Madness Monday - Killed His Sister

The home of Luther Markham, colored, near Montgomery was the scene of a tragedy Saturday when the 9 year old son of Markham shot his 6 years old sister, resulting in her death Sunday. It seems the five children of the family were at home alone. The boy was reproved by his sister who threatened to "tell Pa," whereupon he seized a rifle and attempted to shoot the girl. Failing, he took down the shotgun, loaded it, and deliberately fired, inflicting the fatal wounds.

What to do with a criminal of that age is a puzzle to the authorities. Too young to be sent to penitentiary and no juvenile reformatory.

Lincoln County Times
July 25, 1918
Page 4
MS Department of Archives and History
Microfilm Number: 30698

You would think that a madness of this type would be remembered by the family, it was not. I haven’t found a family member who remembers Luther or his family. Luther was my mother’s 1st cousin twice removed; maybe, there was too much distance on the family tree. If it was not for this newspaper article, I would not know Luther Markham lived at least to 1918.

The only record I can find for him other than this article is the 1880 census. Luther is a 7 year old in the household of his parents William aka Alexander and Sally Markham. I can’t find a marriage record for Luther, nor do I find him as an adult in his own household, nor do I know the names of the children mentioned in the article. A death certificate was not found for the sister.

Looking over this article is inspiring me to take another look at this family. Hopefully, I can find the names of the children so their names can be remembered.

Part 2