Thomas D. Carr

Thomas David Carr (March 6, 1846 – March 24, 1870) was an American thief, arsonist, war criminal and self-confessed serial killer. He was hanged in 1870 for murdering 13-year-old Louisa Fox in Kirkwood Township, Belmont County, Ohio, and shortly before his execution, he confessed to murdering 14 men, including to participating in a famous 1867 murder that occurred in West Virginia.

Biography Upbringing and military service Thomas David Carr was born on March 6, 1846, as the fourth son in a family of five boys and three girls. His father, William Carr, had been an abusive parent who treated him harshly throughout his childhood. Three years after his birth his family began moving frequently around West Virginia, living in Woods' Run, Fulton, Centre Wheeling and settling in North Wheeling. Thomas grew up as a troublesome child, who frequently fought with other children in the street.

He formed bad associations, and when he began work, he did jobs for river men, brickyard hands and colliers. In 1854, he was sent to prison for unknown reasons. Carr claimed that he was intimate friends with a John H. Burns and his accomplice Oscar Myers, who had murdered a woman named Mary Montonie. Burns had been sentenced to death, while Myers to life imprisonment. While on a visit to the prison, Carr had slipped poison for Burns to kill himself with, but the man was "too cowardly to do it". Shortly after, his family moved again, this time to Belmont County in Ohio.

War crimes The first murder that Carr confessed to took place near Virginia's Greenleaf Mountain. He had wandered away from his regiment so he could drink. While lying about in the woods, a citizen had tried to arrest him. As the man approached, Carr took out his gun and shot him in the left breast before fleeing. The next day the man died from his injuries. After his release, he rejoined the 18th Ohio Infantry and was discharged to Mississippi, where he shot two rebel soldiers, one of them while on picket duty. When his time expired in the 18th Regulars, Carr turned towards the 4th Ohio Infantry, serving his duty without much trouble, except once, when he shot at an Annie Whalen in Clarksburg, a prostitute whom he had connections to. Enlisting afterwards in the 180th Ohio Infantry, Carr was serving in Belmont County when he was allegedly prevented from arresting a deserter by a Dr. L. Voorhees (Voorhees claimed this never happened). When both she and her parents told him she was too young to marry, he desperately tried to talk her parents into forcing her to marry. Rebuffed by both the parents and the child, he became infuriated and decided that he'd kill her. He stole a razor from the shoe shop of an Alexander Williams, and turned towards the house of a Mrs. Hunter, for whom Fox was working for as a servant girl. He lied to the girl that he had been to her parents' house and that they wanted her to visit them to their grandparents'.

After leaving the body, Carr started going up the hill, considering cutting his throat near a white oak tree, but then deciding to go back in Sewellsville with a gun and kill Mrs. Hunter. He saw that he was being chased, due to the fact that Willie had informed his father of the deed. Carr began knocking on every door he came across, asking the owners politely if they had any guns so he could "kill a rabbit", before finally arriving at the house of a Mr. Young, whose wife finally gave Thomas a gun. After arming himself, cut through the woods and began walking on the same road on which he had followed Louiza, feeling weakened and walking slowly, as he had not eaten anything.

Trial, sentence and death In June 1869, Carr was tried and found guilty of murdering Louisa Fox, being sentenced to death for the crime. His lawyer lodged an appeal, and during this time, Carr tried to kill himself again by cutting one of his veins open.

On the day of his execution, Carr was ready to die. While waiting in his cell, he was visited by two girls who were enamored with him. He gave them a photograph and some silver rings, and asked them to remember him, which they promised would do. After being put on the scaffold, he began saying prayers and singing hymns, asking for God to receive him after he dies. He then made a long speech, telling his life story and how he was harshly disciplined as a child, and that the future generations should not be like him. He blamed most of his confessed murders on his heavy drinking, saying the following:

After finishing with a short prayer for the many crimes in his life, the trap door was opened. Carr's neck wasn't immediately broken, but he slowly strangled and soon died. After physicians pronounced him dead, his body was buried in the local pauper's lot in St. Clairsville.