Horror Story

The hushed rooms of the small bungalow were cluttered with dolls, doll furniture, toys. It was early morning and the only ones up were Barton Davis and two of his children, whom he warned to be quiet: the other two children and their mother were still asleep. He helped three-year-old Marquis get dressed, told ten-year-old Daphne to take care of him, kissed the two goodby, and left them making toast.

The morning was well along when Davis, busy at the grocery store where he was manager, had a telephone call from his oldest daughter, Chloe. All she said was, "Daddy, you better come home." and hung up. Puzzled, a little anxious, Davis hurried back, found eleven-year-old Chloe sitting quietly on the front steps. All she said to him was: "You better go in the house."

Davis went in. In the hallway, on a mattress, lay the naked body of his wife, Lolita, in a welter of blood. Beside her was a broken hammer. In the bathtub lay the body of Deborah Ann, 7; in the kitchen were the bodies of Daphne and Marquis. In the oven were two burned pieces of toast. Only survivor of whatever had happened was Chloe, who, neat in a clean dress, her flaxen hair in pigtails, gazed at him with appraising eyes as he stumbled out of the house.

Summoned by a neighbor, Los Angeles police came. Daphne and Deborah, still faintly breathing, were rushed to the hospital, where they died from fractured skulls. Chloe herself had a slight scalp wound which had to be treated. Her head swathed in a bandage, blue eyes wide and unblinking, she told her story:

She had been awakened that morning by the sound of screaming, and had got out of bed. Her mother was shouting that demons were after them all and she was going to kill the four children, then kill herself. Already Mrs. Davis had bludgeoned the other three into insensibility. "I thought mother had gone nuts. Mother started hitting at me with the hammer. She conked me on my head."

So Chloe wrested the hammer away from her mother. Her mother tried to set Chloe's hair on fire, then tried to set fire to her own hair, and her nightgown, which flared up, burned away and left her naked. Then she made Chloe help her drag a mattress into the hallway, and lay down on it. "She told me to hit her over the head and to keep on hitting her until she couldn't talk." Chloe obeyed, struck her mother "about 20 times before the head of the hammer came off, then about 30 more times with the handle. ... I always did what mother told me to do. She told me to be sure and kill her because the demons were after her and would get us kids. She said she was sorry she didn't get to kill me, too. When ever I'd stop she'd get after me to keep on."

Four times Chloe fetched her mother a drink, each time drank a little water herself. On one trip to the sink she heard a whimper from Marquis, who was lying on the kitchen floor. "I went back and asked mother if I shouldn't put Marquis out of his misery. She nodded, so I went and hit him about three times, until he was still." The last glass of water Chloe got she had to pour down her mother's throat because Lolita Davis had "gone out". Chloe washed, dressed, and went out to telephone her father. She remembered she did not have a nickel for a pay phone.

"I thought about asking someone for a nickel but lost my nerve and finally went back to the neighbor's house." She telephoned from there.

Chloe, police learned, enjoyed a high rating for intelligence in her school, where she was a year ahead of her class. She was an avid reader of fiction, newspapers, crime stories. She told this nightmare tale with stupendous composure. Throughout her questioning, she stuck to her story, said finally: "I'd like to have some soup and a piece of lemon cream pie." Steadfast in his belief that Chloe was telling the truth was her stricken father.

Barton Davis told police his wife had been mentally ill for some time, had talked of committing suicide, had told him that she was pursued by demons. Final confirmation of Chloe's story was provided by her belated recollection: "While mother was begging me to hit her with the hammer she asked me for a razor blade. I got one and gave it to her, and watched her slash her wrists." An autopsy confirmed the unsuspected fact.

But until the law could decide what to do about her, Chloe was made a ward of the Juvenile Court.

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