This case does not strictly meet the criteria for a “series” of killings in that the murders occured in only two separate occasions, rather than three or more. Yet the extraordinary fact that Curtis killed six children after receiving a suspended sentence following the killing of their father makes the case so noteworthy that it ought to be studied along with serial killing cases.
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FULL TEXT (Article 1 of 5): Center [Texas], June 4. – Mrs.
Lillie Mae Curtis, 36, mother of nine children was placed in jail here this
morning by Sheriff J. B. Sample, on a charge of killing her husband, Robert
Curtis, 41, at their home in the Haley’s Store Community, twelve miles south of
Center, last night.
Curtis, the sheriff said, was shot through the head while he
slept.
An examining trial for Mrs. Curtis was scheduled for this
afternoon. She made no statement.
[“Mother of Nine Charged Killing Husband,” Corsicana Daily
Sun (Tx.), Jun. 4, 1935, p. 1]
***
FULL TEXT (Article 2 of 5): Center, March 17. A mother who
told officers she was ill and unable to provide for her family killed six of
her nine children at a lonely farm home near here last night, kissing each of
them goodbye before and after shooting them as they were sleeping.
~ UNDER SENTENCE ~
District Attorney Wardlow Lane said he would file murder
charges against Mrs. Lille May Curtis, she was under a five-year suspended for
slaying her husband, Robert Curtis, 44, in 1935.
The children ranged from five to 13 years of age. They were:
Marcle Jack, five, boy.
Margie Ree, seven.
Robert, nine.
Billie Burke, 10, girl.
Gloria Jean, 11.
T. O. Curtis, 13.
Justice of Preace Ben Eddins who returned an inquest verdict
of “death at the hands of Lillie May Curtis” in each case, said the children
were lying dead in their beds in one room when he arrived at the scene about
midnight.
Sheriff J. B. Sample was summoned by one of one of the older
children, Travis, 16, who was spared, the mother said “because he could take
care of himself.”Sheriff Sample said he found the woman alone in the woods 400
yards from the slaughter.
~ MOTHER’S STATEMENT ~
Lane said Mrs. Curtis in her statement to him said “I was
unable to care for them, that is, not physically able and not able in the way
of money. I had not undressed when I went to bed, and I was thinking kinda
about killing them when I went to bed, and I knew it was wrong to kill these
children. I did not kill the oldest one (James Travis) because he is big enough
to work for himself.”
The statement, Lane said, also told how the mother moved the
youngest child from bed in another room and placed him with the other victims
in a single room of the farm home 22 miles south of here at West Hamilton.
Lane said Mrs. Curtis’ statement said she placed a .22
calibre pistol at the heart of each child, beginning with the oldest and ending
with the youngest.
Lane said powder burns were found on each victim, and that
each was turned on the side in bed. The district attorney said apparently none
of the children had awakened.
District Judge T. O. Davis called the grand jury to meet
promptly to investigate the filicide.
Lane said James Travis had been awakened by his mother after
the shootings and sent to telephone to Sheriff Sample. When the sheriff
arrived, the spared boy told him the direction his mother had taken when she
left the house for the woods after the tragedy.
Sheriff Sample said he looked for the woman and finally
called for her, receiving an answer close by. The shriff said Mrs. Curtis told
him she had placed the death weapon under the steps of the farm home, where it
was later found.
[“Texas Mother Kills Six Of Children In Slumber – Asserts
Inability To Provide For Tots To Officers – Center Woman To Be Charged With
Murder,” The Adeline Reporter-News (Tx.), Mar. 17, 1938, p. 1]
***
FULL TEXT (Article 3 of 5): Center, April 6 – Mrs. Lillie
May Curtis pleaded guilty today as her trial opened on one of six murder
charges filed against her for the slaying of six of her nine children near here
the night of March 16.
Testimony was being heard by a jury was to decide on
punishment. District Judge T. O. Davis indicated separate trials would be held
on five other charges of murder filed after six of the woman’s nine children
were shot fatally in their lonely piney woods country home south of here. Judge
Davis instructed veniremen not chosen for the first trial to remain in town for
possible duty.
The state offered three witnesses in the trial of Mrs.
Curtis on a charge of murdering T. O. Curtis, one of the victims who ranged in
a ge from 5 to 13.
Fred Hudson, hardware dealer here, testified he sold Mrs.
Curtis a .22 calibre pistol the day before the shootings and identified the
gun.
L. S. Oates, health officer, testified each child showed
powder burns near the heart where each was shot.
He also testified he believed Mrs. Curtis able to
distinguish right from wrong, but that she was not mentally normal.
District Attorney Wardlow Lane, sworn as a witness,
presented two written statements he said Mrs. Curtis made him detailing the
tragedy.
The state indicated the death penalty would not be asked.
District Attorney Wardlow Lane said after the slaying the
woman had made a statement she kissed the children goodbye and shot them
because she was uunablr to provide for them.
One son at the time of the filicide, James Travis, was
spared, Lane said Mrs. Curtis told him, because he was able to take care of
himself. Another son and a daughter were not at the farm home when the tragedy
occurred.
Mrs. Curtis at the time was under a five-year suspended
sentence for the slaying of her husband, Robert Currtis, 44 [sic], in 1935.
[“Mother Slayer of Six Children Pleads Guilty – Mrs. Lillie
May Curtis On Trial On First Of Six Murder Charges,” Corsicana Daily Sun (Tx.),
Apr. 6, 1938, p. 1]
***
FULL TEXT (Article 4 of 5): Center, Texas – Mrs. Lillie May
Curtis, who killed six of her nine children as they slept, was given a total of
495 years in the penitentiary in her trial today on five of the six murder
counts.
Se was given a 99-year sentence in each case. One case was
left hanging.
A five-year suspended sentence for killing her husband in a
similar manner three years ago was ordered continued.
Mrs. Curtis will be transferred to the state penitentiary
probably tomorrow.
The children, ranging from five to 13 years old, were killed
she said, because she could not provide for them.
[“Woman sentenced To 495-Year Pen Term In 5 Deaths,”
syndicated (AP), The Sandusky Register (Oh.), Apr. 7, 1938, p. 1]
***
EXCERPT (Article 5 of 5): Lillie May Curtis died February
3rd, 1980 at the age of 80, and was buried with the husband that she had shot
and killed 45 years earlier, in the same Cemetery as the graves of the six
children she brutally murdered only three years later while they slept. [On
This Day in Murder... March 16th, 1938 , “Lillie Mae Curtis Murders 6 of her 9 Children Friday, 16 Mar. 16,
2012]
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[1708-1/9/20]
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[1708-1/9/20]
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