SHOOTING A BEAD WOMAN.

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XXXII, Issue 8893, 13 August 1907, Page 1

SHOOTING A BEAD WOMAN.

An cxt'/acviliuavy c!se lias arisou hi tiic rric.l in Xc.v York of James VT:irdel], who is with mmhjs nincteee-vear-old wife. \Yardcll ravs in-, and his wife agreed r:> die together, liho accordingly turned on"the j;as, and rlicn both lav down and waited for death. For teii mi;;:;ks, according to Warden, riir-v talked, ami then lie fell asleep. Twenty minutes later Hip awoke wirli :i s'rart. he says, aud saw that his wife was sriil alive. "Yve had promised each other that if the shs did not kill both, tlie one who lived si icm Id iinish the job," said YVardell, 'and I rushed out to a pawnbroker, boujrht a revolver, and «hot my wife through the head. Then I snapped the revolver four times to kill myself, but the remaiuiuff cartridges would not explode." The marks on tin; cap show that in this part of Ins story at least he is tolling the truth. When the revolver refused to .work: YTardoll repented of his deed, and telephoned to the police, saying that his wife had committed suicide.

} Nosv comes fiie point that has iu- j vested so much interest. A scientific jexamination shows incmitestably that the v,'om;'.ii was already dead when her husband fired, although, according to his story, lie thought j she was alive. Since'the. man shot J . . to kill, and since the shot fired would j J have 'infallibly killed hoi- if the . woman had not been already dead, | the police contend that Wardell must f be charged with, the capital offence; M I but to charge a man, says the do- j ( fence, will! killing a woman who j | was already dead is preposterous. j