FULL TEXT: Columbia, S. C., Nov. 30. – Anna Isaac, 13 years old, is in Sumter jail, charged with the murder of her 12-year-old cousin, Rosa Joseph, of Wisacky, Sumter county. The girls were sleeping together in a shed room of Rosa’s mother’s house. Some time during the night the occupants of the building were aroused by hearing screams from Anna. She rushed into the house saying a man was in their room. Anna’s aunt immediately went in with a light and stumbled on the body of her daughter lying on the bloodsoaked floor. An ax was lying near it.
Its blade had passed through the girl’s neck, almost cutting
it from the trunk. Anna said she had been awakened by a noise in the room. Striking
a light she saw a man and then fled into the other part of the house. A search
gave no clew. The house had not been entered from without. Finally Anna was
arrested and sent to jail, charged with the murder. It was testified that she
and Rosa had been on unfriendly terms for several days, having had frequent
quarrels, and that Anna was enraged because the mother of Rosa showed
partiality for her. The accused girl is an orphan, having been raised by her
aunt. She is small and is said to have a bad temper.
[“South Carolina Sensation. - A Thirteen-Year-Old Girl
Charged With Murder.” The Evening Bulletin (Maysville, Ky.), Nov. 30, 1896, p.
1]
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FULL TEXT: Columbia, S. C., November 28. – A crime that has
shocked the community by its atrociousness and mystified the officers because
of lack of motive was committed last last night on Dr. Hamilton Cooper’s
plantation in Sumpter county.
Rosa Joseph and Anna Isaac, first cousins, aged respectively
thirteen and fourteen, were sleeping in a house by themselves, were sleeping in
a house by themselves, the building adjoining that occupied by Rosa’s mother.
Anna says says she was awakened by hearing a rapping on the
side of the house; that she got up and made a light which revealed a man in the
room who was approaching her cousin. Anna ran out of the house and awakening
her Aunt next door told her something was wrong.
A party, headed by the girl, returned to the house, with
lights and were met by the sight of Rosa lying on the floor weltering in blood,
her head being split open and almost severed from her body.
A bloody ax was lying on the girl’s body. The neighborhood
was aroused and search for the perpetrator of the crime was begun, but no clue
was found. There was no evidence of the house having been broken open or
entered by any one.
Finally it was developed that the two girls had had
frequent quarrels of late Anna appearing jealous at partiality shown her
cousin by her aunt. It was supposed that when in the room together, the
quarreling had been renewed, and that
the elder girl in a fit of rage had buried the ax in the head of her
cousin and then manufactured the story.
On the strength of this suspicion Anna has been arrested and
locked up in Sumter jail to await the coroner’s inquest. There is no clew nor
motive to connect any one else with the murder and Anna will undoubtedly be
held for trial.
The girl is described as small for her age and to have been
noted for an uncontrollable temper.
Since her arrest she refused to speak, except to repeat her
first story as to having seen a man in the room.
[“Girl Kills Cousin – Rosa Joseph’s Head Almost Severed from
Her Body with an Ax. – Anna Isaac Placed In Jail – Though But Fourteen Years of
Age, She Is Charged With the Crime – Jealousy Causes a Sensation Murder – Dead
Girl Found With Bloody Weapon by Her, and Her Room Mate Is Now in Jail,” The
Atlanta Constitution (Ga.), Nov. 29, 1896, p. 15]
[392-1/23/21]
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