become intolerable to me on account of ill health. I have not seen a well day since Bessie was born and I cannot bear with the burden of life. Let those live who enjoy life and feel that life is a blessing worth living for. I thank you for your invariable kindness to me and may heaven's choicest blessing rest on you. I can't bear to leave Bessie without the care of a mother so I will take her with me. Be good to Anna and try t find her a good home. Loving, Alice Beckham.
A postscript says, "Give all my old clothes to the poor and needy."
The bodies were shipped to Canal Dover, Ohio, for interment, where the parents of the unfortunate woman reside.
Died same day as her mother.
Emporia Weekly Republican, Thursday, June 27, 1889
Child Murder and Suicide.
Sterling, Kan., June 22. - A horrible case of child murder and suicide occurred here at an early hour this morning or late last night. Mr. O.B. Beckham went to Hutchinson yesterday on business and returning late in the evening retired without disturbing his wife whom he supposed had retied and who had on a former occasion begged him not to disturb her when he came home so late. Mr. Beckham is not a sound sleeper but this morning fr some cause overslept himself and going to his wife's room he tried to open the door for the purpose of calling her, but found it locked. He called her by name several times but received no answer. He then broke open the door and the first sight that met his gaze was his 2-year-old daughter lying across the foot of the bed cold in death and his wife lying on the floor in agonies of death with a frightful wound in her right temple and a 32 caliber revolver lying beside her. Medical aid was summoned but the victim was beyond medical skill and breathed er last about 12 o'clock. In the case of the child the coroner's jury found that it came to its death at the hands of its mother, either by poisoning or smothering and in the case of the mother that she came to her death by a pistol shot fired with her own hand and that she was at the time laboring under a fit of insanity. she left the following letter:
My Dear Husband:-These are the last lines I will ever write you. May God in heaven forgive me for what I am about to do, for life has become intolerable to me on account of ill health. I have not seen a well day since Bessie was born and I cannot bear with the burden of life. Let those live who enjoy life and feel that life is a blessing worth living for. I thank you for your invariable kindness to me and may heaven's choicest blessing rest on you. I can't bear to leave Bessie without the care of a mother so I will take her with me. Be good to Anna and try t find her a good home. Loving, Alice Beckham.
A postscript says, "Give all my old clothes to the poor and needy."
The bodies were shipped to Canal Dover, Ohio, for interment, where the parents of the unfortunate woman reside.
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