Husband to Fannie Bily
Father of Mary, Emma, Charles, Frank, Anna, James, Rose, Lena, Leona & Ed.
Farmer & stone mason.
El Dorado Daily Republican
El Dorado, Kansas
Tuesday, May 12, 1908
page 4
Murder, Suicide Tragedy In Benton Township.
Anton Bily, aged 47 years, shot and killed his wife, Fannie, aged 37, and committed suicide Monday afternoon, May 11, at five o'clock, at their home two miles west and a mile and a half south of Benton, in the room where their baby, born two hours previous, dead, lay ready for burial and leaving eight orphans, the oldest of whom is an eighteen year old daughter, deaf and dumb, and the youngest eighteen months old. The shocking double tragedy, a crime so astrocious that only a violent and savage spirit could have prompted, is, in all it's hideous details, a story never equaled in the history of horrors in Butler county.
The Bilys were wealthy Bohemian farmers, came to this county from DeBois, Nebraska, March 1, 1908, purchasing the home, 320 acres of land. Since the tragedy it has developed that Mr. Bily abused and often whipped his wife, and Monday morning refused to summon physician as she requested. Mrs. Bily at length managed to telephone a neighbor, Mrs. L.L. Lane to get Dr. DeOgney, of Benton. While the doctor and Mrs. Lane attended Mrs. Bily, she confided in them Mr. Bily's abusive treatment of her and that the infant was born dead attributed to a beating that he had given her a few days before; she asked what could be done with her husband for beating her and entreated their help; the substance of the conversation of the doctor and neighbor was that an investigation should be made of his treatment of her with a view of his being properly punished. Mr. Bily who had concealed himself about the house was upstairs in a room over where the parties were talking and overheard the talk through a stove pipe hole in the ceiling and his deed was possibly a sequence of hatred aroused by the discussion.
Shortly after the conversation, Mr. Bily drove to Benton, transacted business at the bank, and got a new check book, remarking that he should never write another check. At the drug store he bought carbolic acid. Upon reaching home he called his daughter, Emma, to him and dictated her to write, in substance "I am going to kill myself, I want Mary to have the north 160 acres of the farm and all the horses, cattle and hogs." Mary who is the oldest daughter, deaf and dumb, was his favorite, and spent the last two weeks of April in El Dorado taking medical treatment for her affliction. His children gathered about him and begged him not to kill himself and he laughed and said he wouldn't and told them to go out and do the chores. Before they had reached the barn 150 feet distant, they heard their mother scream and three shots fired, ran back to the house to their mother's room and found the door fastened and the blinds drawn; through the hole in a curtain they distinguished the prostrate forms of their parents on the floor, surmised what had happened and telephoned the neighbors and Mr. and Mrs. L.L. Lane and Mr. and Mrs. J.D. Simmons were the first to arrive and force open the windows.
The bodies of the man and woman, mangled with ghastly wounds, lay across the floor, several feel apart, and on the bed from which the woman had fallen or been dragged was the body of the dead infant. The boy and seven girls were wild with grief when the significance of it all, the magnitude of their father's desparate act dawned upon them.
County Attorney Aikman, Coroner Hunt, Deputy Sheriff Young and Undertaker Turner reached the place at midnight and held an inquest; the evidence showed that Mrs. Bily had been shot under the chin with a double barrel shot gun, both barrels, supposedly discharged at once, was lying on the floor with the head to the southeast. Mr. Bily's head was toward the west and in the center of his breast two wounds, one made by a thirty-two revolver and the other by a twenty-two rifle. The rifle was underneath him and the revolver close to his right hand on the floor; he had also drank a quanity of carbolic acid. In the room where the shooting occurred Mr. Bily had three rifles, two double barrels shot guns and a revolver.
The evidence of the children supported to show that Mr. Bily had abused and mistreated their mother for years, and had often whipped her. The verdict of the jury in the case of Anton Bily was that he came to his death by two gun shot wounds in breast and by carbolic acid, self inflicted, and the verdict of the same jury was that Mrs. Fannie Bily came to her death by a gun shot wound in the left breast inflicted by her husband, Anton Bily. The jurors were James Parks, H. Koehler, H.M. Brotton, Fred Thompson, Thomas Logan, Cullan Henrie.
Mr. Bily owned one of the best farms in Benton township, and financially was well to do, worth about $25,000. he was small, smooth shaven, had a prominent nose and sharp features, weighed about 150 pounds. He did not drink or use drugs of any kind and was a successful farmer. Mrs. Bily was of medium height and weighed about 130 pounds. The intelligence of the murder and suicide was wired to relatives in Nebraska.
