The Baird Family

Emily Harriett Jemima (Baird) Plumptre

Birth: 19 October 1861 in Altrincham, Cheshire, England

Baptism: 25 November 1861 in Timperley, Cheshire, England

Father: Thomas James Carpendale Baird

Mother: Gertrude Emily (Maude) Baird

Married: Henry Fitzwalter Plumptre on 1 February 1908 in St George Hanover Square district, London, England. Henry had been previously married to Emily's younger sister, Maude.

Death: 15 January 1951

Census:
1881: Village, Ripple, Kent
1901: Goodnestone Next Wingham, Kent: Emily Baird is aged 39, born in Attringham, Cheshire
1911: Eastry district, Kent: Emily Harriet Jemima Plumptre is aged 49

Sources:

Eustace James Campbell Baird

Birth: 24 May 1860, in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England

Father: Thomas James Carpendale Baird

Mother: Gertrude Emily (Maude) Baird

Occupation: Writer.
Eustace's most memorable work was My First School: A Tale for Boys, Founded on Fact, published in 1888. The book is set in a small Midlands preparatory school in the 1860s, and is clearly somewhat autobiographical. Eustace contributed the article Hopping in East Kent about the growing and picking of hops, to the Monthly Packet vol XIV (1887), and was a regular contributor to the Boy's Own Paper with such articles as "Their Christmas Dinner: An Irish Goose Story" in January 1889, "A Village Guy Fawkes Tragedy" on November 2 1889, "How to Make and Work a Galanty Show" , a five part article running in December 1889 and January 1890, "Our House and the Ghost" at Christmas 1892 and "How to Make Some Novel Puzzles" published on 7 October 1893.

The 1881 census shows Eustace's occupation as "Lieut 14th Foot Active" identically to his elder brother, William, on the line above, but this is clearly an error. There are no records of Eustace entering the army and regimental records show that he was definitely not a lieutenant in the 14th in 1881.

Notes: Eustace was awarded a patent on 20 April 1883 for a "game scorer for lawn tennis"
Patents for Inventions Class 131 1877-1883 p78
2008. Baird, E. J. C. April 20.
E. J. C. Baird patent diagram
E. J. C. Baird patent diagram
from Patents for Inventions Class 131 1877-1883 p78
  Game scorer for lawn tennis. A dial A is marked with figures and is fitted with a pointer A', which is carried on a pin B. A cog wheel C is also fixed to the pin B behind the dial, and a pin D slides in a slot in the nickel &c. case in which the dial and works are enclosed. To register the games the pin D is pressed and causes the spring E which is fitted in the case to move the cog wheel C, and with it the pointer A'. The spring F acts as a pawl to hold the cog-wheel in place. The dial is preferably covered with a glass, and a brooch-pin may be fixed at the back of the case for fastening the apparatus to the left sleeve or other parts of the dress. The mechanism may be otherwise constructed, as by employing an ordinary watch spring, or a series of small levers &c.

Death: 1893 in Bridge district, Kent, England, aged 33

Buried: 12 June 1893, in Ickham, Kent, England

Census:
1881: 13 Marine Parade, Folkestone, Kent

Sources:

Francis Ludlow John Baird

Birth: 14 April 1863, in Altrincham district, Cheshire, England

Baptism: 14 May 1863 in Timperley, Cheshire, England

Father: Thomas James Carpendale Baird

Mother: Gertrude Emily (Maude) Baird

Education: Cheltenham College, which he entered in September 1873
Cheltenham College Register, 1841-1899 p302 (1890):
ENTERED SEPTEMBER, 1873.
Baird, Francis Ludlow John, son of Captain Thomas Carpendale Baird, Comberbach House, Northwich, Cheshire; born 14th April, 1863. 4bJ -. Teighmore.

Sources:

Geoffrey Henry Baird

Birth: 1871, in Runcorn district, Cheshire, England

Baptism: 12 November 1871 in Antrobus, Cheshire, England

Father: Thomas James Carpendale Baird

Mother: Gertrude Emily (Maude) Baird

Married: Helen Jane (Blizard) Lanyon on 27 June 1919, in Holy Cross Church, Goodnestone, Kent, England.
1919 27 June Holy Cross Church, Goodnestone, Kent, Geoffrey Henry Baird, North Irish Horse, youngest son of the late Capt. T.C. Baird, married to Helen, widow of Capt. W.M. Lanyon, and dau of the late John McCance Blizard (Blizzard) of Fortwilliam Park, Belfast

Helen was born in 1892, in Newtonards district, county Down, Ireland, the daughter of John McCance Blizard and Jane Marshall Blizard. She married, firstly, William Mortimer Lanyon on 17 July 1912, in Carmoney Parish Church, county Antrim, Ireland, a captain in the Royal Irish Rifles who died in action at Fleurbiax, France on 5 April 1915.
Census:
1901: The Square, Comber, county Down

Occupation: Army Officer
Geoffrey served in the North Irish Horse, reaching the rank of Lieutenant.

