TX TX - 8 children murdered in Hockley (Lynch tragedy), 1878

A unsolved mass murder cases even to this very day. The Hockley Murders is also known as the Lynch Tragedy.

George Lynch, a father of 8, woke up to gunfire on the early morning of September 13, 1878. A man was shooting with a pistol and Lynch was hit by a bullet on the chest. The unknown killer thinking George Lynch was dead starts to get a hatchet and kill his children. Than he set the Lynch house on fire to cover up the crime. It is probable the suspect is a person that Lynch had a run in with. His name is Bouleware, who was a neighbor of Lynch. George Lynch filed a criminal complaint against Bouleware for drawing a gun on him prior to the massacre.

The Waco Daily Examiner. (Waco, Tex.), Vol. 6, No. 84, Ed. 1, Friday, September 20, 1878
http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth110797/m1/2/

Chicago Daily Tribune
http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/chicago...Tribune&desc=THE+HOCKLEY+HORROR.&pqatl=google

Eight Children Murdered
http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&d=EP18781214.2.32

Fulton History
http://fultonhistory.com/newspaper ... NY Stamford Mirror 1878 Grayscale - 0170.pdf

Yeah I think daddy did it himself. His wife had just died leaving him a single working dad with seven kids including a newborn baby.

He claimed it was him "they" wanted to kill, but he was shot in the chest, and his children had their heads smashed in with a hatchet. It was believed they had been chloroformed before they were murdered, as they were still in sleeping positions in bed and no cries or screams had been heard.

He claimed the assailant was wearing dark clothes and a mask, but accused a neighbor, whose friends and acquaintances published letters in the newspaper defending him - he had been sick in bed at the night of the murders.

A few months later he had some type of shoot-out with same neighbor, and ran off to Colorado where he was sentenced to life in 1881 for having shot a guy in a mine.

I read there was little investigation and no search for suspects, imo because they knew it was him. He was a "respectable", "honorable" citizen with a good job and friends in high places. And I think some of them sympathized with his situation and looked at it as fully understandable temporary insanity.
Or something.

Lots of information on texashistory link above.

The results of my research into this tragedy
CLUES - Clues Regarding the Lynch Family Murder

There were numerous newspaper articles -- many just copied from other papers -- and the misinformation was abundant (see below). The murders were not committed in Hockley, Texas. That was just the nearest town and a place where George Lynch and his family had previously lived.

John Pinckney was justice of the peace at the time and he did the inquest. The children's bodies were not exhumed as the inquest was held the next day at the site of the crime -- before they were buried. Pinckney reacted strongly to false information promulgated by a few newspapers, saying there was no masked man, George was not holding his infant at the time, no hatchet found and no hatchet wounds in the heads of the children. Lynch was shot twice, causing him to lose consciousness. Speculation was rampant, George Lynch was delirious and couldn't recall the events of that night, giving varying accounts -- completely reasonable -- and he was initially suspected of the crime. He was quickly removed from the list of suspects and his neighbor, Reuben Boulware, was also removed as a suspect and I've found no record of anyone else being a suspect. My own interpretation of what happened can be seen at the link above. Lynch was a member of a committee involved in stopping incursions on their cattle (not sure what that meant), which was the reason for his altercations with Boulware (not Boatware). It is possible that played a role in his attempted murder and that of his children. Shortly after, while recovering in Hockley, he shot John Binford, but stated it had nothing to do with the murder of his children. For some reason, he moved to Leadville, Colorado where he mined for gold. He shot and killed one, and maybe two, men there and was sentenced to life in prison, but was pardoned in 1893 by Colorado Lt. Governor David Nichols. I have found a George Lynch in New Mexico and in south Texas working as a mining consultant, but can't prove it is the same person. I've found no further evidence and I haven't found where or when George died.