(transcribed by Judy Mayfield) Nov. 2019
Father of Mary, Emma, Charles, Frank, Anna, James, Rose, Lena, Leona & Ed.
Farmer & stone mason.
El Dorado Daily Republican
El Dorado, Kansas
Tuesday, May 12, 1908
page 4
Murder, Suicide Tragedy In Benton Township.
Anton Bily, aged 47 years, shot and killed his wife, Fannie, aged 37, and committed suicide Monday afternoon, May 11, at five o'clock, at their home two miles west and a mile and a half south of Benton, in the room where their baby, born two hours previous, dead, lay ready for burial and leaving eight orphans, the oldest of whom is an eighteen year old daughter, deaf and dumb, and the youngest eighteen months old. The shocking double tragedy, a crime so astrocious that only a violent and savage spirit could have prompted, is, in all it's hideous details, a story never equaled in the history of horrors in Butler county.
The Bilys were wealthy Bohemian farmers, came to this county from DeBois, Nebraska, March 1, 1908, purchasing the home, 320 acres of land. Since the tragedy it has developed that Mr. Bily abused and often whipped his wife, and Monday morning refused to summon physician as she requested. Mrs. Bily at length managed to telephone a neighbor, Mrs. L.L. Lane to get Dr. DeOgney, of Benton. While the doctor and Mrs. Lane attended Mrs. Bily, she confided in them Mr. Bily's abusive treatment of her and that the infant was born dead attributed to a beating that he had given her a few days before; she asked what could be done with her husband for beating her and entreated their help; the substance of the conversation of the doctor and neighbor was that an investigation should be made of his treatment of her with a view of his being properly punished. Mr. Bily who had concealed himself about the house was upstairs in a room over where the parties were talking and overheard the talk through a stove pipe hole in the ceiling and his deed was possibly a sequence of hatred aroused by the discussion.
Shortly after the conversation, Mr. Bily drove to Benton, transacted business at the bank, and got a new check book, remarking that he should never write another check. At the drug store he bought carbolic acid. Upon reaching home he called his daughter, Emma, to him and dictated her to write, in substance "I am going to kill myself, I want Mary to have the north 160 acres of the farm and all the horses, cattle and hogs." Mary who is the oldest daughter, deaf and dumb, was his favorite, and spent the last two weeks of April in El Dorado taking medical treatment for her affliction. His children gathered about him and begged him not to kill himself and he laughed and said he wouldn't and told them to go out and do the chores. Before they had reached the barn 150 feet distant, they heard their mother scream and three shots fired, ran back to the house to their mother's room and found the door fastened and the blinds drawn; through the hole in a curtain they distinguished the prostrate forms of their parents on the floor, surmised what had happened and telephoned the neighbors and Mr. and Mrs. L.L. Lane and Mr. and Mrs. J.D. Simmons were the first to arrive and force open the windows.
The bodies of the man and woman, mangled with ghastly wounds, lay across the floor, several feel apart, and on the bed from which the woman had fallen or been dragged was the body of the dead infant. The boy and seven girls were wild with grief when the significance of it all, the magnitude of their father's desparate act dawned upon them.
County Attorney Aikman, Coroner Hunt, Deputy Sheriff Young and Undertaker Turner reached the place at midnight and held an inquest; the evidence showed that Mrs. Bily had been shot under the chin with a double barrel shot gun, both barrels, supposedly discharged at once, was lying on the floor with the head to the southeast. Mr. Bily's head was toward the west and in the center of his breast two wounds, one made by a thirty-two revolver and the other by a twenty-two rifle. The rifle was underneath him and the revolver close to his right hand on the floor; he had also drank a quanity of carbolic acid. In the room where the shooting occurred Mr. Bily had three rifles, two double barrels shot guns and a revolver.
The evidence of the children supported to show that Mr. Bily had abused and mistreated their mother for years, and had often whipped her. The verdict of the jury in the case of Anton Bily was that he came to his death by two gun shot wounds in breast and by carbolic acid, self inflicted, and the verdict of the same jury was that Mrs. Fannie Bily came to her death by a gun shot wound in the left breast inflicted by her husband, Anton Bily. The jurors were James Parks, H. Koehler, H.M. Brotton, Fred Thompson, Thomas Logan, Cullan Henrie.
Mr. Bily owned one of the best farms in Benton township, and financially was well to do, worth about $25,000. he was small, smooth shaven, had a prominent nose and sharp features, weighed about 150 pounds. He did not drink or use drugs of any kind and was a successful farmer. Mrs. Bily was of medium height and weighed about 130 pounds. The intelligence of the murder and suicide was wired to relatives in Nebraska.