Death: 1949, in Thanet district, Kent, England, aged 77

Census:
1881: Cambridge House, Tonbridge, Kent

Sources:

Harriet Campbell (Baird) L'Estrange

also spelled Harriet Campbell Lestrange

Birth: 23 March 1835, in Ayrshire, Scotland

Baptism: 11 April 1835, in St Quivox and Newton, Ayrshire, Scotland

Father: William Baird

Mother: Jemima (Carpendale) Baird

Married: Guy James Carleton L'Estrange on 7 June 1860, in Rostrevor, county Down, Ireland, by Rev. Thomas Carpendale, Harriet's uncle.
The Londonderry Sentinel 16 June 1860 transcribed at oldwarrenpointforum.com
June 7, at Rostrevor Church, by the Rev. Thomas Carpendale, Rector of Donaghmore, county Tyrone, the Rev. Guy James Carleton L'Estange, Incumbent of Warrenpoint, and son of the late C. L'Estrange Carleton, Esq., of Markethill, county Fermanagh, to Harriet Campbell, only surviving daughter of the late Major Baird, of Falkland, Ayrshire.

Children:
Death: 29 May 1899, in Rathdown, Ireland

Notes: Harriet was nominated to be an executor of the will of her aunt Harriet Carpendale, but "declined to accept". At the time she is noted as being "of Monkstown, County Dublin"

Census:
1841: Falkland House, St Quivox, Ayrshire

Sources:

Harry Ashley Guy Baird

Birth: 11 April 1864, in Altrincham district, Cheshire, England

Baptism: 16 May 1864 in Timperley, Cheshire, England

Father: Thomas James Carpendale Baird

Mother: Gertrude Emily (Maude) Baird

Education: Cheltenham College, which he entered in September 1873
Cheltenham College Register, 1841-1899 p302 (1890):
ENTERED SEPTEMBER, 1873.
Baird, Harry Ashley Gray, son of Captain Thomas Carpendale Baird, Comberbach House, Northwich, Cheshire; born 11th April, 1864. 4bJ -. Teighmore.

Death: 28 September 1884, at Horse Creek, near Fullerton, Nance county, Nebraska, United States. Harry was murdered, shot in the head, in a quintiple murder on a farm sparked, supposedly, by rage over a missed supper. The presumed murderer, George Furnival, whose guilt was determined at an inquest, disappeared and was never captured. When the bodies were first discovered four days later, Harry was initially suspected of the other four murders, and a reward offered for his capture, but two days later his body, too, was found nearby, and suspicion then fell on Furnival. Furnival and Perceval were friends in England that had sailed out to America together.

Harry's brief period of suspicion meant that newspapers published descriptions of him giving us a rough idea of his looks and habits. For example: "Baird is a bright-looking young fellow, smooth face, except light mustache; wears good clothes, plays pool, and drinks occasionally. He is an Englishman."

