Rensselaer Republican, Volume 18, Number 23, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 February 1886 — STILL A MYSTERY. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

STILL A MYSTERY.

What Is known and believed about the death of Young Halstead. The body of Edwifi M. Halstead Peached this place, at the expected time, last Thursday night, in the care of Wm. Mills, now of the vicinity of Andover, Dakota, but formerly a resident of Goodland, and previous to tnatof Remington, in this county. From Mr. Mitts we learn that at the time of his death young Halstead was living with an estimable family named Pratt, some three miles from Andover. The second story of the Pratt house was divided into two rooms, and the larger of these rooms Halstead used as a school room, and was engaged upon a term of school, with about three weeks more to teach, at the time of the fatal occurrence. The other room in this story w r as. used as the sleeping room of the deceased. The shooting occured at an early hour on Monday morning. The day before, Sunday, he had written a long and. cheerful letter to his f riends iu this vicinity, and in the course of the letter remarked that in going to town the day Saturday, a fierce dog had attacked him, and that he regretted not having had his revolver with him at the time. Later it became known that he purchased cartridges for the revolver, upon reaching; Andover that day. Sunday Le passed as ordinarily, attending church and Sunday school, in which he was a faithful worker. On Monday morning he ate his breakfast with the family, though not eating very heartily, as Mrs. Pratt remembered, and went up stairs to his room, leaving Mrs. Pratt and her two children at breakfast, while Mr. Pratt had gone out to attend to his chores. A few minutes lkter the sound of a pistol shot was heard in the room above, and this was followed b.y groans. Mrs. ‘Pratt rushed upstairs into the school room and called the yohiig man by nam e She received nc answer, and then ran and called her husband Ho came at once, and going into the bed room found the deceased in a kneeling posture, near the head of his bad, with his forehead resting agaiust the bed or the bed post, and blood running from a bullet hole in the right side of his head, about an inch above and slightly back 01 the highest point of the ear. His position was such that the blood from the wound ran down over liis forehead and face: He ‘continued to breathe feebly for about two hou,rs, but neve;: spoke nor seemed conscious aftei the shooting occured. The revolver laid upon the floor, several, feet to Lis right, and somewhat backward. His open trunk stood near, with a box of open cartridges in its lid. A physician was called by telegraph, from the neighboring town of Aberdeen, but he did not reach the scene until after the young man had expired. _bd The following diagram, with die explanations below, will hel ) to make clear the foregoiug account of this sad and tragical occurrence:

A School Room. • B Stairs. • G C Beds". D Door. t Body. T Revolver. \ An inquest was held oil Tuo’sday and the verdict then was to the effect that the death was intentional suicide; the conclusion being that he had knelt at his bed, in the attitude of prayer, aud placing the weapon to his head, or near, it had sent the fatal bullet into his brain. The inquest does not seem to have been made with i a grea t deal of care, and Mr. Mi Us j aud many others tvere hot satisfied

with the verdict. The blood was not washed from the face until after the inquest; when this was done Mr. Mills discovered upon the forehead, ijust above the eyes a bruised or swollen . appearance which led him to believe that instead of the wound being received in a kneeling position, the young man was standing at the time, and when shot had ‘fallen forward and struck his head- against the bed post. This, together with the fact’ that deceased had at no time, shown any state of mind likely to lead to suicide, led Mr. Mills, and many others to believe that the shooting was accidental. There seems not to be the slightest circumstance to indicate, nor any* disposition upon the part of any one in the locality to believe, that the shooting was done by any other person than the deceased himself. The body, upon its arrival here was taken to the house of James Randle, corner Cullen and Susan streets and taken in charge by Undertaker C. G. Sears Tne latter, as*soon as he began work upon the body, decided from the great amount of blood that lvad settled about the eyes of the .corpse, that the bullet must have lodged somewhere in the vicinity of tne «yes. It‘should be stated here, that the -opinion of the physician who was present at the Inquest seems to iiave beeh that the course of the bullet was towards the ceuter of the head; if this were true it could not have approached the vicinity of tlie eyes. On Friday two of the town physicians, by request, examined the wound, and carefully probed it with improved instruments. It was their opinion, so far as they were able to judge without removing the skull-cap, that Mr. bears was right 9 in his opinion as to, the location of the ball. If this is correct, then tile swollen appearance. which Mr. Mills n ticed above the eyes, iyas J probably caused-by the bullet, within, rather than by falling against toe bed. we will, in the interest oh truth, sum up briefly some of tbe facts which, support and some which disp.ove the qwo theories of suicide, and of accident: The posture of tne deceased would indicate suicide; also the range of the bullet, if the Rensselaer undertaker and physicians were correct in their conclusions. From' tiiose facts it would appear tout lie had knelt at the bedside, plac ;d the weapon against, or neai, 11 is head, witli the barrel pointing somewhat forward and downward, and fired: In dropping his hand, the pistol .would naturally be thrown ]to somewhere near the position it was found. Against this tneoi-y are the facts that nothing in the young man s known circumstances, nor his state of miqd, would lead anyone to believe tMt he contemplated suicide; more inportaut still is the fact that if he iiad held the weapon near his head as would be expected, it would seem that the marks of fire and powder would be apparent, about the wound, which was not the case. ■ . ~ - In regard to the theory of accidental self shooting,~>it may bo said that the circumstances above stated which --Seem'" opposed to suicide, naturally support the accidental hypothesis. Added to them is the fact that the lock of the pisto 1 was out of order, and

the hammer would sometimes fall of itself, thus discharging the weapou, should ’it be loaded. It is the theory of those Iwho think the shooting accidental, that the young man, while in a standing position, was working with the pistol to see if it was in good order, and having r used the hammer, the pistol went off.of itself, and the ball, having pierced his bfain, he fell forward upon nis knees, against tli'e bed. -Die considerations which militate against "'|he accident theory are the improbability "That he would fall from a standing to a kneeling position, with a biillet in his brain, with sufficient force to greatly bruise liis head, and yet remain in the kneeling posture, and, more important still, the apparent range of the bullet after entering the head. If the bullet was lodged in the vicinity of the eyes, it is difficult to understand how a person could be unintentionally holding a pmtol in a position to give the bu.let such a course, as it must have taken in this case. It must have been held somewhat above and backward from the head. A positiou in the last de gree unlikely for anyone to take in handling a pistol to see if it were in good shooting order. Any theory that there is foul play in the case, is rendered untenable by the facts that no one but members of the family with whom deceased lived, could possibly be suspected, and there is noToom to suspect them, both on account of their ‘good characters, and the. waut of any conceivable motive they would have for committing such a deed. These facts thus briefly outlined, show that this sudden and untimely death is shrouded in a dark and impenetrable cloud of mystery —a cloud which will probably never be lifted until that great day when all hidden things shall be made clear. The funeral was arranged for Sunday, at II o’clock, at the Church of God, but owing to ti e condition of the body,’it was finainy decided to make the internlent on Saturday afternoon, although religous services were held at the appointed time and place; the Rev. David Handley preaching an eieqaent funeral sermon in me presence of a very large congregation.