While looking for mentions of the Ancient Order of Hibernians for the previous Saint Patrick's Day post, I saw mention of a murder trial for Oscar Little in Winchester. I had not come across a mention of this person or case before, and it turned out to be quite the deep and twisting rabbit hole.
While I will be quoting liberally from some primary source material, I know at least one of my readers is squeamish about medical content. Be advised that if you click the links to read the full articles, there will be possibly more details on the case than you might want to read. (A number of testimonies from the trial describing the wounds are covered in some detail, as you'd likely expect in a murder case.) This first entry in a multi-part story will set the stage for the trials to come. Let's get started.
Setting the Stage
The tragedy occurred in the Little family home, involving the parents Franklin and Mrs. (Margaret or Mary Jane) Little, their six adult sons and one daughter, plus some house guests and a tenant farmer family (father and daughter). It was Saturday morning on July 5, 1873, and the family had gathered together, all except the father Franklin, at the mansion in Clarke County. Franklin was said to have been attending business in Washington, D.C. at the time, overseeing the construction of some row houses at "Tenth street, near B." The Shepherdstown Register wrote much of the family's backstory:
. . . Mr. Franklin Little, a former resident of Washington city, and canal commissioner under Mayor Towers. . . moved with his family, in 1857 to the farm, about seven miles from Winchester, where they have since resided, the farm having been the property of the family for over 70 years.
The newspaper went on to report the oldest son, Columbus, was a resident of D.C., being "a coachmaker in Washington, on G street, near Seventh street, a powerful man, 35 years of age." The second oldest son, Clinton (about 31 years old) came to Washington shortly before the fateful day to sell horses, most likely in late June per the newspaper's timeline. Along with Wallace, "the youngest, (who is a drug clerk with Mr. Cropley, in Georgetown,)" the three brothers and Columbus' wife went home together to spend the Fourth of July at the family farm.
Clinton was the most involved of the six brothers with the running of the Little family farm, especially the horses. He may have been perceived as the family - or at least the mother's - favorite, due to helping her run the farm operations, which were inherited from her side of the family. Another brother, Gilbert, lived on the farm as well, possibly in poor health, as he was generally described as "frail" or "delicate" compared to his much heartier brothers. Finally their sister, Amanda, was also a resident on the farm. She appeared to have invited two other female friends to the house for the holiday.
The last two brothers, Oscar and Lycurgus, seem to be the source of the family discord. Reports varied, but most indicated that the family had gotten along quite well until Oscar and Lycurgus Little went west to try their fortunes. The general consensus appears to be that the pair asked for and received their share of the expected family inheritance early to fund their expedition to Missouri. While it is unclear what happened there, the trip appeared to have failed and the brothers ran out of money. They had recently returned to the vicinity of the family in the Clarke County (it is unclear whether they had a separate residence or were living on the family farm) and had made demands for additional money on their mother and brothers, which had been denied.
Despite this undercurrent of tension, most reports agreed the family gathered peaceably on the Fourth of July. The brothers initially wanted to have a target shooting match that day, but for some reason this event was postponed so the family, plus a few guests, could "visit a neighbor; Willie Lewis, and they all went to a picnic."
Multiple Version of the Event
Here is where the story diverges, primarily because Columbus Little gave two differing statements to two different sources soon after the event. The first account released to the public states that on the morning of July 5, four brothers and the mother were at the breakfast table when Oscar and Lycurgus entered the room and locked the door. From the first account in the Shepherdstown Register:
[Oscar and Lycurgus] walked up to Clinton Little and made a demand for half the money that he had received for the sale of horses, and if he did not hand over they would murder him. Suiting the action to the word, both brothers, Oscar and Lycurgus Little, presented their pistols and commenced firing on their brother, who fell mortally wounded. Whilst on his knees he was beaten in the face and temple by one of his brothers, whose pistol failed to fire. During the melee the mother was seriously wounded by a pistol shot in the thigh. . . . After Clinton Little had been killed the two brothers, Oscar and Lycurgus, attempted to escape, when a younger brother, picking up a rifle, discharged it at his brother's murderer, and inflicted a wound in his leg, and the remaining brother fired a shot at him, and wounded the one firing the rifle.