(transcribed by Judy Mayfield) Nov. 2019
Husband to Fannie Bily
Father of Mary, Emma, Charles, Frank, Anna, James, Rose, Lena, Leona & Ed.
Farmer & stone mason.
El Dorado Daily Republican
El Dorado, Kansas
Tuesday, May 12, 1908
page 4
Murder, Suicide Tragedy In Benton Township.
Anton Bily, aged 47 years, shot and killed his wife, Fannie, aged 37, and committed suicide Monday afternoon, May 11, at five o'clock, at their home two miles west and a mile and a half south of Benton, in the room where their baby, born two hours previous, dead, lay ready for burial and leaving eight orphans, the oldest of whom is an eighteen year old daughter, deaf and dumb, and the youngest eighteen months old. The shocking double tragedy, a crime so astrocious that only a violent and savage spirit could have prompted, is, in all it's hideous details, a story never equaled in the history of horrors in Butler county.
The Bilys were wealthy Bohemian farmers, came to this county from DeBois, Nebraska, March 1, 1908, purchasing the home, 320 acres of land. Since the tragedy it has developed that Mr. Bily abused and often whipped his wife, and Monday morning refused to summon physician as she requested. Mrs. Bily at length managed to telephone a neighbor, Mrs. L.L. Lane to get Dr. DeOgney, of Benton. While the doctor and Mrs. Lane attended Mrs. Bily, she confided in them Mr. Bily's abusive treatment of her and that the infant was born dead attributed to a beating that he had given her a few days before; she asked what could be done with her husband for beating her and entreated their help; the substance of the conversation of the doctor and neighbor was that an investigation should be made of his treatment of her with a view of his being properly punished. Mr. Bily who had concealed himself about the house was upstairs in a room over where the parties were talking and overheard the talk through a stove pipe hole in the ceiling and his deed was possibly a sequence of hatred aroused by the discussion.
Shortly after the conversation, Mr. Bily drove to Benton, transacted business at the bank, and got a new check book, remarking that he should never write another check. At the drug store he bought carbolic acid. Upon reaching home he called his daughter, Emma, to him and dictated her to write, in substance "I am going to kill myself, I want Mary to have the north 160 acres of the farm and all the horses, cattle and hogs." Mary who is the oldest daughter, deaf and dumb, was his favorite, and spent the last two weeks of April in El Dorado taking medical treatment for her affliction. His children gathered about him and begged him not to kill himself and he laughed and said he wouldn't and told them to go out and do the chores. Before they had reached the barn 150 feet distant, they heard their mother scream and three shots fired, ran back to the house to their mother's room and found the door fastened and the blinds drawn; through the hole in a curtain they distinguished the prostrate forms of their parents on the floor, surmised what had happened and telephoned the neighbors and Mr. and Mrs. L.L. Lane and Mr. and Mrs. J.D. Simmons were the first to arrive and force open the windows.
The bodies of the man and woman, mangled with ghastly wounds, lay across the floor, several feel apart, and on the bed from which the woman had fallen or been dragged was the body of the dead infant. The boy and seven girls were wild with grief when the significance of it all, the magnitude of their father's desparate act dawned upon them.
County Attorney Aikman, Coroner Hunt, Deputy Sheriff Young and Undertaker Turner reached the place at midnight and held an inquest; the evidence showed that Mrs. Bily had been shot under the chin with a double barrel shot gun, both barrels, supposedly discharged at once, was lying on the floor with the head to the southeast. Mr. Bily's head was toward the west and in the center of his breast two wounds, one made by a thirty-two revolver and the other by a twenty-two rifle. The rifle was underneath him and the revolver close to his right hand on the floor; he had also drank a quanity of carbolic acid. In the room where the shooting occurred Mr. Bily had three rifles, two double barrels shot guns and a revolver.
The evidence of the children supported to show that Mr. Bily had abused and mistreated their mother for years, and had often whipped her. The verdict of the jury in the case of Anton Bily was that he came to his death by two gun shot wounds in breast and by carbolic acid, self inflicted, and the verdict of the same jury was that Mrs. Fannie Bily came to her death by a gun shot wound in the left breast inflicted by her husband, Anton Bily. The jurors were James Parks, H. Koehler, H.M. Brotton, Fred Thompson, Thomas Logan, Cullan Henrie.
Mr. Bily owned one of the best farms in Benton township, and financially was well to do, worth about $25,000. he was small, smooth shaven, had a prominent nose and sharp features, weighed about 150 pounds. He did not drink or use drugs of any kind and was a successful farmer. Mrs. Bily was of medium height and weighed about 130 pounds. The intelligence of the murder and suicide was wired to relatives in Nebraska.