This account of the murders, from some months later and after the inquest, probably gives the most accepted version of the event. It also established quite clearly that the "H. A. G. Baird" of most reports was in fact our Harry Ashley Guy Baird.
The Aroha News 6 February 1885 p5
QUINTRUPLE MURDER.
Awful Tragedy in Nebraska. - Story of the Affair.
                                                       LONDON, Dec 4.
You have probably learnt all about the fearful quintuple murder in Nebraska long ago. If not, the following version of the story, communicated to the London papers by relatives of the unfortunate families, may be of interest. There are few, says the "Telegraph," to whom the story we are about to relate of a dismal tragedy, recently enacted in the United States, will not forcibly appeal. So close, indeed, are the ties of sympathy generated by consanguinity and facility of intercourse which now bind the two great Anglo Saxon nations together, that crimes of a peculiarly ghastly type seldom fail to reverberate through both countries alike, without regard to the spot that happens to witness their commission. There is, however, one vital difference between the publicity attaching to  an exceptionally horrible  English murder and that which attends upon a similar atrocity perpetrated on the other side of the Atlantic. The smallness of the United Kingdom, and the high civilisation pervading every portion of its surface, render it impossible that any crime of unusual turpitude should escape the public eye, and fail to be noticed by the metropolitan journals. On the other hand, such is the immensity of the area over which the Transatlantic Republic spreads that in the voiceless solitudes of the South, or among the far-distant and sparsely-settled States and Territories of the North-West, dark deeds of blood and violence are constantly recurring, of which the echo is so faint that it hardly reaches New York, and is seldom wafted across the Atlantic. Of this description is the awful crime of which the young State of Nebraska was lately the scene.
  About three years since a young English-gentleman of good family, Mr Henry Baird by name, took his departure from this country in order to try his fortune in the United States. When he started upon the trip which has just ended so disastrously, Mr Baird was not much more than sixteen years old. His father, Captain T C. Baird, who is dead, was connected with Sir David Baird's family, and his mother - who is still alive, and resides at Deal, was a daughter of the Honourable and Reverend Robert Maude, a son of the first Lord Hawarden Mr Maude, who was Dean of Clogher, Archdeacon of Dublin, and Rector of Enniskillen, died in 1861, leaving a widow, three sons, and five daughters, of whom the eldest married Major General John M. Perceval, and the second Captain T. C Baird. Mr Henry Baird was an emigrant of pecisely the kind that our Transatlantic kinsmen are most disposed to welcome. In addition to a shrewd Scotch brain, he carried with him enough money to give him an excellent start in a new country, and, following Horace Greeley's proverbial advice, he resolved to "go West" and, in American phrase, to "pitch in" within the confines of a young and promising State where money, being a rare commodity, might, if judiciously employed, be turned to great advantage. Young as he w s, Mr Baird seems to have "had his head screwed on the right way." He bought some land at Fullerton, in Nance County, Nebraska, upon which he was about to build a house, and his letters to his widowed mother and to his sister spoke in enthusiastic terms of the new country in which he had made his home, and of the prospects of success that seemingly lay before him. Not long after his departure from England he was followed to Nebraska by his first cousin, Mr Perceval, and by the latter's young wife, both of whom, together with their baby, ahve now shared Mr Baird's untimely fate. Mr Perceval and his wife were each of them less than twenty four years old when they, their infant, Mr Baird, and Mr Mair were foully murdered. It appears that a small English colony, consisting of Mr H. A. G. Baird, Mr Hugh Mair, Mr and Mrs Henry Perceval and their one year-old child, and finally a man named George Furnival, lived together or in close proximity to each other at or near Fullerton. On the night of of Sunday September 28th, Furnival having returned to the house which he occupied in conjunction with Mair, found that the latter had not come home, and had neglected the duty which he ordinarily discharged of preparing supper for his companion. It has already been discovered by the small knot of friends that Furnival was a man of an extremely hot and impetuous temper, with whom his associates found it difficult to get along, and who had already fallen out upon many occasions with Mrs Perceval. On the day in question Mair called at a house in which a family named Edmondson lived, and inquired whether Furnival had returned. Receiving an affirmative answer, Mair exclaimed, "George will be mad with me for not having cooked his supper;" and with these words upon his lips he hurried home. A violent quarrel between him and Furnival sprang up, when they met at last, and,  justly indignant at the lauguage employed towards him, Mair refused to cook supper for his friend and himself and went supperless to bed. Scarcely had he gone to sleep before Furnival burst into the room with a loaded gun in his hand, and blew out his comrade's brains. It appears that every evening Baird was in the habit of leaving the house which he occupied jointly with the Percevals, in order to bathe in the creek near Furnival and Mair's dwelling. It was his custom to call upon Mair to have achat with him after bathing. On Sunday night, when Mair was murdered, it is supposed that Baird went to visit him as usual, and that Furnival, in order to prevent his crime from being discovered, shot Baird down, on the principle that "dead men tell no tales," and threw his body into the creek.
  Being aware that Baird would soon be missed by the Percevals, and having already committed two murders, Furnival determined to make a clean job of it, and also to put Mr and Mrs Perceval out of the way. With this object in view, the wretch awaited Perceval's return from Fullerton on the Monday evening, and shot him dead. He then turned towards the house of the murdered man, where he killed Mrs Perceval and the baby in her arms. His next step was to break open the cash-box, and to rifle Mrs Perceval's pocket-book, securing altogether, as is supposed, about one hundred dollars, or twenty pounds. It was known that shortly before he had received ninety-eight dollars from an adjoining bank, where his note of hand had been discounted; and thus it seems probable that the quintuple murderer had nearly two hundred dollars or about forty pounds in his possession when he took the train at Fullerton, in the early morning of Tuesday, the 30th of last September. FRom that day to this nothing furtherhas, we believe, been heard of this inhuman monster. Early in October an inquest was held upon the bodies of the five murdered victims, which lasted many days, while reports of its proceedings filled some two hundred columns of print. At last the following verdict was retuened: "We believe that H. A. G. Baird, Hugh Mair, Henry Perceval and his wife, and their one-year-old child, came to their deaths feloniously on Sunday evening, September 28th, and on Monday, September 29th, from wounds inflicted by weapons in the hands of George Furnival." In a journal published on October 17th, close by the scene where this ghastly crime was committed, we read that "mystery still surrounds the terrible murder at Fullerton, Nebraska, in which our citizens are so deeply interested." It is, of course. possible that before this some tidings may have been heard of the murderer; but, in that case, they have not yet reached Mrs and Miss Baird or General and Mrs Perceval, the sorrowing English relatives of the young victims who have perished by the hand of their false friend. Assuming that the facts which we have stated are in the main correct, and that Furnival is still at large, the United States authorities can hardly refuse to cause a vigorous search be made for the fugitive, so that the author of one of the foulest murders ever sommitted may be hunted down, and visited with the just penalty of his atrocious and inhuman crime.

