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WIFE IS SLAIN
AS SHE PRAYS
FOR HER LIFE
Samuel
Hughes Then Kills
Self in
Home Being
Broken Up
JEALOUSY
OF PRETTY
WIFE IS
HELD CAUSE
Two
Children Wait at
Grandma's
for Mama to
Come Home
Samuel
Hughes, 32, 708 Bartholomew street, killed his 26-year-old wife
Friday morning as she prayed for her life. Hughes shot the entreating
girl in the back of the neck and then turned the revolver on himself.
He fired a bullet into his left breast and another into his mouth.
Death came to him instantly. The tragedy occurred in a house at 708
Bartholomew street, which the couple had occupied until a month ago.
There
were no witnesses to the murder and suicide, although Thomas E.
Hughes, 19, 941 Elmira street, brother of the dead man, was in the
rear of the house, and neighbors reported they had heard sounds of
quarreling in the Hughes residence. They said they heard Mrs. Hughes
say: "My God, Sam, don't do it; don't do it."
Three
Shots Heard
Then
they heard the shots, three of them in rapid succession.
Mr. and
Mrs. Hughes had been married eight years. There are two children,
Harold, six years old, and Hazel, four years old. The children and
Mrs. Hughes' mother, Mrs. Margaret Ebbermann, widow of Jacob
Ebbermann, 1231 Bartholomew street, since their parents had been
separated a month ago.
Jealousy
is ascribed as the reason for the double shooting. Hughes is said to
have accused his wife of receiving the attentions of other men. It
was these accusations that brought on the quarrel which led to the
separation of the couple a month ago, according to the neighbors and
police who investigated. The police learned that the marital troubles
of the Hughes' were pending in the courts at the time Hughes
determined to avenge his wrongs, fancied or otherwise, with a revolver.
Shot as
She Knelt
Neighbors
who heard the shots summoned the police. Motorcycle Policeman
Leonard Kline was the first officer to arrive. He found Hughes dead
and Mrs. Hughes dying in a rear room of the little dwelling. The
policeman said Mrs. Hughes was unconscious when he arrived but that
her pulse still beat. By the time medical aid arrived, she too, was dead.
Her
position when the officer arrived bore out the report of neighbors,
who had heard loud voices in the house, that she had been begging and
praying for her life. She was in a kneeling posture on the floor. Her
husband had been seated in a rocking chair when he fired the shots
that made orphans of two innocent children.
The
couple had met by appointment
(CONTINUED
ON PAGE FIVE)
Concluded
From Page One
WIFE
SLAIN PRAYING
HUSBAND
KILLS SELF
at
their former home, which Hughes still occupied, to pack their
furniture and put it in storage. Thomas Hughes, the brother met them
there to help in the packing. He said his brother and sister-in-law
went in by the front door as he went to the rear of the house to the
alley to obtain a wheelbarrow for use in the necessary work of
packing and storing. He said he had not been in the alley more than
two minutes, that he then walked around to the front door and was met
by a neighbor who said there had been shooting in the house. Together
young Hughes and several neighbors rushed into the house and there
came upon the tragedy.
Police
headquarters at first obtaining only a meagre report of the double
shooting, rushed all available men to Bartholomew street,
Superintendent Molony, Captain Ray, and detectives hurried to the
scene. Two ambulances were summoned. They were not needed. The police
instead notified the coroner.
Mrs.
Ebberman, Mrs. Hughes' mother, was one of the first on the scene. She
became hysterical at the sight that greeted her. When she finally was
able to talk after the severe shock she said she had warned her
daughter not to meet Hughes. "I told her," She said,
"to beware of that man. I felt that he intended to do ehr some
bodily harm. But she did not listen to me."
Hughes
was the son of Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Hughes of 941 Elmira street. His
mother was summoned by the family physician. She was told her son had
met with an accident. She did not know he was dead when she arrived
at the Bartholomew street house. But she saw many policemen and a
crowd that had gathered. Then she began to sob. Neighbors and police
did not want to shock her with the news, but Mrs. Ebberman told her.
"They're
both lying dead in there now," she said. "Your son and my daughter."
Had
Violent Quarrels.
The
dead man had been employed until about a month ago as a boilermaker's
helper at the United States Naval station. He, with some others, was
placed on furlough, and neighbors said he had not worked recently,
they believed.
It was
reported to the police that the Hughes' had once before been
separated, but had become reconciled and lived together again at the
Bartholomew street address until the quarrel three weeks ago. The
neighbors said quarreling between the couple had been frequent and
violent. They said for that reason they did not pay much attention to
Friday morning's verbal outbreak which preceded the shooting.
Mrs.
Hughes was an exceedingly pretty young woman. Her mother said she was
devoted to the two children. Hughes had placed the blame for their
quarrels upon his wife's good looks, charging that she had not
refused the advances of other men.
The two
little children, Harold and Hazel, have not been told of the grim
tragedy that has come into their infant lives. Hours after their
parents were dead, they still played happily at the Ebberman home,
but said they wished "mamma would hurry home."
Haled
Into Juvenile Court
Both
Mr. and Mrs. Hughes were before Judge Wilson in Juvenile Court
Thursday. Mrs. Hughes complained that her husband had not paid $10
weekly for the support of the children as he had been ordered. A
capias was being made out for his arrest when Hughes walked in and
explained he had heard he was wanted. Mrs. Hughes had said her
husband was going to leave town and she was afraid she would not get
the money for the children. It had been ordered paid beginning March
31, but Hughes had paid nothing.
Hughes
told Judge Wilson he had no intention of leaving the city, but said
he was out of work, having been furloughed at the Naval Station. He
said he had no intention of disobeying the court's order to pay the
money for his children and would pay the first installment of $10 Friday.
Judge
Wilson discharged Hughes upon his own representations which Judge
Wilson said impressed him as being the attitude of an honest man. |
