I happened upon this story in an unrelated search in a newspaper archive. I could not find any more info on it apart from this article and a unrelated letter mentioning it:
POLICEMAN Devil worshipper obeyed the mandates of Satan; shot wife, killed mother, children and himself.
H. C. Hawley Carried an Image of the Arch Fiend with Him.
Muttered to it in Prayer, and at Last Carried Out Its Bloody Orders.
BOWED DOWN TO AN IDOL
Slew His Aged Mother and His Laughing. Innocent Little Girls.
HIS PATIENT WIFE IS DYING
Long an Ardent Devotee of the Evil Spirit, His Death Reveals the Demoniacal Double Life He Led.
A MAD worshipper of the devil Henry C. Hawley. a policeman of the West Thirtieth street station shot and fatally wounded his wife and killed his mother, two children and himself in their humble home on the top floor of the single apartment house No. 643 Sixth avenue shortly before noon yesterday.
When Hawley's clothing was searched afterward in one of the pockets was found a little red image of the devil with horns, cloven foot, fiery tail, the malicious face and other characteristics of the spirit of evil. Subsequent investigation in the case disclosed that Hawley believed that the devil was the ruling power in the direction of affairs of earth, and it is said that he was a member of a society known as the Devil Worshippers, which has its headquarters in Paris.
Be this as it may, it was known that Hawley worshipped the little red devil, which he carried with him always, with all the sincerity of the heathen bowing before graven idols.
Devil His Guiding Star.
The image to Hawley was typical of the spirit of evil. It was his guiding star. He talked to it as if its ears were human; he prayed to it as if its nature was divine. It directed all his movements and taught him that evil and not goodness and faith is the basis of eternal reward and happiness. He listened to the words which the graven metal lips spoke alone to him and
followed the advice and did whatever he was directed to do.
He was inspired by the malevolent voice of the red devil to waste his life in drinking immoderately, to forsake his loving wife and happy children and court the society of other women, to spend his money for other things than the comforts of home, to follow other courses of evil the bare contemplation of which awakens profound disgust, and finally, as a fitting climax to a woefully misspent life, to end the lives of his whole family and his own life by his own hand.
The innocents had to suffer as well as the follower of the devil as a result of the strange hallucinations of this degenerate, but perhaps it is not so bad as the devil worshipper had wished, for in an old and well thumbed Bible found lying at the side of Hawley's mother's bed this passage was marked, "Suffer little children to come unto me and forbid them not, for of such is the Kingdom of Heaven."
Hid His Evil Doing.
Hawley was appointed a policeman on the recommendation of Commissioner Roosevelt in 1895, and was detailed to the West 35th street police station, where he has since done duty. He performed the routine duties of a policeman as well as the average, and the few complaints made against him were of a trivial character, though it now appears, if the truth were known, that he has violated rules of the department frequently which would have warranted his dismissal. He was born in this city 29 years ago. His father. Henry Hawley, was piano maker in Ninth avenue, and at one [...] was in good circumstances. He ran away from home when a youth and joined the navy. After a short life at sea he came home, was in several stores as clerk and at the time he was appointed a policeman he was a telegraph operator on the elevated railroad. He married Bertha Koholorf January 5,
1891. She was the daughter of a paper manufacturer. They lived in Harlem until Hawley was sent to the West Thirtieth street station. and since then they have been living in the flat on the top floor of No. 643 Sixth avenue. They had three children. Medford, the eldest, a boy, died about two years ago. The other children. Mary-Louisa, five, and Mildred, three years old were the innocent victims of their father's devil worship. Since the death of Hawley's father, several years ago. Mrs. Hawley, a sweet faced old lady with snow white hair, has made her home with her son and her effort by night and by day has been to make her boy give up his evil ways and worship God instead of the devil.
Domestic Life Unhappy.
