McWilliams Murder - the "Whitechapel" tragedy of Buchanan County
Thanks to K. Finley and T. Bengston for providing me with information.
KF: "When I asked if you knew what happened to Mary Firth McWilliams I thought maybe family had handed the story down. One of the darker sides of genealogy is dealing with the tragedies you will find from time to time."
[note: the story hadn't been handed down, to my knowledge]
"William McWilliams and Mary had seven children, two of whom died in 1904, I suppose from illness. In Nov. 1905 he murdered Mary and the five remaining children in their farm home south of town. The local newspapers carried pages and pages of pictures, court testimony and rhetoric about it. I have been adding details to their records in family tree maker so I can print it out for you and have a permanant record myself without typing it twice. It has become part of the old legends of the county. The house was pointed out to me in the 60's but is gone now and replaced with a new ranch style farmhouse. The family is buried in the Pleasant Grove Cemetery at Littleton a couple rows from one set of my grandparents. We were out that way yesterday and I took pictures of the marker. Fourteen people are buried on the lot with one marker for all of them!"
William S. and Mary J. Firth McWilliams lived on a farm south of Independence in Sumner Twp, Buchanan Co, IA. In 1905 McWilliams killed his wife and children. The 1972 Independence Quasquicentennial book summarized the incident and includes a picture of Mr. and Mrs. McWilliams and son William Henry, "taken a number of years before the tragedy".
"McWilliams Murder. One of the most brutal and appalling crimes in the history of Buchanan Co was discoved at 2 o'clock on Friday afternoon, November 24, 1905, on the farm of William S. McWilliams located six miles southwest of Independence in Sumner township. The driver on the Jesup milk route discovered the floor of the home was literally covered with dead bodies, which he recognized as those of the mother and five children. He ran to the neighbors and telephoned to R. G. Swan, the coroner. All six victims had been struck on the head and their skulls crushed with an ordinary carpenter's clawhammer and each body had, in addition, been stabbed numerous times with a butcher knife. As there seemed to be no motive for an outsider to have committed the horrible butchery, strong suspicion at once centered toward the husband and father, William S. McWilliams, and search was at once instituted for him. Sheriff Corlis telephoned to Marshal Mason to go to the home of McWilliams' father in the third ward to see if he was there. Upon doing so, he found McWilliams putting his horse in the barn and placed him under arrest. McWilliams took it cooly and steadily denied all knowledge of the crime. His shoes and old clothes were found in the house covered with blood and evidence that an effort had been made to clean them. Crowds of people packed the courthouse to its utmost capacity on the afternoon of the trial when sentence was to be imposed. Judge Blair pronounced sentence and in his speech favored the option that, although McWilliams as a moral degenerate of the worst type, he was responsible for his crime and therefore the death penalty was imposed. After a few weeks of incarceration at Anamosa, McWilliams became violently insane and was haunted with horrible hallucinations. By the time for the execution of the sentence, he was a "raving maniac" and escaped the penalty of the law, having been adjudged insane by the Insane Commission of Jones County."
The newspapers of the day covered this event extensively publishing horrible photos of the crime scene and detailing the exact injuries to each family member. The children's ages were 17, 13, 10, 8 or 9, and 2. All were wearing outdoor clothing and were killed one by one as they came into the house.
William S. McWilliams was the son of John McWilliams and Susannah Sankey, who in 1861 lived in Fox Twp, Black Hawk Co, IA. He was of Scotch/Irish descent. Came to Iowa from Ohio in 1860 living a part of that year in Independence. From Fox Twp he removed to Littleton and from there to a farm in Sumner township where the tragedy occurred. Mrs. John McWilliams, his mother, died in 1866 when he was only 5 years old. Two years later his father remarried and his wife took good care of her stepson.
William McWilliams lived at the home of his parents until 1886 when he married Miss Mary Firth, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. George Firth of Westburg township. The parents and brothers and sisters of Mrs. McWilliams survive her. For two years after marriage they lived with his parents. Will was assisting his father in farm work and working odd jobs for neighbors. In 1888 went to Portland, OR, where Will found employment in a wholesale hardware store at the salary of $75 a month. He returned in two years saying he was homesick and better come while he had the money to bring them back. Afterwards they lived in Cedar Rapids and in Illinois.
Seven years ago he leased his parents farm on shares and the parents moved to Independence. His father said his son was generally dissatisfied with his lot, disposed to shirk hard labor, passing time reading in the house, when he should have been working. That he had suffered a sunstroke at age 19 and was of a "suspicious nature". He was age 44 at the time of his families death. He claimed he didn't murder them but was not upset by the news that they were dead. His father, a retired farmer, was age 73 at this time. Burial at Littleton. Two little ones had preceded before and been buried at Littleton less than two years ago. Hundreds of teams brought people to Littleton where they lined the streets.
The mother and five children were buried in one large grave lined with white and trimmed with tiny sprays of evergreen made for all instead of separate graves for each. Five hearses were used. The mother was buried first, with baby girl placed between her and the eldest daughter and at their feet the three sons were laid. The wife, Mary, was 44, Cora May, 13, Lois Susan, 2, William Henry, about 17, John F., 10, George Eliot, 9. Paper included the picture of the couple with their eldest son, the outside of the farmhouse and two of the kitchen after the murders. Referred to as the "Whitechapel" tragedy of Buchanan county.
