Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 20, Number 89, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 14 July 1899 — More About That Kansas Tragedy. [ARTICLE]

More About That Kansas Tragedy.

Walter V. Porter, who arrived homd Thursday from his trip to Pratt Co., Kansas, caused by the sudden violent deaths of his brother’s wife and little girl, brought back the paticulars qf that most lamentable affair, and which differ considerably in details, from those heretofore given in the newspapers. When the accident occurred Mrs. Porter was lying on a lounge and little Ellen stood by her sice. Willie, the nine year old boy found a 32 calibe self-cocking revolver, belonging to the hired man, in the drawer of a bureau of the room. He took it out and without any remark of any kind or without knowingly pointing it at the little girl he pulled the trigger and it was discharged. The bullet passed through the girl’s head, back of and a little below the eyes, and through Mrs. Porter’s breast, very near the heart. Mrs. Porter died in a few minutes, saying only the words, “Willie-revolver” in qn effort to explain the accident. The little girl lived until the next day. The hired man had had the revolver at a celebration on the 4th and thought he had taken out all the bullets, but the one which did the terrible work he had overlooked. Not the least pitiful feature of the affair is the grief, as describee by Mr. Porter, of the poor little boy whose innocent band unwittingly caused his mother’s and little sister’s death.