The domestic life of the family was not happy. It could not have been with a man holding the strange views of Hawley. But in spite of all the cruelties which Hawley heaped upon his wife she was devoted to him heart and soul, and would not listen to the stories which came to her frequently about her husband's double life.Night after night amid Winter's storms and Summer's heat she carried a little basket of food to her husband that he might have a comfortable meal when on duty. And in the lonely hours even when the Tenderloin was quiet this patient little blue-eyed, pretty and loving wife paced the streets with him on his beat and begged him never to do anything which would bring disgrace into their humble home or make their little ones wish they had never known him as their father. If it had not been for the little red devil which came Into Hawley's life about three years ago he might have been a model husband and father, but he could not stem the tide of evil and forgot the duty that he owed to his wife and little ones. She, however, was blind to his every fault and tried to forgive even what she could not forget. As a part of the circumstances which led up to the killing of the family, and showing how completely the red devil dominated his life, something of the double life of Hawley must be told.
His Double Life.
Three years ago, when Hawley became a devotee of the devil, he met Verna Breen, the wife of Daniel J. Breen, a waiter, who lives at No. 130 West 31st street, directly In the rear of the station house. Mrs. Breen confessed to Captain Price yesterday that she had misled Hawley into the belief that she was not married. Kitty and Maud Breen. who are said to be the sisters of Verna live with her. Although living with her husband, who works all night and sleeps in the daytime, Mrs. Breen was known to most, of the tenants in the house as Mrs. Hawley, the wife of Policeman Hawley. Whenever he called upon Mrs. Breen the red devil was always placed upon the mantel near his bed and he always claimed that the graven image kept him from being discovered by the roundsman, who would make a charge against him for being off post, and from being caught in the house by the woman's husband after he learned she was married. It was, indeed, a devilish guardian spirit. Hawley answered the roll call yesterday in the West Thirtieth street station. This was at 6 o'clock. He was detailed for service on the dog watch, which extended from 6 to 8 o'clock, and only during the breakfast hour, which kept him in the station house until 9:15 o'clock. Hawley appeared to be in a very jolly mood during this period. He left the station house about 9:30 o'clock to get breakfast and he should have reported to go on the afternoon tour at 1 o'clock.
Talked to His Evil Spirit.
Hawley did not show any signs that he had been drinking. He had gone only a short distance from the station house, however, when he took the red devil from his pocket and acted as if he were either mad or drunk. He marched into "Silver Dollar" Smith's liquor store, at 31st and 6th avenue, holding the image in front of him, and talked to it as if it were a thing of life. He ordered drinks for everybody in the place several times, and when the bartender spoke about payment he drew a revolver and threatened to fill everybody full of holes. He was persuaded to leave the place, and then he went to Mrs. Breen's home and dragged her into the street, while her husband was sleeping in a rear bedroom. He took her to a restaurant on 31st street, near Sixth avenue, and they had breakfast. He gave her all the money he had with him. It was nearly 11 o'clock when he left Mrs. Breen. and then he wont alone to a saloon known as "Paddy the Pig's," at Sixth avenue and 36th street, and had several drinks. He talked to the red devil there and flourished his revolver.
His Face Like the Fiend's.
Mrs. Hawley by this time became anxious about her husband's failure to come home to dinner, and went out to look for him. She found him walking in the middle of Sixth avenue, near his home. He was talking to the red devil, and the expression on the face of the image was not more fiendish than the look that came into Hawley's face when his wife took him by the arm and said gently, "Come home, Harry."
He pushed her violently away. She pleaded with him to come home and see little May and Mildred, who were waiting to eat with him. But the red devil was at work. He tried to strike the weeping little woman, and when the bystanders cried "Shame! Shame!" at the man in full police uniform, he tore his shield from his coat and threw it violently into her face. It cut her under the eye, but Hawley did not mind this. He was grinning at the red devil. He did not seem to be so very drunk, and after a time he followed his wife home. The little children kissed him and his white-haired mother helped him off with his coat, while Mrs. Hawley busied herself in getting him something to eat. Owen Gallagher, who lives at No. 329 West 39th street, and works for Lock & Smith, plumbers, at No. 103 West 37th street, saw Hawley in his room from the rear window of the shop and heard him abuse his wife. Mrs. Hawley tried to quiet her husband. She went to him, put her arms around his neck and kissed him. He drove her away with a violent blow in the chest. Mrs. Hawley began to cry. Little Mildred, Just able to toddle, caught hold of Hawley's knee and said:
"Don't scold mamma. Don't make mamma cry.
