“RELIGIOUS FANATIC MURDERS FAMILY
“Tragedy entered the Clarence K. Rash home in Wayne county when Mr. Rash took the lives of his wife and children on February 3, 1897. Mr. Rash had attended revival meetings in Grace Methodist church two miles west and six south of Wayne [village]. The evening was cold. Rash stood by the stove during part of the service. On top of the stove was a soap stone about 18 inches long, with handle on one end. The minister kept this hot and used it to warm himself when returning home after the meeting. As Rash left the church he took with him the soap stone. The revival services seemed to arouse Rash’s fanaticism, and when he reached his home two miles south of the church he killed his wife, Mrs. Julia Rash, and his three little children, Hugh, Estella and Reece, with the stone. After the brutal deed Rash sat until the next day amidst the battered bodies of his family. When neighbors informed Sheriff Ed. Reynolds of the happening, the sheriff went to arrest Rash, who did not resist. He admitted having beaten the members of his family on the head with the soap stone.
