by Roberta McGee
William Murdoch, the son of James Crawford Murdoch and Mary Murray of Gasswater, Auchinleck, married Janet Lennox of Muir, Cumnock in 1846 in Cumnock. They had six children. Janet died in 1877.
Obituary Janet Lennox - Salt Lake Herald
At Kilmarnock Scotland 20 December 1877 Jane Lennox Murdoch, wife of William Murdoch, Muirkirk. She was born at Moor, Old Cumnock 22 September 1821, obeyed the Gospel in 1854 and lived and died a faithful Latter Day Saint.
Five months later William and their five surviving children emigrated to Utah. They were unaware of the tragedy that lay ahead some years later which would shatter their lives. This is the story of their daughter Margaret Murdoch who married John Adamson from Muirkirk on 16 January 1879 at Salt Lake City, Utah.
John and Margaret had six children, John, William, Isabelle, James, David and Edith. They were very much involved with the Mormon Church and, after living in Utah initially, finally settled in Carey, Blaine, Idaho. John was a director of the Carey State Bank, a farmer and a chief church official of the Boise Stake, one of the organisational and administrative units of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
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| Image - Arrington88 Ancestry |
Their daughter Isabelle married William Henry Cameron in 1905 in Blaine, Idaho. He was born in Melrose, Montana to Scottish parents. Isabelle would only agree to marry him if he joined the Mormon Church and he did so, somewhat reluctantly. After their marriage he refused to attend to his church duties and be involved in the church as he had agreed to and, over the years, this caused much friction in the family. He turned to drink and in 1915 he was arrested and jailed for beating his wife. When he was released on bond pending his trial he found that his wife and children had moved in with her parents and they avoided all contact with him.
WH Cameron was the proprietor of the Carey Idaho Hotel. He also kept a livery stable, was a mail carrier and ran a jitney, which was a small bus. Isabelle Cameron's life revolved around her husband, her children, her parents and her church and on running the hotel. However, the problem with her husband's inability to embrace her church seemed to fester over the years and the marriage broke down when he began to drink heavily. He repeatedly tried to persuade his wife to return to him and told his father-in-law that, unless she did return 'there would be the damdest funeral ever seen in Carey'. Isabelle filed for divorce.
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| Isabelle Adamson Cameron - image Renee Surgeon, Ancestry |
Cameron devised a plan. He purchased a Colt 45 automatic revolver then went away on business for about eight days. When he returned he headed for the Adamson's house, armed with the gun, in search of his wife.
The first person he encountered was his father-in-law John Adamson, who was putting the Cameron baby, Estasta aged eighteen months, to bed. Cameron shot him and the baby dead before turning the gun on his mother-in-law Margaret Murdoch Adamson and his brother-in-law James, who was playing the piano when he heard the shots. In the scuffle James's shirt was torn to shreds in his fight to disarm him. Margaret and James were both shot dead.
Isabelle, on hearing the shots fled the house, only to be followed by Cameron who eventually caught up with her in a field and shot her through the head before shooting himself. Her sister Edith Adamson and the remaining three Cameron children were in another room when the shooting started and managed to escape.
Wood River Times TE Picotte, Publisher November 1 1915
Burial of Victims of the Tragedy
Wood River Times TE Picotte, Publisher November 1 1915
Burial of Victims of the Tragedy
The five victims of the tragedy of last Friday night at Carey were buried there yesterday afternoon from the beautiful new church just completed at a cost $11,500.00. Ex-Bishop Rawson, First Counselor of the Boise Stake, conducted the services. The funeral called to Carey the biggest crown ever seen there on occasion, mourners having come from Cassia County, Boise, and Southeastern Idaho. There was not even standing room in the new edifice though the benches were not yet in, these being the first services ever held in the church. There were four caskets. One was for Mrs WH Cameron and her babe that was held in her arms, one contained the body of Mrs John Adamson, one that of John Adamson and one for James Adamson. The internment was in the Carey cemetery.
Wood River Times Daily TE Picotte, Publisher November 2 1915
Echoes of the Tragedy
William H Cameron left all his papers, those in the Casey State Bank and elsewhere to his sister, Mrs Joe Danills, of Soldier, to whom is entrusted the letter to the decendant's eldest daughter as the following open letter, which was found in the Cameron Hotel after the tragedy. It will be seen that it must have been written as the unhappy demented was about to set out for the scene of the tragedy. The letter is as follows:
Carey Idaho October 29 1915 - Friends and Relatives;
There is nothing in this world for me to live for. They have taken my wife and babies from me. My heart has turned stone cold for revenge on the one who has broken up my home. I thank you all for what you have done for me in my troubles. Don't say after I am gone 'he was crazy' for I am not. You will never know unless the same thing happens to you just how I feel, but I hope it never happens to any of you. Goodbye.
I am leaving a letter for Lexie when she gets older. See that they are cared for. WH Cameron. Lexie was the eldest of the four Cameron children.
William Henry Cameron's funeral service was held in the Presbyterian Church in Bellevue,
Idaho.
