The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1867-11-19
From the Cleveland Plain Dealer, Nov. 10
HORRIBLE TRAGEDY,

A Phetearapher Rennd Dead In his
(uiiery with his Throat Cat, ana
the Corpse Of HsabeIln Roy, his em
pIoye, lying near. -
Between and 10 o'clock, this fore
noon, the occupants of offices over ). II.
Dewitt & Co.'s store, south of the PARK :
were startled by the screams OF wo,
man, issuing from the hall. Several
gentlemen Immediately rushed to the
spot, and there found Mrs. j. III. Greg
ory-wife of the photograph artist,
whose gallery is at No. 9, in the story
above-with her little girl Ida, in an
agony of grief and terror; the cnlid
screaming that her father was killed.
Her story was quickly told: Mrs. Greg
ory had become uneasy at the absence
of her husband, who had not come home
to breakfast, and had visited the gal
lery-having q key thereto-there to
find her husband, with his throat cut,
dead, and Isabella Roy-a young girl OF
10 years, who had been in his employ Tor
some time-lying a corpse, with an
empty revolver by her side.
A subsequent examination OF the
rooms by the Captain of Police, Sherlff,
City Physician, and several others elic-
tied these facts: The Photographic es-
tablishment consists of an operating
room, on the south; q small chemical
room opening out of it on the south
east; large and handsome sitting room
on the north, with an arched entrance
to the operating room; and a lumber
room, opening out of the sitting room,
on the northeast, with rude stairway
or ladder, leading to an attic, upon the
roof of which Mr.. Gregory has been in
the habit of printing from the negative.
The operating room presented a
CHASTITY and horrible spectacle. The
outside door was splashed with blood,
and great clots lay about the threshold.
NeaI the centre of the room, and direct
ly in front of large camera, was anoth-
er pool of clotted blood, in which lay a
common penkDife, with the blades shut.
In the doorway of the chemical room lay
the dead body Of Gregory, reclining on
the right elbow, the head dropping on
the shoulder-the most of the body ly-
ing in the chemical room, which was q
small, darksned apartment. The de-
ceased was in his shirt sleeves and stock
ing feet. His throat capped open from
a sickening wound, from which his life
had evidently ebbed away. There was
scarcely any blood about the corpse,
which indicated that he had made the
wound at the outside door, or near the
camera, and, after struggling there il
his agony for time, had Staggered to
the spot where he was found.
In the lumber room. spoken of before,
l., hn hnI,y nf lao Ial1a Pow Annaor
ances indicated that she was ascending
wound, for she lay with her head bent
beneath her body, as though she had
fallen down backwards. One of the
steps was likewise broken. She was
entirely dressed. Near the body was a
Colts fve-barrelled revolver, with every
chamber empty. AS the Coroner was
not present, none of those making the
examination felt authorized to so far
disturb the body as to discover whether
she had received all of the shots in her
person.
On the person Of Gregory was found
All incoherent letter, stating that trOub-
les with his wife, whom he charged
with giving false testimony against hiir,
udu leu ulul W tlO dW lul
He requested that Mr.. Pugh might Sc
lect q burying place for his remains in
Woodland Cemetery; that the body of
"this GIRL" might be buried with him;
and that his wife, and Willie and Ida
Belle, might have burying lot next to
his. The letter had no signature, and
nothing was said in it in regard to the
manner of the girls "taking Off"
The whole tragical affair. was deeply
shroudod in mystery; but the most rea-
sonable hypothesis was, that Gregory,
after killing the girl, brooded over the
CT ime, and perhaps tried in vain to de-
wise some means of getting rid of the
bedy; and finally had been driven by
his horrible mental suffering, to end his
own existence. ...
The girl had evidently been killed a
considerable time before the act of sui
eide, as the blood near her person had
commenced to decompose, and gave
forth an unpleasant odor.
In little closet, opening out of the
operating room, On the west, was
bucket of bloody water-suggesting the
idea that the murderer had washed his
hands there, after killing the girl.
Mr.. Gregory's residence was on the
West Side. He and his wife did not live
pleasantly together. A year ago, fierce
family quarrel eliminated in Gregory's
arrest, at the instance of his wife, Oh the
charge of abusing her.
The girl, Isabella Roy, was very pref
ty and interesting, and was said to be
modest and virtuous young woman.
The above facts were hastily gathered
at moment of intensei excitement,
and have been even more hastily
written. Undoubtedly the Coroner's
inquest will throw more light on the
subject. .rs