The farm house stood for many years, as late as the 1960s. It has since been torn down and new house has been built in it's place. The McWilliams plot at the Pleasant Grove Cemetery at Littleton is quite large but has only one marker for the at least 14 people buried there. The west side of the marker carries the names and dates of John McWilliams and both his wives. The north side is a daughter, Rosa, who died at age 5; the south side is a daughter Mary Sanders and her son; and the east side is for Mary Firth McWilliams and her 7 children. The two children who died in 1904 have both birth and death years but only the initials F.I. and K.W. so cannot tell if they were male or female [they are Florence and Katherine]. The five murdered children have only initials and the year of their birth, W.H. 1888, J.F., 1895, L.S. 1903, C.M. 1893, and G.E. 1896.
The story goes that the family did not want the 1905 death year inscribed so many times on the marker. It does say 1861 to 1905 for Mary Firth McWilliams. There is also a footstone on the lot that says only "Father". I have not found that McWilliams was brought here for burial some years later so this could be for him or for John McWilliams, his father.
The December 2, 1905 Bulletin-Journal was a special EXTRA put out after McWilliams confessed to the murder. His execution was set for December 14, 1906. The regular issue of December 7, 1905, has pages of pictures, trial information, etc.
January 4, 1906, BJ: McWilliams still at Anamosa...in good health...trial expenses considered high...$853.57. (Anamosa in Jones Co was/is the site of the men's state prison facility.)
March 8, 1906, BJ: McWilliams at Anamosa...mental condition deteriorating...
July 5, 1906, BJ: William McWilliams who murdered his wife and five children, is now in the insane ward at Anamosa...considered a raving maniac...talks about 1000 men coming in to hang him...talks to no one, but to himself all the time...has the eyes of a wild man...not expected to live until the date set for execution in December 1906....
August 23, 1906, BJ: McWilliams in bad shape in prison in Anamosa where he is an inmate in the insane ward...prison officials do not believe he will live to the execution date of December 12, 1906....
Nov. 1, 1906, BJ: McWilliams thought to be insane and cannot be executed, it was thought the December 14 execution probably won't take place as he has been getting worse over the past few months (long article)
Nov. 29, 1906, BJ: McWilliams officially declared insane....
September 2, 1909, BJ: "McWilliams Looking Well. Chief of Police E.E. Leighton of Waterloo, was at the State Reformatory in Anamosa last week and while there saw William McWilliams, sent down from this county on the charge of murdering his family. According to the "Waterloo Reporter" McWilliams was quite talkative with Mr. Leighton and appears to be pleased and greatly improved with his mental condition."
September 16, 1909, BJ: "Mr. and Mrs. C.W. Stites arrived home Saturday from a three weeks visit in Anamosa, Cedar Rapids, and Benton county points. They attended the fairs in Anamosa and Vinton. While in Anamosa Mr. Stites visited the state reformatory and there saw William McWilliams, the Buchanan county man who is an inmate in that institution on the charge he killed his wife and children. Mr. Stites and Mr. McWilliams were neighbors on their farms south west of the city several years ago. Mr. Stites found Mr. McWilliams in good physical health, looking well and fat, while the last time he saw him he was in a somewhat emaciated condition. Mentally he did not appear to be much worse than when he lived on the farm years ago. McWilliams recognized Mr. Stites and he inquired regarding people here."
September 2, 1914, BJ, page 5, column 5: McWilliams alive and in good health.
October 25, 1939, Conservative: "McWilliams At Death Point. Serving a Life Sentence For Murder Of Whole Family. Supt. R. A. Stewart, of the Independence state hospital, was notified by authorities at the insane department of Anamosa's men's reformatory to seek relatives of an Anamosa insame patient, William S. McWilliams, who is reported dying. McWilliams was committed to Anamosa in December 1905, at their farm home southwest of Independence. The bloody massacre took place in the kitchen. McWilliams laid his victims with considerable regularity on the floor. Every one had been struck on the head and skull crushed with an ordinary carpenter's claw hammer, and in addition each body was stabbed to the heart with a butcher knife. A Jesup cream hauler discovered the crime the next day. McWilliams signed a confession, was indicted by the grand jury Dec. 1, 1905, and sentenced Dec. 8, 1905, by Judge Blair to be hanged on Dec. 14, 1906. The hanging sentence was suspended upon judgment of his insanity. His wife, 54, was the former Mary J. Firth, daughter of Geo. Firth of Westburg township. McWilliams was the son of John McWilliams and was living on his father's farm. The McWilliams formerly lived near Otterville that being the community where Bill was raised. Supt. Stewart contacted Rex G. Swan, city, for any information regarding relatives. Swan was the county coroner at the time of the murders. He said he still had records of the case, but did not know of relatives surviving. The McWilliams children and their mother are buried at Littleton."
The Conservative also carried the above article nearly word for word.
William McWilliams died July 17, 1941 at the age of 81 while still in the Anamosa State Penitentiary, and he is buried there in an unmarked grave.
There is more on Littleton Cemetery at freepages.history.rootsweb.com/~littletonia