Reports from nearer the time of the murders show the confusion that reigned, including the initial suspicion of Harry Baird as being the murderer.
Warsaw Daily Times (Warsaw, Indiana, United States) 6 October 1884 p1
WHO DID THE DEED?
The Late Nebraska Slaughter Continues to Be a Mystery
Another Body Found, Making Five Victims - The Murderer Believed to Have Left for Omaha - A Sheriff's Theory.
  OMAHA, Oct. 6. - The supposition now is that the wholesale murder in Nance county was committed by H. A. G. Baird, a young man for whose capture $1,000 reward is offered. Sheriff Zibbel, of Nance county, who has tracked him to Omaha, arrived her, Saturday evening, and makes the following statement After murdering Harry Percival, wife and child, and Hugh Mair, on Monday night Baird rode a horse to Fullerton and there, on Tuesday morning, bought a ticket for Omaha, and left on the morning train. Whether he obtained any plunder is not certainly known, but it is supposed that he did, and it is also believed that he pawned some articles of jewelry at a pawnshop in Omaha. Young Baird was living with Percival, and the theory now is that while Percival was in Fullerton on Monday afternoon Baird committed rape on Mrs. Percival, the effect of which was a miscarriage. Baird, seeing what he had done, killed her and her child. The supposition is that Baird then lay in wait for Percival and killed him on his return from Fullerton. Baird killed him near a haystack and let the body lay there. When found it was badly eaten by hogs. Hugh Mair, who was also killed, lived with his friend Furnival half a mile from Percival, and it is believed that Baird killed him for fear that he (Mair) had learned something. Baird is a bright-looking young fellow, smooth face, except light mustache; wears good clothes, plays pool, and drinks occasionally. He is an Englishman.
  FULLERTON, Neb. Oct. 6 - In the Percival murder case a body was found Saturday night, and reported as Furnival, but has been examined by the coroner's jury, and they find the body to be that of Baird, the man supposed to be the murderer. Furnival is now the only missing person from the two houses. Baird had been shot twice in the head, once by a spent buckshot in the face and with a full charge of small shot and some buckshot in the back of the head, passing almost through. Two other cartridges were found in Furnival's gun, loaded with similar charges of shot to those taken from Baird's head. Furnival's Winchester rifle was found in his room between the mattress and spring, wrapped in a coat, three loads still remaining in the magazine. The case is still enshrouded in the deepest mystery. Mrs. Percival's pocketbook was found empty at the head of her bed, on the floor. The $1,000 reward offered by the county is for the apprehension and conviction of the murderer, not Baird, as previously reported.
  OMAHA, Neb., Oct. 6.-The finding of the body of Baird adds new interest to the Nance county tragedy, this making five pesons murdered by the murderer, of whom no clew has yet been obtained, further than that it is believed he came to Omaha on his way east. Officers are still in Omaha in hopes of getting further trace of him. Mrs. Percival, whom the murderer outraged and murdered, together with her child, was a daughter of Rev. G. C. Tanner of Owatonna, Minn., county superintendent of schools. He passed through Omaha Sunday night en route to the scene of the tragedy, and Saturday was met at the depot here by Rev. Dean Millspaugh and Rev. John Williams, who broke the terrible news to him, he having been summoned by a telegram simply telling him to come on at once, and not informing him of the murder of his daughter, grandchild, and son in-law, Mr. Percival. It now turns out that the murderer, after murdering Hugh Mair, living half a mile distant, by shooting him in the head with a shotgun, pursued and killed Naird, and threw his body into a pond two miles from his house. No tragedy has ever created so much excitement in this part of the country.

Some weeks later, a report surfaced of Furnival being traced to Springfield, Missouri, and as nothing further seemed to come of it, I suppose it was either the wrong man or he disappeared again before being arrested.
Warsaw Daily Times (Warsaw, Indiana, United States) 27 October 1884 p1
The Murderer of the Percival Family
  OMAHA, Oct. 27.- Furnival, murderer of five people near Fullerton, Neb., three weeks ago, has been traced to Springfield, Mo. the sheriff left Sunday night to arrest him. Strange developments are being made in connection with the tragedy. The body of Mrs. Percival was dressed in a clean night gown when found, and in bed was a four-month child. A bundle  of bloody clothes  found under the house shows that the murderer undressed the woman after killing her. It is now given out that she was repeatedly assaulted before being  killed. The supposition is that Furnival killed Mair in a quarrel, and then shot Baird because he discovered the first murder, and finally killed the Percival family for fear they would discover him. If Furnival is taken to Nance county he will be lynched. The people will shoot him down while in custody of the sheriff.

This last account of the murders is from a Supplement to the News-Journal (Fullerton, Nebraska), the Nance County Souvenir Edition of 13 October 1916.
p43
QUADRUPLE HORROR.
A Father, Mother and Yearling Babe Slaughtered In and Near Their Home--A Neighbor Alone a Half Mile Away Also Found Dead In His Gory Couch-Two Men Yet Missing From the Vincinity of the Horse Creek Horror, Twelve Miles West of Here.
  Early this (Friday) morning, October 3, 1884, Mr. T. F. Miller came in the village with the horrible intelligence that Henry Percival, his wife and little child, and a neighbor, Hugh Meyer, had been found murdered in their homes, about twelve miles west of here, on Horse Creek.
  Coroner Dr. Smith and Sheriff Zibble were notified and, with a large number of citizens from the village and vicinity, repaired to the horrible scene, and the following observations were made:
  Mr. Percival was found near the haystack at his barn, shot through the body from about four inches under his right arm. His right arm and his face were torn away by hogs. Mrs. Percival and little girl were in bed, the mother shot through the neck and the child through the head. A little farther up the creek, Hugh Meyer, with whom only lodges George Fernival, was found in his bed upstairs, shot through the head. The bodies were badly decomposed. Mr. Percival was at Fullerton on Monday, leaving for home late in the afternoon with a load of lumber.
  L. H. Faucett was on both premises on Tuesday, and finding the houses closed, supposed the people were away from home. Again on Thursday afternoon he was there, both times on business, in company with an insurance agent, and seeing no stir, looked into Mr. Percival's window and saw the dead mother and child in bed. He went to Mr. Meyer's place and found no one astir, but noticed a sickening odor coming from the house. He then notified neighbors, and Mr. Miller and others repaired to the premises and forced an entrance into Mr. Percival's house. The door of Mr. Meyer's house being open, and late at night, made the shocking discoveries above related.
  The coroner, assisted by Drs. Brady and Binney and a jury, were proceeding on Friday at noon with an inquest. Up to that time nothing had been heard of either Baird or Fernival, but on Tuesday morning one of Percival's horses with Baird's saddle was left at Robert's livery stable in this place by a man, the description of whom might apply to either Baird or Fernival, and who bought a ticket on the morning train for Council Bluffs. From the circumstances, one or more incarnate fiends had on Monday evening broken into Mr. Percival's house, just after his wife and baby had taken their supper and retired, leaving a dish of food for the husband, shot her through the neck, the child through the head, left them in their blood, waited at the barn for Mr. Percival, and shot him dead while pulling hay from a stack; then proceeded to Meyer's house and shot him through the head as he lay in bed.
  This issue has been delayed from morning till late in the afternoon for the above imperfect details, the grim horrors of which cause the whole community to stand aghast.