A second account in the same newspaper fills in a few more details:
In the fight Oscar Little's pistol snapped several times, and proved worthless as a weapon. Lycurgus, at the first fire, missed his brother Clinton and shot the mother, and fired again, giving Clinton the mortal wound. In the subsequent melee Oscar and Lycurgus were overpowered, disarmed and driven out of the house. Columbus, one of the brothers acting on the defensive, is a very powerful man, and Gilbert, who fired the rifle, is very delicate. They were both badly cut and injured about the head by the attacking party with the butt-ends of pistols.
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| Detail from Collier's Fiction, Oct. 8, 1904, by Frank X. Leyendecker. Image courtesy the Internet Archive. |
These two accounts, at least, are very similar. But then there is Columbus' version, again printed in the same Shepherdstown Register article:
He claims that the published telegrams and letters are gross exaggerations. . . . The six brothers were united under the family roof-tree, with the wife of Columbus and a sister of the Littles, and one or two young ladies. . . . [On the morning of July 5] they all got up early to prepare for the projected shooting-match, and were busily cleaning their arms and loading them - some four or five pistols and a rifle - when they were called into breakfast by their mother. It being her rule to require prompt attendance at meal times, the brothers suspended operations and all laid down their arms except Oscar, (next in age to Clinton,) who put his pistol in his pocket, and Lycurgus, (about twenty years old,) who, with boyish eagerness to be ready for the first shot, took his weapon, a large navy revolver, to the table with him. After trifling with it awhile, he laid the weapon upon his lap, the muzzle pointing towards his mother (next to him) and Clinton beyond. The ladies (except Mrs. Little) had not yet come to the table. The pistol, it seems, was cocked, for while they were at breakfast it was discharged--still lying across the lap of Lycurgus -- and the ball passed thro' the thigh of Mrs, Little and into the body of Clinton. Columbus Little positively states that this accidental shot was the only one fired in or out of the house.
While this may have been a plausible attempt at reducing the potential harm to the surviving brothers, and may even have worked at an earlier point in history, you have to remember this event took place less than ten years after the Civil War. Most of the doctors in Winchester, Frederick, and Clarke Counties were well-versed in gunshot wounds by this point and likely saw the discrepancies in the story and outcome immediately. Columbus' account also fails to consider how Oscar was wounded in the leg by a shot, especially if there was only one shot fired. The eldest brother's "damage control" position seems to be "gossiping country neighbors" spread an exaggerated tale to the Winchester papers, and that "the examination of Oscar and Lycurgus will prove the great injustice done the family by the published reports of the affair."
The brothers Oscar and Lycurgus were apprehended or gave themselves up after Oscar was shot, and they were retained on the porch of the house by the other brothers until authorities took them into custody. Clinton died from his wounds around noon the same day, believed to be about three hours after the fatal shot was fired, and the case was now one of probable murder.
The Postmortem and Corner's Inquest
As you might imagine, a number of doctors were called to the Little family house shortly after the event to tend to the wounded, and again the following day for a postmortem examination to determine the cause of Clinton's death. The doctors arrived on the scene between 10 and 11 o'clock on July 5, all of them having to travel some distance to reach the farm - around 7 miles for Drs. Love and Miller, who arrived together from Winchester, and Dr. Lewis from White Post, likely closer but still a trip of several miles. All the doctors agreed there was nothing they could do for Clinton's wound; it seems Dr. Lewis went upstairs to tend to the mother's gunshot, Dr. Miller attended most to Clinton, and Dr. Love removed the ball from Oscar's leg.
The next day, Drs. Miller and Lewis returned for the postmortem, along with Dr. Sommerville of White Post. The Daily State Journal, reporting on July 7, stated:
Internal hemorrhage was found to be the cause of death, the ball entering above the right hip bone and lodging in the left knee. A coroner's inquest was held, and a verdict rendered that "Clinton Little came to his death by a pistol shot, fired premeditatedly by his brother Lycurgus." The examination will take place at Berryville Monday.
The account of this death at the breakfast table must have seemed farfetched or heinously unbelievable; so much so that the Clark Courier ran a short article ten days later:
The Richmond Enquirer wants to know if the Little tragedy is a hoax. We wish it was nothing worse. There are many statements put forth as true accounts of the fratricide, but we must wait until the prisoners are tried to ascertain the real facts of the case. The grand jury has indicted two of the participants in the difficulty, for "maliciously and with malice aforethought," killing Clinton Little.
Most articles note that the Little case would likely not be heard until the fall term of the courts started, on October 15, and that prediction was true. We'll pick up with our next installment for the trial of the first brother, Lycurgus.
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