Evening Republican, Volume 16, Number 216, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 September 1912 — REVOLVER SHOT BRINGS DEATH TO CARPENTER. [ARTICLE]

REVOLVER SHOT BRINGS DEATH TO CARPENTER.

George New man Either a Suicide or Victim ol Accidental Discharge of 82-Callbre Revolver. George Newman, a carpenter about 39 years of age and unmarried, died early Sunday morning at the home of Bent Hopper, 111 South Weston street, as the result of a bullet fired from a 32-calibre Colts automatic revolver at about 10:30 o’clock Saturday night. Whether the shot was fired with suicidal intent or the revolver accidently discharged will probably’ never be known as no clew was left that would throw any certain light on the death and it will doubtless always remain a mystery. Mr. Newman made his home with Mr. and Mrs. Hopper and was employed by Mr. Hopper as a carpenter. He occupied an upstairs roeta in the Hopper home and came to the house at about 10:00 o’clock Saturday evening. Mr. and Mrs. Hopper had retired and Mrs. Hopper was awakened when he came in. She states that lie entered the house more abruptly than was his custom and made much more noise than usual. After he went to his room he slammed the door and seemed to take extra precaution that it was tightly closed. The door fits tightly in the frame and he pounded until it was entirely shut He also lowered the windows, except two which he left up a short distance. The blinds were pulled down. Mrs. Hopper stated that she remained awake <d thought it peculiar that he should be making so much noise. She heard <ths clock strike the half hour after 10 and a very little later heard the muffled discharge of the revolver. She awakened Mr. Hopper, who went to the room and pushed open the door. Newmap’s body was stretched out on the floor. He did not move it, but ran down to the street and secured Nightwatch Frank Critser, Harry Eger and two other men and returned to the room. They found that life was not extinct, although he had bled profusely from the wound inflicted by the bullet. He was placed on a cot after Drs. A. R. Kresler and C. E. Johnson and Coroner Wright arrived and an examination made of the bullet wound. They found that the bullet had entered at the left of the nose and just below the cheek bone and had passed through the head and out of the back of the skull, and that considerable brain matter had come out with the bullet. They said that the shot was certain to prove At 2 o’clock dissoluion took place. The body was removed to the Wright undertaking establishment, where it will remain until arrangements for the funeral have been completed. Mr. and Mrs. Hopper were unable to throw any light whatever on the mystery. They believed it to have been a case of suicide, although aside from the fact that Newman had made more noise than usual and had taken pains to close the door and put down the windows there was no especial reason to hold that theory. Newman had worked for Mr. Hopper for about seven years, both in Rensselaer and in Oklahoma City. He was a good workman, a man of the very ? best moral habits. He did not drink, nor use tobacco, nor gamble, and they regarded him as a man entirely without evil habits. He was not in good health, suffering from kidney trouble, but this whs not serious and did not cause him intense worry. He was a very quiet man and did not confide his business to any one. He had no close friends or companions, as a matter of choice. Saturday Mr. Newman worked throughout the day and talked Mr. Hopper and others about their building plans. He was to all appearances in the very best of spirits. Saturday evening he bought a pair of overalls in the G. E. Murray store and during the early evening he went to Free Wood’s barbershop and took a bath. He whs seen at various times during the evening and all wno met him state that there was nothing about his conduct to indicate that he was about to commit so rash an act There is therefore considerable chhnce that the shot may have been accidental and there is considerable to Support this theory.. Newman bought the. revolver while he, was working in Oklahoma. He carried it occasionally when he lived there and Mr. Hopper thinks he slipped it in his pocket when he want down street after night in Rensselaer.. He usually kept it in his trunk, however, and kept his trunk locked. Foil owing the discharge of the revolver, those .who entered the room found the trunk-undocked, which indicated that he might have started

to pu t the re vol ver away. He had removed his shoes and his coat. The revolver was found at his feet. The bullet after passing through his head had peneraited the plastering in the ceiling and then fallen to the floor. It was a steel covered bullet and had been flattened out by contact with hard substances. Newman must have been in a bent over position when .the was discharged, otherwise the bullet would have struck into the side wall. It would hardly seem that any person committing suicide would have selected the point where the bullet entered his face to have fired at, nor would have bent over as he must have been when the shot was fired. There were no powder burns on his face, which indicates that the revolver must have been at least full arm’s length away.Newman had drawn his week’s pay, $lB, from Mr. Hopper, receiving a chepk for the amount. He had cashed it and had the money and several dollars more rolled up and in his pocket. He hlad been saving his money and had an account in a local bank. Newman has a married brother, William O. Newman, in Oklahoma City, and word was dispatched to him Sunday morning and he is expected here tonight or tomorrow, although no response had been received from him. He also has a brother in Colorado, a sister in Georgia and another 'Sister in Tennessee. Mr. Newman first came to Rensselaer about 12 years ago, moving here from DeMotte. He was a native of Ohio, but had lived a number of years in Mississippi and Tennessee. His father moved around a good deal and is understood to have wasted a considerable fortune by so doing, After the father’s death the mother and the single children came to this city, where the mother and one sister died. A little over four years ago George went to Colorado’, but remained there only a short time and then went to Oklahoma City, where he remained until last March, when he came to Rensselaer and resumed work for Mr. Hopper. Newman was engaged to a young lady living in the country near Rensselaer and they were planning for their marriage, which was to take place before long. Their relations were agreeable in every way and there was nothing about his courtship that could have inspired him to commit suicide. The accidental theory seems a quite reasonable one and unless new evidence from an unexpected source develops there is a reasonable presumption that the shot was fired by an accidental discharge of the pistol. Special attention given to the fitting of children’s shoes. A misfitted shoe spoils the foot for life. Guard against this by having your children’s shoes fitted at Rowles & Parker’s.