and, from the same newspaper p45
DEEPER AND DARKER
Grows the Mystery that Hangs Over the Bloody Human Slaughter on Horse Creek -- Since, on Saturday Afternoon, a Fifth Victim is Added to the Ghastly List -- Furnivall Still Missing, and all Efforts to Find Him, Either Dead or Alive, Unavailing -- The Situation and Relation of the Parties and Other Matters Connected With the Dark Deed -- One Thousand Dollars Reward Offered by the County for the Arrest of the Perpetrator.
  The discovery on, Thursday evening of last week on Horse Creek, twelve miles west of here, the mutilated body of Henry Percival at his barn, his wife and child dead in bed, the lifeless form of Hugh Mair in bed at his home, and the absence of George Furnivall and H. A. G. Baird, briefly related last week, was substantially all that was then known of one of the most blood-chillIng tragedies of the times. Since then has been added a fifth horror by the finding on Saturday the decaying body of Mr. Baird in the creek, about three hundred yards from the house where Mair was killed, shot in the face with buck-shot, and in the back of his head with a heavy charge of buck and bird-shot, which lodged in and about his mouth.
  The scene of this domestic massacre is six miles from the Loup River, near the head of Horse Creek, a small and tortuous tributary of that river running through a narrow valley formed by the approach of high tablelands cut with many draws, and about twelve miles from this place. The creek at the point in question, and indeed through its entire course, has cut its bed deep into the sandy subsoil underlying the valley. First of the houses that witnessed the bloody deeds is that of Harry Percival, in the valley two or three hundred yards from the creek. A half mile west in the valley and about the same distance from the creek is where Messrs. Mair and Furnivall lived together as bachelors, the latter owning the property, conditioned, perhaps, that Mair should have half of it as soon as he paid half of the purchase money. Mr. Baird made his home in the family of Mr. Percival, consisting of himself, wife and child one year old, the ages of the other victims and the missing man ranging from twenty to twenty-three years, they all being recently from England except Mrs. Percival. On the highlands a half mile east across the creek from Mr. Percival's house live the Edmundson brothers, aged respectively seventeen and twenty-two. Two or three miles intervene between the three houses, and any other neighbors. The locality is secluded. Before the tragedy it was a beautiful country place; since, imagination may people it with bloody-handed demons.
  On the Sunday evening preceding the murder, Messrs. Mair and Furnivall, the Edmundson brothers and a young man by the name of Watson, stopping temporarily with the latter, went to Lone Tree postoffice, returning about dark to Edmundson's house. On their return the Edmundsons and Furnivall preceded Watson and Mair a short time, Furnivall going straight to his place of abode as soon as he arrived, and Mair following as soon as he came in.
  On Monday morning Furnivall went over to Edmundsons' to get a spade, and while there told the latter that Mair had gone out to scour a plow. Soon after he had returned, young Watson followed him to get a harness, and while at the barn of Furnivall and Mair, asked the former where Mair was, and was told that he had not yet gone out with the plow.
  In the afternoon of the same day Al. Bird of Cedar Rapids went to the house on business with Furnivall and found him at the door, but did not go in the house, and when he went away he was directed to cross the creek at a place away from where the body of Baird was found, yet it is said that the latter place is the best crossing.
  As related last week, L. H. Faucett, in company with Mr. Inbody, from Merrick county, was on the premises both of Percival and Furnivall on Tuesday afternoon, but found no one at either place, the doors being closed.
  On Wednesday one of the Edmundson boys went to Furnivall's house to borrow a book. The door was open or, at least, unfastened, and he went in, finding no one at home, but on the table was a note, supposed to have been written by Furnivall and addressed to Mr. Clark, residing about three miles away: "Betsey and I have gone deer-hunting. You can have the mower and welcome, but beware of the tongue." He did not go upstairs, but took the book and returned home.
  The next visit to the premises was by Faucett and Inbody on Thursday afternoon, referred to last week. Finding the houses closed, they investigated so far as to discover the horrors within, and gave the alarm. Neighbors having assembled late at night, the body of Mr. Percival was found near a haystack at the barn, shot through the head and body, and his wife and child lay in bed, both shot through the head. Proceeding to Furnivall's house, the body of Mair was found in bed upstairs, all in an advanced stage of decomposition.
  Mr. Percival was at Fullerton on Monday, returning home late in the evening. Two or three shots were heard by the Edmundson boys in the direction of his house about 10 o'clock in the evening, and about the same time a horse belonging to Mr. Mair ran over to their place, as if frightened, and immediately returned.
  Mr. Furnivall has not been seen since the tragedy was discovered, but on Tuesday morning previous to its discovery, a man recognized by some that saw him as Furnivall, and by others as Baird, left Percival's horse with Baird's saddle at Mr. Roberts' livery stable at this place, and took the morning train east. Telegrams were sent advising his apprehension, and officers were put on his track, but so far to no avail.
  Financially, the victims and the missing Furnivall were in easy circumstances, the latter, it is thought, owning the most property.
  Mr. Mair was, up to the time of his death, expecting a draft for about one thousand dollars from a friend in England, and it has since come for him, but it is not known that he had any money of consequence about his person. There is no knowledge that Mr. or Mrs. Percival had any money about them, beyond perhaps a small amount; the same is true of Mr. Baird, and a $20 gold-piece was found in his room. A gold watch was also found in Mrs. Percival's room, from all of which it does not appear that plunder was the motive of the bloody deed.
  The coroner's jury, which began its investigation at noon on Monday, consisted of Dr. J. H. Binney, S. H. Penney, I. A. Beagle, G. W. Rogers, Hugo Vogle and E. D. Gould. It continued industriously at work taking testimony up till Wednesday, when it adjourned till Saturday.
  Various theories are predicated by different persons on the many circumstances of the case as to who the bloody demon or demons were that perpetrated the quadruple crime, but since the body of Baird has been found, and other circumstances of the case have developed, it is hardly necessary to say, so long as the dead body of Mr. Furnivall is not found, a common victim with the others of an unknown crimson devil or more, a suspicious finger will point to him as the man who, with or without accomplices, has made his memory as dark as human crime can make it.
  A reward of $1,000 has been offered by the county for the arrest of the murderer. Furnivall, the missing and suspected man, is about twenty- three years old, five feet eight inches high, sharp features, sandy hair, light or rather florid complexion and a little freckled, of erect carriage, pleasant and smiling countenance, and weighs 140 pounds. He has a marked English accent, and has an anchor tattoed on one of his arms. He is supposed to have worn away Baird's coat and Mair's hat.
  The first telegrams that went out from here after the discovery of the murder for the arrest of the perpertrators were undoubtedly based upon the theory that if either Baird or Furnivall should be found dead -- a common victim with the others -- it would be Furnivall, and that it was most likely that Baird was the fugitive from justice, if either of them, and while it is true that a general description of one would not be entirely inapplicable to the other, it is believed that Baird was in mind of the senders of the first messages. But since he has been identified among the dead he can not be found hiding from justice among the living.
  Later -- As we go to press it is whispered that a telegram has been received by Sheriff Zibble that Baird has been arrested somewhere in Missouri, and that the sheriff, in the belief that the man arrested is Furnivall, is telegraphing to ascertain if there is any truth in it, and if so, will go after his man.

