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Willie Sell was convicted of
murdering his parents, brother, and sister. In the early morning hours
of March 8, 1886, 16-year-old Willie banged on the door of a neighbor,
Robert Mendell, talking hysterically and incoherently. Mendell did not
understand Willie's story, but had caught the words, "blood, murder and
hatchet." Mendell accompanied Willie back to his family's two-room
house. On the floor lay the bodies of Willie's father, James W. Sell,
a schoolteacher and farmer, and Willie's mother, Susan. In the corner,
still in her bed, was Willie's teenage sister, Ina. Their skulls had
been beaten with a hatchet and their throats had been cut. The floor
was slick with blood. In an adjoining room, where Willie had been
sleeping, was the body of Willie's brother, Watta Sell, 19, who was killed
in the same manner as the other members of his family.
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