, 1877-12-08
Irsm he Daih Of Monday.
MURDER AND SUICIDE.

1ts~ ae DAILY Of Monday.
MURDER AND SUICIDE.
A Man Attemp&s to Murder his FAMILY
and then Kills Himself
The quiet Of our city was broken
this morning by the horrible an,
nouncement that one of our citizens,
Mr.. Perry Dun6eId, bad attempted
to murder his family, and had then
killed himself.
From what we can learn, Mr..
Dunfeld, whose residence is on
Fifth street. back of the University,
about two o'clock this morning went
from his bed in the chamber to a
lower room where his wife was
sleeping in a chair, and drew a ra-
zor across her throat, inflicting a
dangerous, and perhaps fatal wound.
He then went to the room where Mrs.
Dunfield's brother, a young man "a
years of age, was sleeping, having
an ak and revolver; the young man
was alarmed, and escaped from the
house in his night clothes. Next
he went to the chamber where his
two nearly grown daughters were,
and attacked one of them; she escap-
ed down the stairs, and the other
escaped from the window. climbing
out upon the porch. Soon the re-
port of a pistol was heard, and
when found shortly after Mr.. Dun
field was lying on a bed made on
the floor at the head of the stairs,
with bullet wound in the back of
his head, and writhing in the agon.
les of death.
There are many opinions as to
the cause of this tragic affair, and
many bitter and unnecessary things
have been said concerning it. In
view of the fact that the principal
actor in the tragedy is a corpse, and
the others are stricken with grief,
we are constrained to put as charit-
able construction as possible upon
the motives which prompted the un-
fortunate man to the committial of
the bloody deed. Mr.. 'Dunield has
resided upon the Sound for about
twenty years, and was at one time
extensively engaged in the logging
business. His strict honesty was
never questioned. Latterly he has
resided on his farm on the Duwam-
ish river, until about two years ago,
when the family moved to this city.
About one year ago Mr.. Dunfield
engaged in the grocery business on
Front street, near Pike; but last
spring he sold out his interest to e.
Coulter, and since then has engaged
in no regular business. A few days
ago he sold his farm on the Duwam-
ish for $1,000, and the deed was
made out and the money deposited
with A. Macintosh. Mr., Dunfeld
and wife were to have acknowledged
the deed and received the money at
nine o'clock this morning, and the
family were to start for California
to-day. Two or three weeks ago
Mr.. Edward Hopper, the brother
of Mrs. Dunfield, whom she had
not seen for Is years, came to this
city, and has been stopping with the
family since that time.
A gentleman who has known Mr..
Dunfeld from a young man, says
that many years ago he was confined
in an insane asylum for a year.
Those who know him best say he
has always been subjected to seasons
of moroseness, when it would be
impossible to please. During these
attacks he was usually very jealous
of his wife.
Mrs. Dunfeld is member of the
Methodist Episcopal Church, and a
lady of exemplary character. The
daughters-Ella, about Is. and Eli
"a, about 13 years of age-are also
members of the same church. There
are two other girls in the family,
aged about five and seven years, re-
spectively.
From the evidence brought out at
the coroner's jury we gather the fol-
lowing: Last night the girls retired
to their beds in the chamber, and
Mr.. Dunfeld retired on a mattress
lying on the floor at the head of the
stairs; Mr.. Hopper occupying a room
below under the stairs. Mrs. Dun
field went to the bed and her hus-
band refused to allow her to get in
bed. She then went down the stairs
and sat on chair by the stove with
her feet resting in the stove oven,
and her head resting on a high chair.
Mr.. Hopper says he was very restless
and did not sleep. About two
o'clock this morning he heard Dun
field come softly down the stairs and
go into the kitchen, listening he
heard sounds as of person struck
with a suspender. Dunfeld had
entered the kitchen and taken his
wife by the hair of the head, draw
ing razor across her throat twice.
Mrs. Dunfield remeined in the chair
and Dunfeld wentto the room where
Hopper was. Hopper saw him com
ing with an az in one hand and q lan-
tern in the other. and asked what he
wanted. am going to kill you :"
said Dunfield. There was no way of
escape from the room except through
the door in which Duntield was
standing with the uplifted ak. Hop
per made dive just as the ak des-
cedded, and passed out under Dun
fields arm, going through the kitch-
en-, out of the back door,