Memorial: The lecturn, a carved eagle, at St Paul's Church in Owatonna, Minnesota was given in memory of Harry by his mother. The rector of the church, the Rev. G. C. Tanner was the father of Henry Perceval's wife, Maria Cornelia, and the church was being built when the murders happened. The font in the church is in memory of the murdered infant Ellen Mary, and the brass cross on the later for Hugh Mair.

Harry is possibly buried in St Paul's in Owatonna. The Percevals certainly were, and a gravestone separate from the memorial to Henry and Maria Perceval reads "They who lie here were all murdered near Fullerton Nebraska" but the remainder of the gravstone is illegible to me. It would make sense that Harry, a cousin of the Percevals with no other family in America, would have been buried with the Percevals, and it fits with his mother donating a memorial to the church.

Sources:

James Henry Baird

Birth: 1829/30 in Ayrshire, Scotland

Father: William Baird

Mother: Jemima (Carpendale) Baird

Death: 21 March 1854, at Elm Park, county Armagh, Ireland
The Gentleman's Magazine May 1854 p556:
OBITUARY.
March 21. At Elm-park, Armagh, James Henry, youngest son of the late W. Baird, esq. of Falkland, Ayrsh.

Census:
1841: Falkland House, St Quivox, Ayrshire

Sources:

Jemima Baird

Birth: 1838/9, in Ayrshire, Scotland

Father: William Baird

Mother: Jemima (Carpendale) Baird

Death: at Falkland, Ayrshire, She must have died before 7 June 1860, when her sister, Harriet, is described in her wedding notice as "the only surviving daughter of the late Major Baird"

Census:
1841: Falkland House, St Quivox, Ayrshire

Sources:

John Maxwell Baird

Birth: 1825/6, in Ireland

Father: William Baird

Mother: Jemima (Carpendale) Baird

Occupation: John was in the East India Company Services

Death: 28 August 1848 in Madras, India.

Buried: 28 August 1848, in Madras, Madras, India

Census:
1841: Falkland House, St Quivox, Ayrshire

Sources:

Mary Matilda Annie (Baird) Peto

Title: Lady Peto

Birth: 1870 in Congleton district, Cheshire, England

Baptism: 3 July 1870 in Swettenham, Cheshire, England

Father: Thomas James Carpendale Baird

Mother: Gertrude Emily (Maude) Baird

Married: Basil Edward Peto on 30 August 1892 in Bridge district, Kent, England

Children:
Notes: Mary was elected a fellow of the Royal Horticultural Society on 20 June 1905.

Death: 3 November 1931, in Barnstaple district, Devon, England, aged 61
Evening Post (Wellington, New Zealand) 24 December 1931 p13
Tragic Death: of M.P.'s Wife.
  Lady Peto, wife of Sir Basil Peto, a British M.P., died last month. She was suffering from fatigue after assisting her husband in the election campaign, states a London writer, and on the Saturday following the election entered a nursing home for an operation. Lady Peto was the daughter of the late Captain Thomas K. Baird, of the Dorset Begiment, who fought in the Crimean War. She married Sir Basil in 1892.