Good mamma. I love you, papa.
Kiss me."
The Archfiend at Work.
Ah. how the red devil was working! Hawley roughly pushed the loving children away, and they, too, cried with their mother Poor Mrs. Hawley, the grandmother of the weeping children, whose whole heart was wrapped up in them and her boy, lovingly put her arms around his neck, but the kiss she would have given him was stopped by a blow upon her lips, the lips that never spoke but in kindness to him. The broken-hearted mother fell upon her knees and wept in silence with her head resting upon the window sill and her arms around her grandchildren. Hawley, unmindful of the cruel blows he had given to those who loved him. Cocked his feet on the window sill at his mother's head and loaded his revolver, a queer, old-fashioned Colt's, with four barrels. He recently pawned the pistol required to be carried by policemen by the rules of the department and bought the old one. As he handled the weapon the red devil whispered in his ear. and no imp of Hades could relish the suggestion better than he did. Reason, home, happiness, everything fled from his mind as the red devil spoke, and Hawley reached the end of the evil spirit's teachings. He became a fiend incarnate. He jumped up suddenly and little May and Mildred fled in terror through the narrow hall into the front room, facing on Sixth avenue. There are six rooms in the apartment. Two hall rooms, the rear being used as a kitchen, a parlor In the front, dining room in the rear, and between these two bed rooms, opening into a private hall.
Murder at Last.
Hawley in his wild rush to catch the children's upset chairs, tables and everything that he could reach. The children, in the dark bedroom managed to elude their father and May ran back to the kitchen. The workmen in the plumber's shop heard the childrens cries as they had heard them before when Hawley was in an ugly mood. Mrs Hawley picked up Mildred to protect her as Hawley rushed into the kitchen.
There was only murder in his heart and eyes. The red devil had got complete possession of him. He knocked Mildred from her mother's arms, seized the helpless woman by the throat and sent two bullets into her brain. She fell at his feet. The devilish work had only just begun. Mrs. Hawley caught hold of her son and tried to restrain him. Her sixty years of life had enfeebled her so that she was no match for the powerful madman. He pushed her against the wall, and while the mother's lips pleaded for mercy he pulled the trigger again. The old woman fell near Mrs. Hawley. and the blood gushed from a wound in her neck, which fractured her spine and paralyzed the lower part of her body. She still retained her senses and used her dying voice to beg her son not to harm the children.
Red Devil's Work Not Done,
The red devil was still at work. Three shots had been fired from the four barrelled pistol, and Hawley went to the parlor and filled up the empty barrels. This took him several minutes, as the weapon was rusty and the cartridges had to be driven out by force. He had locked the door so that there could be no interference with his work. The grandmother called Mildred to her and the little one sat on the floor near her. Hawley searched for May in the bedrooms and upset everything. When he found her hiding place he dragged her to the dark hall and sent a bullet into her brain just above the eyes. There was no one left then but Mildred. It did not take long for her father to find her. The pretty face of Mildred could not stop the mad fury. He grabbed her by the throat and held her while he fired a bullet into the cluster of curls which hung upon her forehead. He dropped her?r at her grandmother's feet, and her dying moans mingled with those of her sister, mother and grandmother.
Heard Groans of the Dying.
When Mr. Gallagher heard the pistol shots In Hawley's home, after seeing him chase the children, he ran to the street and told Policemen Schottmeyer and Sullivan what had happened. They rushed into the flat house and knocked at the front door of Hawley's apartments.
"What do you want?" said Hawley.
"What are you doing in there?" asked Schottmeyer.
"Oh. I was cleaning my revolver and it exploded. There is no one hurt. I'm a brother policeman."
The groans of the dying victims were heard by policemen.
"Open the door, or I will break it," shouted Schottmeyer.
