From 1898 there is this horrendous report of a son who murdered his father after his father threatened to whip him. The townsfolk were in a tizzy over the murder and there was threat of lynching.
Murdered His Father
Chattanooga, Tenn. — James Wellington was arrested today at Dayton, Tenn., charged with the murder of his father, Lewis Wellington, two days ago.
He says on the night of the murder his father threatened to whip him the next morning. Having waited until he had gone to sleep, the son brained the father with an axe.
Then, placing a chain around the body, hitched a horse to it and dragged it into a secluded place in the woods and killed the horse.
Wellington does not seem to regard the matter seriously, and says he is not sorry for it.
The coroner held an inquest and returned a verdict of murder. The man is now in jail and may be lynched, as the town is in a state of high excitement.
Source: The age-herald. (Birmingham, Ala.), 01 Jan. 1898.