Census:
1881: Village, Ripple, Kent
1901: Chobham, Surrey: May M. A. Pete is aged 30, born in Cheshire

Sources:

Maude Dora Gertrude (Baird) Plumptre

Birth: 1866 in Congleton district, Cheshire, England

Baptism: 12 February 1866 in Swettenham, Cheshire, England

Father: Thomas James Carpendale Baird

Mother: Gertrude Emily (Maude) Baird

Education: Royal School, Putney, Surrey

Married: Henry Fitzwalter Plumptre on 17 April 1892 in Capel-Le-Ferne, Kent, England

Death: 4 May 1893, in Eastry district, Kent, England, aged 27

Buried: 8 May 1893, in Goodnestone (near Sandwich), Kent, England, aged 27

Census:
1881: Royal School, Putney, Surrey

Sources:

Maxwell Edmund Frederick Baird

Birth: 1868, in Kermincham, Cheshire, England

Baptism (1): 1 September 1868 in Swettenham, Cheshire, England

Baptism (2): 11 April 1869 in Swettenham, Cheshire, England

Why two baptisms? Hard to say - I am sure these baptisms are of the same person - the parent's names are distinctive and there is insufficient time between them for this to be a case of an infant dying young and the next child being given the same name (and there wold be an additional death and birth registration in that case).

Father: Thomas James Carpendale Baird

Mother: Gertrude Emily (Maude) Baird

Education: Dover College, Hougham, Kent.
Maxwell is shown as a boarder at Dover College in the 1881 census, but for some reason does not appear in the Dover College Register 1871-1899

Occupation: Forestry official.
Maxwell went to Siam in 1896 and joined the staff of the Borneo Co. He later joined the Royal Siamese Forest Service, and rose to be Deputy Conservator.

Notes:
The Straits Times records the arrival of Maxwell Baird in Singapore, from London, on the Kaiser-i-Hind on 9 November 1896 (The Straits Times 9 November 1896 p2)

Timber Elephants by Maxwell Baird
Timber Elephants
This photograph was taken by Maxwell Baird in Lakou, Upper Siam
 photo by Maxwell Baird from The living animals of the world vol 1 (Cornish, Selous et al, 1901)
Six photographs of elephants by Maxwell Baird are printed in The living animals of the world vol 1 (Cornish, Selous et al, 1901). The example shown here was taken in Lakou, Upper Siam.

Maxwell was a member of the Siam Society.

Death: 5 May 1906, in Bangkok, Siam, of cholera
The Straits Times 6 June 1906 p4
DEATHS.
BAIRD.-On the 5th of May.,at Bangkok, of cholera, Maxwell Edmund Frederick, Royal Siamese Forest Service, fifth son of the late Capt. T. C. Baird, Dorset Regt.

Eastern Daily Mail and Straits Morning Advertiser 16 May 1906 p2
DEATH OF MR. BAIRD
  Mr. Maxwell E. F. Baird, of the Siamese Forest Department, died at Bangkok on Saturday night the 5th inst. very suddenly, of cholera. According to the "Bangkok Times" he had been about as usual on the Saturday, apparently thoroughly healthy and fit, and he was the last man to associate with illness.
  He was taken seriously ill between eight and nine oclock in the evening and death took place in the early hours of Sunday morning. Dr. Carthew and Dr. Poix were in attendance and had brought him through the cholera attack, but he afterwards collapsed.
  Mr. Baird came out to Siam first about 1895, and joined the up country staff of the Borneo Co., Ltd. Later on he joined the Forest Department, and rose to be a Deputy Conservator, having been for some time in charge of the Bangkok office. Personally he was the cheeriest and kindliest of men, and he had many warm friends while he was known and liked by practically the whole community.

Census:
1881: Dover College, Folkestone Road, Hougham, Kent
1901: Goodnestone Next Wingham, Kent: Maxwell Baird is aged 33, born in Cogleton, Cheshire, living on own means.

Sources:

Thomas James Carpendale Baird

Birth: 8 August 1828 in St Quivox, Ayrshire, Scotland

Father: William Baird

Mother: Jemima (Carpendale) Baird

Married: Gertrude Emily Maude on 14 October 1857 in Edinburgh, Midlothian county, Scotland
Gertrude was born in 1832 in Ireland, the daughter of Robert William Henry Maude, Dean of Clogher and Martha Elizabeth Mary Prittie. She died on 22 January 1895, at 37 Moore St. nr. Cadogan Square, London, aged 62.
Census:
1881: 13 Marine Parade, Folkestone, Kent

Children Occupation: Army Officer.
Thomas was commissioned, by purchase, as Ensign into the 67th Regiment of Foot on 15 February 1850, and immediately transferred into the 39th (The Dorsetshire) Regiment of Foot (London Gazette 15 February 1850 p424). He was promoted to Lieutenant, without purchase, on 23rd November 1852 (London Gazette 23 November 1852 p3150) and Captain, without purchase, on 15 February 1855 (London Gazette 9 March 1855 p1005). Thomas retired in July 1855 (London Gazette 27 July 1855 p2868) but re-entered the Army Auxiliary Forces first as a Captain in the County of Dublin Regiment of Militia on 1 July 1858 (Edinburgh Gazette 9 July 1858 p1295), and then, on 18 December 1860, as Adjutant of the 3rd Battalion of the Cheshire Rifle Volunteers (London Gazette 1 March 1861 p1008).

Notes: Thomas was baptised Thomas James Carpendale Baird but he seems to have dropped the James and all subsequent records, including formal military records, list him just as Thomas Carpendale Baird.

Thomas's son, Eustace, wrote a book in 1888 My First School: A Tale for Boys, Founded on Fact which contains a description of the protaganist's parents, obviously quite autobiographical and I assume the description is relatively accurate of Thomas:
  My father had been in the army, but retired with the rank of major, soon after the Crimean War.
  He was above the middle height, had a broad chest, and was straight as an arrow. Though he could be stern at times, he was generally kind and affable to all around him. He married my mother, to whom he was devoted, on leaving the army, and they then settled down in one of the north-west counties, where my father did a little farming, more as a means of employment than for any profit to be obtained by it, although people said he made it pay better than many others who had tried it.