"I have lost the key," replied Hawley, "and my wife is sick." Schottmeyer waited no longer, he threw his weight against the door and broke the lock. He and Sullivan rushed into the front parlor. They had reached little May's body in the dark hallway, when two more shots from the revolver rang out. Hawley had emptied all the bullets left In the revolver into his brain above the right temple and he was found lying in the kitchen near Mildred. The red devil had finished his work. It was well done. And when the policemen took the image from Hawley's pocket the grin upon the face seemed to become more fiendish in view of the slaughter and agony.
Ambulances were called from Bellevue and the New York Hospital. The women and children were taken to the New York Hospital and Hawley was removed to Bellevue. He died just before the ambulance reached the hospital. The children were dying when Dr. Parker saw them and the little innocent souls, passed from their earthly tenement together shortly before 2 o'clock. The doctors, after examining the terrible wounds in Mrs. Hawley's head said there was not the least ground to hope for recovery. Grandmother Hawley was conscious, but the physicians do not" believe she can recover.
"Rum and Bad Women."
When asked by Policeman Schottmeyer in her home who had shot her and what was the cause she said:
"It was rum and bad women." She supplemented this by an ante-mortem statement to Coroner Hart In the hospital. Here is what the dying woman said:
''My son had been drinking and appeared to be crazy. He shot his wife first. Then he shot me. Then he shot his two children and then shot himself. It occurred near noon to-day."
She died last evening. Mrs. Laura Kinget, of No. 1769 Morris avenue, the only daughter of Mrs. Hawley, stopped at the flat just after the shooting. She had been downtown shopping. She saw her mother in the hospital, and the doctor said that she was dying. "Laura! Laura!" said Mrs. Hawley. "Poor little Mildred. I tried to save her.
How is she?" No one told her that the little girl was dead.
Hawley's body was removed to Winterbottom's undertaking shop at Sixth avenue and 37th street, and later the children were laid beside him in death.
They will be buried in St. Michael's Cemetery where Hawley bought a plot to bury his boy.
The investigation made by Captain Price developed an alarming, lack of discipline in the West Thirtieth street station, and serious charges will be preferred against
Sergeant McDermott and Roundsman McGinley, who was in charge of the reserve section on Wednesday night, for neglect of duty.
Hawley was on duty on Wednesday night until 12 o'clock. Then he reported at the station house, and in accordance with the arrangement of the platoons in that precinct he was on reserve duty. This would keep him in the station house until 6 o’clock yesterday morning.
But Hawley did not go to bed in the station house with the other men.
(the page here is damaged)
[His] Satan Worship.
At 1[2:40] am. vesterday Hawley aroused
Mrs. […] ordered her to open the doors […] refused. She told Hawley many times before.
That s[…] away from her
to av[…] was furious, and
to pr[…] in the door she
opened […] revolver in his hand.
He […] through a form of worship […] devil before he went to […] to kill Mrs. Breen
befe […] watched him sleep until […] Then she aroused him. […] for roll call in the […]
He went away, saying a prayer to the red devil.
Captain Price is trying to find out how Hawley could get out of the station house without anyone knowing it. He has done this repeatedly it was learned from Mrs.Breen and […] said that other policemen have been in the habit of spending the time elsewhere that they should have spent in bed in the station house. Sergeant McDermott and Roundsman McGinley say that they saw Hawley go upstairs; as if he were going to bed, and they did not see him again until roll call.
“I would like to see the man," said Captain Price, "who could get out of this station house in Inspector Williams's time. I will bet my salary for the rest of my life that no other man will sneak out of this house while I am here. I never saw such a lack of discipline as this, and some one will suffer for it. I was around the precinct until 3 o'clock this morning, and could not personally watch the men." When Mr. Breen, the husband of the woman who encouraged Hawley's visits during his absence, learned what had happened; he packed up his personal effects and sought other quarters.
Source: https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn83030180/1898-08-12/ed-1/?sp=12&st=text&r=0.386,0.283,0.477,0.8,0
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