Man Crazed By 'Abraham Sacrifices Isaac' Story, Kills Daughter

Kansas City, MO, 1917

MAN IS CRAZED BY BIBLE STORY

Kills His Six-Year-Old Daughter as a Sacrifice to God.

"IT WAS GOD'S WILL"

Mumbles to Mission Worker That Heaven Ordained He Should Offer Up Child on Altar of Religion.

Kansas City, Mo.—Jacob Bentz, thirty-five years old, crazed by religious fervor, applied the story of Biblical sacrifices to his own home, and dragged Helena, his oldest child, aged six years, into a room and beat her to death with the heavy arm of a sewing machine. Two hours later Bentz was found with his Bible opened at the chapter in Genesis, telling the story of Abraham's offering of Isaac as a sacrifice. He was kneeling beside his dead child, his hands clasped in prayer.

"It Was God's Will."

Bentz did not resist arrest and said: "It was God's will that I kill my child," as he was being taken to jail. In another room Mrs. Bentz was found clutching her three remaining children. The man was known to be deeply religious and read his Bible at every opportunity. The sacrifice of his daughter was premeditated, as he had informed fellow workmen at a packing house that he was contemplating a three days' journey such as Abraham took before offering Isaac to the Lord.

Beat Daughter to Death.

On the evening of the tragedy Bentz had been reading his Bible. Suddenly he closed the book and, taking Helena by the hand, forced her to leave her mother and enter another room with him. The mother attempted to follow, but Bentz pushed her back and locked the door. Half an hour later, Rev. A. S. Sixta, who conducts a mission in the city, called to visit the Bentz family. The crazed man opened the door slightly and peered out. He saw the minister.

"You are a servant of God and welcome," Bentz said. Then the minister inquired who was home and the madman replied: "I am praying beside the child I have sacrificed to God." Sixta, fearing to excite the maniac further, remained with Bentz until late in the evening when he managed to escape and called a policeman.

—New Oxford Item, New Oxford, PA, Aug. 9, 1917.