Death: 5 February 1875

On 14 May 1875, the Ayr Sheriff's court inventory was declared of the estate of Thomas Carpendale Baird "chaplain of Flatfield, parish of Symington, co Ayr, Adjutant of 2nd Administrative Battalion, Cheshire Rifle Volunteers"

Census & Addresses:
1841: Falkland House, St Quivox, Ayrshire
1873: Comberbach House, Northwich Cheshire (Cheltenham College Register, 1841-1899 p297)
1873: Seven Oaks, Cheshire (Cheshire Register of Electors 1873)
1874: Seven Oaks, Cheshire (Cheshire Register of Electors 1874)

Sources:

William Baird

Birth: 1761-1766, in Ayrshire, Scotland

Married: Jemima Carpendale on 26 April 1825, in Armagh Cathedral, Armagh, Ireland

Children: Occupation: William was a major in the 86th Regiment of Foot.

Death: 17 December 1841

Census:
1841: Falkland House, St Quivox, Ayrshire

Sources:

William Carpendale Baird

Birth: 26 March 1827, in Ayr, Ayrshire, Scotland

Father: William Baird

Mother: Jemima (Carpendale) Baird

Occupation: Officer in the British Army. William was comissioned as ensign, without purchase, in the 86th Regiment of Foot on 22 December 1843 (London Gazette 22 December 1843 p4475). He was promoted to Lieutenant, by purchase, on 9 April 1847 (London Gazette 9 April 1847 p1336). At this time the 86th was deployed in Bombay (Allen's Indian Mail 24 April 1847 p251). William retired on half-pay of the 63rd Foot on 15 October 1847 (Edinburgh Gazette 19 October 1847 p521). On 31 October 1851, William was moved from half-pay in the 63rd Foot to be Lieutenant in the 50th Foot (London Gazette 31 October 1851 p2834)

Death: 10 February 1855, at Elm Park, county Armagh, Ireland
The Gentleman's Magazine April 1855 p442:
OBITUARY.
Feb. 10. At Elm Park, co. Armagh, aged 27, William Carpendale Baird, late of the 50th Regt. eldest surviving son of the late William Baird, esq. of Falkland, Ayrshire.

Census:
1841: Falkland House, St Quivox, Ayrshire

Sources:

William Robert Cornwallis Baird

Birth: 12 August 1858, in Edinburgh, Midlothian, Scotland

Father: Thomas James Carpendale Baird

Mother: Gertrude Emily (Maude) Baird

Education: Cheltenham College, which he attended from January 1873 until July 1876.
Cheltenham College Register, 1841-1899 p297 (1890):
ENTERED JANUARY, 1873.
Baird, William Robert Cornwallis, son of Captain Thomas Carpendale Baird, Comberbach House, Northwich, Cheshire; born 12th August, 1858. 7bM - 1aM. Price. Left July, 1876.
  Royal Military College, Sandhurst, 1877. 2nd Lieutenant, 14th Foot, January, 1878; Lieutenant, August, 1878; Captain, West Yorkshire Regiment, 1883. Served in the Afghan War in 1880, and took part in the Kama Expedition (Medal).

Occupation: Army Officer in the 14th Foot. Lieutenant by 1881; later Captain
William was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the 14th (Buckinghamshire) Regiment on 30 January 1878 (Army List 1878 p152) and promoted to Lieutenant on 17 August 1878 (London Gazette 13 December 1878 p7136). In 1878 and 1879, William's 1st Battalion was based in Ranniket, Bengal and in 1880 William was in the 2nd Battalion based in Pesh Bolak, Afghanistan (Army List 1880 p252). The 2nd battalion of the 14th, which by then had been restyled as the Prince of Wales' Own (West Yorkshire Regiment) was based in Nowahera, Bengal in 1881 (Army List 1881 p253) through 1883, when the Army List 1883 p253 notes that "Lieut. Baird served in the Afghan war in 1880 and took part in the Kama Expedition (Medal)." The action is described in Historical Records of the 14th Regiment (H. O'Donnell 1893):
Two weeks later  the 2/14th embarked as part of Brigadier General Doran’s column on the Kama Expedition. The expedition began on 2 June 1880, with the main event being the destruction of some Afghan tribal towers on 4 June. Two companies of the 14th Regiment were involved in assisting with the destruction, while the other two companies remained at Girdi Kats as an escort to the Royal Artillery on the opposing side of the Kabul River. Though a demonstration was made while the pioneers and sappers engaged in their work, the strength of the British force had the desired effect and the Afghans tendered their submission. The troops returned to their stations without further incident on the 6th and 7th June.

William was promoted to Captain on 25 July 1883 (London Gazette 31 July 1883 p3821) and returned to the 1st Battalion then based in Castlebar, county Mayo, Ireland (Army List 1884 p253), in Galway from 1884 to 1886, in Dublin from 1887 to 1888 and Fermoy, county Cork from 1889 to 1890. On 1 April 1890 William was placed on temporary half-pay on account of ill-health (London Gazette 1 April 1890 p1970), and he retired from the Service, receiving a gratuity, on 7 May 1890 (London Gazette 6 May 1890 p2616).

Death: 12 September 1891 in Bridge district, Kent, England, aged 33

Buried: 16 September 1891, in Ickham, Kent, England

Census:
1881: 13 Marine Parade, Folkestone, Kent

Sources:
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