William, Charity and their daughter Georgia were the victims of a serial ax murderer that terrorized the midwest between 1911 and 1914.

from the BELLEVILLE NEWS-DEMOCRAT Date: 1911 -10-3

TRIPLE MURDER UNSOLVED
No Known Motive for Monmouth, Ill., Tragedy-
Bloodhounds Fail to Take Scent

Monmouth, Ill., Oct. 3 - The county authorities are searching for clews in the triple murder committed here in which William Dawson, his wife and their daughter, Georgia, aged 13, were killed with an ax. Coroner Alva Klett postponed further investigation until Thursday pending developments, which, it is hoped, will throw some light on the tragedy.
Bloodhounds owned by Roy Dendure, deputy sheriff of Macon county, were rushed to the city from Decatur, but the animals failed to help solve the mystery, as the scents were obliterated, owing to the large crowds which had entered the Dawson home.
The triple funeral was held this afternoon at the Christian church.

from the BELLEVILLE NEWS-DEMOCRAT
Date: 1911-10-18

CLEWS TO MURDER FOUND
Slayer of Dawson Family Believed to Be Same Person Who Is Responsible for Colorado Crime

Monmouth, Ill., Oct. 18 - Local officials believe they have discovered the instrument with which the Dawson triple murder was committed in this city October 1.
A gas pipe 18 inches long, with an elbow jointed on one end and covered with hair and blood, was found at the rear of the Dawson house when a fence was removed.
With the pipe was found a pocket flashlight marked "Colorado Springs, Sept. 4, '11'" This strengthens the belief which the local authorities have had that the Colorado Springs tragedy and the local crime are connected.


SUSPECTED OF AX MURDERS

Negro's Arrest for Illinois Crime Recalls Thirty in Three Years

ST. LOUIS, March 21 - The investigation of thirty ax murders committed in five States since 1911 was reopened here today after the arrest last night of Loving Mitchell, a negro. The warrant on which Mitchell was arrested charges him with the murder of William E. Dawson, his wife and daughter, who were slain in their home at Monmouth, Ill., on Sept. 30, 1911. Since that time communities in Missouri, Illinois, Iowa, Colorado, and Kansas have been terrorized by similiar crimes. In every instance the murderer the murderer killed an entire family as they slept by the blows of an ax.
In the house at Monmouth where the Dawson family lived the police found an electric flash light on which were scratched "Colorado Springs" and "Lovey". Mitchell's arrest followed a search of more than three years. He had been employed near Monmouth, but disappeared after the murders.
The prisoner tonight was taken back to Monmouth by Chief of Police Morrison, who said: "Dawson, his wife, and daughter were murdered by three negroes, two men and a woman. Revenge for attentions which the negroes believed Dawson had shown to their relatives was the motive. The negro woman I shall arrest soon. The other man is now in the Joliet, Ill., Penitentiary."

This case was never solved.