HORRIBLE TRAGEDY AT LUCAN

Five Persons Murdered By Masked Men.

AN ENTIRE HOUSEHOLD SACRIFICED.

The House Fired and the Remains Consumed.

RESULT OF A FAMILY FEUD.

The Story as Told by a Child Witness of the Crime.

20 MASKED MEN ENGAGED IN BLOODY WORK.

(From Our Own Reporter)

Lucan, Feb. 4.- Lucan awoke this morning to shock the country with intelligence of the blackest crime ever committed in the Dominion. The crime consisted of the murder, or rather butchery, of a family of five - father, mother, two brothers, and a girl. The victims were named Donnelly, a family that has lived in the neighborhood for upwards of thirty years. They resided on lot 18, 6th concession of Biddulph. The farm consists of fifty acres. They bore the unenviable reputation of being

THE TERROR OF THE TOWNSHIP.

For years past this section has been the scene of troubles that have made it infamous throughout the Province. The Donnellys were supposed to be more or less connected with all these troubles, and consequently a strong feeling arose against them, which has intesified with time. Within the last two or three years depredations of a very serious nature have been committed in the township. Barns were burned downed, animals mutilated, thefts committed, and in fact this sort of lawlessness seemed to run riot. The perpetrators of these outrages could never be traced, but is was generally supposed that the Donnelly family - which, besides the parents, consisted of seven sons and a daughter - had a hand in all of them. At any rate they were blamed for them. Recent thefts and acts incendiarism were laid to their charge, and the feeling against them grew very intense, culminating last night in the horrible tragedy above mentioned. Very little can be ascertained as to the actual

FACTS ATTENDING THE BUTCHERY

of the family. The house, which is a log one, was surrounded about 1:30 this morning by a gang of masked men armed with guns, pistols, axes, shovels, and other weapons. The gang numbered about twenty-five. They burst in the front door, the noise of which awakened the son Thomas, who arouse and when to the door. He was met with blows from shovels and axes, and this morning a large pool of blood was observed just outside the front step, where evidently the wounded man had staggered. The murderers then proceeded to dispatch the other members of the family, but by what means is not known and never will be, as immediatley after they had committed their bloody work they fired the house, which was burned to the ground. [...]