New York
Herald, New
York, December 2, 1870
From Potosi
Journal, Nov 24
On Monday morning our community was shocked beyond
description upon
learning that a family of French creoles – David
Lapine, his wife,
Louisa, and their child, together with Mrs. Lapine’s
sister, Mary
Christopher, and her child, five in all, had been most
brutally murdered, in
their cabin, a mile and a half north of Potosi, and
their bodies burned
to shapeless masses of cinders and ashes in a
conflagration of the
building.
Mr. Lapine was a very old and
innocent citizen who had been for many
years engaged in mining in the
various lead fields of this vicinity.
Some three years since he
married a woman of like origin as himself, but
who had not a good
reputation among those of her class in society.
Their marriage
has resulted in the birth of one child, one of the victims
of the
cruel massacre. Mary Christopher, the sister, has also been an
inmate of their cabin during the union.
Sheriff John T. Clarke,
Dr. J. B. Bell and Justice Moloney, accompanied
by a party of
citizens, repaired to the spot as soon as the alarm was
given, where a
most revolting and horrifying sight awaited them –
that of a mass of
undistinguishable ruins where the cabin of the victims
had stood, and
unmistakable evidence of the perpetration of one of the
most brutal
and bloody tragedies known to the history of any civilized
country. Investigations among the ruins of the building
disclosed
remnants of the bodies of the five victims of the fiendish
massacre, so
completely consumed by the flames as to render them
unrecognizable, until
after a critical examination by Dr. Bell.
Sheriff Clarke assisted by
several of our most valued citizens,
immediately commenced making arrests
in the neighborhood, in quest of
some clue to the perpetrator of the
horrid crime, and which were soon
crowned with entire success.
The most fruitful witness was Leon
Jolly, a boy of fourteen years of
age. On being arrested he
informed the Sheriff that he had witnessed the
murder of Lapine and
the four other members of his family on last
Saturday night, the 10th
inst., at a late hour by his brother, Charles
Jolly and John
Armstrong. That they had come to town that night, procured
a jug
of whiskey and on their return had stopped at Lapine's cabin,
burst
the door open with an axe stolen for the occasion, and had killed
the
entire family. He stated that during the commission of the crime
he was not permitted to enter the cabin, but witnessed it through a
crack in the wall. Having done their bloody work the two fiends set
fire
to the walls of the cabin and fed the flames until the building
was
consumed. This occurred about twelve o'clock on Saturday
night, as early
as can be ascertained, and the murderers remained in
the neighborhood
until an early hour on Monday
morning, when they undertook to make their escape. The following is
the testimony
elicited in support of the statements:
Evidence of Leon Jolly:
Question, What is your name and where do you live, and what do you
know
about the death of these people? Answer: My name is
Leon Jolly. I
live about one half mile from this place; about
the middle of the night
on Saturday, Charles Jolly shot Davy Lago four
times with a pistol.
Did it kill him? Answer: Yes
What
kind of pistol was it? Answer: A revolver that shoots four times
What else did you see? Answer: John Armstrong killed the two
children
with an axe and also killed the two women with an axe.
How did he kill them? Answer: He chopped them in the head with an
axe.
Where were you at the time of the killing of these
people? Answer: I
was sitting down at the corner of the
house near the chimney; and I saw
them through the cracks; the cracks
was about the size of my hand; I
could put my hand through the crack;
I was holding a jug of whiskey
outside the house.
What did
Armstrong and Jolly do after the murder? Answer: They set
fire
to the house; Armstrong did the killing with the axe: he found the
axe
outside in front of the door. (The witness then identified the axe.)
What did they do after they set the house on fire? Answer: They
went
down to John Jolly's.
Did John Jolly know anything about
it? Answer: No. I do not think
that John Jolly knew
anything about it. I went to John Jolly's after
the
killing. I came from Potosi about the middle of the night. We
got
the whiskey at Nedwideck's old stand; after we got the whiskey
Charles
Jolly, John Armstrong and myself came out; John Armstrong
broke the
door open, they were all asleep. John Armstrong
chopped them with the
axe; Charley Jolly shot Davy Lago; after Charley
shot him John Armstrong
chopped Davy's head off and after he chopped
Davy's head off he
killed the two women and then the two children with
an the axe, they would
not let me go into the house, but I could see
them through the cracks.
Robert Pigot, being duly sworn,
says: I live about one half mile from
here; Charley Jolly told
me he shot Davy Lago four times and killed two
women; said he shot the
women.
Madison McClain, being duly sworn says: I am fourteen years
old; this
occurred on Saturday night; I was not here. I live
with John Jolly, I
heard about it on Sunday morning. I heard
that Charley shot Davy four
times and then shot Mary through the head
and killed her, then Louisa.
Davy's wife was around him holding
to his coattail; he knocked her in
the head with his fist and then
shot her; then John Armstrong killed
both the young ones with an axe;
Charley Jolly came and ate breakfast at
John Jolly's; he did not say
where he was going.
The testimony of John Jolly being very lengthy
we merely make a
synopsis, giving the more important statements
contained in it: On Saturday
Charles Jolly and my wife went to
town and came back about dusk; fifteen
or twenty minutes after John
Armstrong came along; Charley Jolly and
John Armstrong both had
whiskey; my wife asked them to eat supper; they
refused to eat and
John Armstrong said to Charley Jolly, "we must go
out there
tonight". They did not say where they were going; they
drank up
all their whiskey and said they would go back to town for more;
on
Sunday morning John Armstrong said, "I have killed an old dog".
My wife said she saw blood on his hands and Charley told her he had
killed Davy Lago and all of his crew. This (Monday) morning I saw
Charley
and asked him, "What did you do? Did you do anything to
them
folks?" He replied there is nobody left to tell the
tale.
Having secured all the information attainable Sheriff Clarke
returned
to town and organized a vigorous pursuit of the murderers,
based upon
the probable theory that they would attempt to make their
way to Rush
Tower, on the Mississippi
River, near which point Jolly had previously
lived. The
Sheriff also brought in custody Charles Jolly, Sr., (the
father), and
John and Leon, brothers of Charley Jolly. The old man and John
were lodged in jail for safe keeping, and the lad, Leon, was placed
under sufficient guard. The latter seems not to have even the
most
remote idea of the enormity of the crime to the commission of
which he is
held as an accessory.
The remains of the murdered
family were carefully gathered and brought
to town in a box, in which
they were buried in the town cemetery
yesterday. Upon this rough
casket was traced in a clear, legible hand the
following inscription
–
This box contains a portion of the remains of David Lapine, Louise,
his
wife, and a child of the said David and Louise Lapine; also
those of
Mary Christopher and her child, found murdered and partially
consumed
by fire, near Potosi, on
Monday, November 21, 1870.
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