(transcribed by Judy Mayfield) Nov. 2019
Father of Mary, Emma, Charles, Frank, Anna, James, Rose, Lena, Leona & Ed.
Farmer & stone mason.
El Dorado Daily Republican
El Dorado, Kansas
Tuesday, May 12, 1908
page 4
Murder, Suicide Tragedy In Benton Township.
Anton Bily, aged 47 years, shot and killed his wife, Fannie, aged 37, and committed suicide Monday afternoon, May 11, at five o'clock, at their home two miles west and a mile and a half south of Benton, in the room where their baby, born two hours previous, dead, lay ready for burial and leaving eight orphans, the oldest of whom is an eighteen year old daughter, deaf and dumb, and the youngest eighteen months old. The shocking double tragedy, a crime so astrocious that only a violent and savage spirit could have prompted, is, in all it's hideous details, a story never equaled in the history of horrors in Butler county.
The Bilys were wealthy Bohemian farmers, came to this county from DeBois, Nebraska, March 1, 1908, purchasing the home, 320 acres of land. Since the tragedy it has developed that Mr. Bily abused and often whipped his wife, and Monday morning refused to summon physician as she requested. Mrs. Bily at length managed to telephone a neighbor, Mrs. L.L. Lane to get Dr. DeOgney, of Benton. While the doctor and Mrs. Lane attended Mrs. Bily, she confided in them Mr. Bily's abusive treatment of her and that the infant was born dead attributed to a beating that he had given her a few days before; she asked what could be done with her husband for beating her and entreated their help; the substance of the conversation of the doctor and neighbor was that an investigation should be made of his treatment of her with a view of his being properly punished. Mr. Bily who had concealed himself about the house was upstairs in a room over where the parties were talking and overheard the talk through a stove pipe hole in the ceiling and his deed was possibly a sequence of hatred aroused by the discussion.
Shortly after the conversation, Mr. Bily drove to Benton, transacted business at the bank, and got a new check book, remarking that he should never write another check. At the drug store he bought carbolic acid. Upon reaching home he called his daughter, Emma, to him and dictated her to write, in substance "I am going to kill myself, I want Mary to have the north 160 acres of the farm and all the horses, cattle and hogs." Mary who is the oldest daughter, deaf and dumb, was his favorite, and spent the last two weeks of April in El Dorado taking medical treatment for her affliction. His children gathered about him and begged him not to kill himself and he laughed and said he wouldn't and told them to go out and do the chores. Before they had reached the barn 150 feet distant, they heard their mother scream and three shots fired, ran back to the house to their mother's room and found the door fastened and the blinds drawn; through the hole in a curtain they distinguished the prostrate forms of their parents on the floor, surmised what had happened and telephoned the neighbors and Mr. and Mrs. L.L. Lane and Mr. and Mrs. J.D. Simmons were the first to arrive and force open the windows.
The bodies of the man and woman, mangled with ghastly wounds, lay across the floor, several feel apart, and on the bed from which the woman had fallen or been dragged was the body of the dead infant. The boy and seven girls were wild with grief when the significance of it all, the magnitude of their father's desparate act dawned upon them.
County Attorney Aikman, Coroner Hunt, Deputy Sheriff Young and Undertaker Turner reached the place at midnight and held an inquest; the evidence showed that Mrs. Bily had been shot under the chin with a double barrel shot gun, both barrels, supposedly discharged at once, was lying on the floor with the head to the southeast. Mr. Bily's head was toward the west and in the center of his breast two wounds, one made by a thirty-two revolver and the other by a twenty-two rifle. The rifle was underneath him and the revolver close to his right hand on the floor; he had also drank a quanity of carbolic acid. In the room where the shooting occurred Mr. Bily had three rifles, two double barrels shot guns and a revolver.
The evidence of the children supported to show that Mr. Bily had abused and mistreated their mother for years, and had often whipped her. The verdict of the jury in the case of Anton Bily was that he came to his death by two gun shot wounds in breast and by carbolic acid, self inflicted, and the verdict of the same jury was that Mrs. Fannie Bily came to her death by a gun shot wound in the left breast inflicted by her husband, Anton Bily. The jurors were James Parks, H. Koehler, H.M. Brotton, Fred Thompson, Thomas Logan, Cullan Henrie.
Mr. Bily owned one of the best farms in Benton township, and financially was well to do, worth about $25,000. he was small, smooth shaven, had a prominent nose and sharp features, weighed about 150 pounds. He did not drink or use drugs of any kind and was a successful farmer. Mrs. Bily was of medium height and weighed about 130 pounds. The intelligence of the murder and suicide was wired to relatives in Nebraska.
(transcribed by Judy Mayfield) Nov. 2019
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