The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1882-11-03
A SAD FATE.
Suicide Of a New York Lady
After Strengthening Her
Three Children.
The Victims Blindfolded, Bound,
and Successfully Shot
Through the Head.
Probability that the Dead Womans
Husband Will go Insane
Through Grief.

NEW YORK, Nov. 1.-When DR.. Edward G.
Seguin, the well-known specialist in nervous
disorders returned to his home, at No. Al
West Twentieth street, last evening" he learned
that during his absence since lunch-time
his wife Margaret had murdered their three
children and then killed herself He was
not the first to discover this. At lunch early
in the afternoon Mrs Seguin was, as she had
been for several days, very respondent. Her
brother, DR.. r. W. Amidon, of No. % West
Twenty-frst street, ate with the little family,
and did his utmost to cheer her up, with, as
he thought a great deal of success. DR.. Am
idon went again to his sisters at O'clock in
the evening, and asked the man servant who
opened the door how his sisters health was.
The servant replied that she had taken the
children out
"Are you sure of that?" DR.. Amidon per-
sisted
@Pretty sure" said he; and then he added
that the door of the spare room on the top
floor of the house was locked and the key was
not in it, an unusual thing, as he said. DR..
Amidon ran upstairs to see for himself wheth-
er the irregularity was of importance.
He tried the door at the head of the
stairs. Finding it locked, and receiving no
reply to his rappings, he kicked the door in.
The windows were closed and the blinds
drawn down. On the carpeted floor opposite
the door lay the dead body of little Edward D.
Seguin, the eldest boy years of age. He
was lying face downward, and pool of blood
surrounded. his head The body of Mrs.
Margaret Seguin was lying on the floor
had fallen backward after shooting
herself in the right temple. The
bodies of John Van Duyn Seguin. the
second boy, aged 5 years, and Jeanette, the
youngest child, 4 years old, were found lying
in the closet Each one of the children was
blindfolded, a handkerchief having been
bound before their eyes and knotted behind
their heads Each child was found with its
wrists tethered behind its back with common
cord Each one was shot through the right
temple Three pistols and box of cart
ridges were found in the room One
weapon was target-pistol with a blue
steel barrel, eleven inches long, and carrying
22-100 cartridge Another was a Reming-
ton -barreled, pearl-handled revolver, fin
ished in black, and designed for cartridges of
3S-100 calibre. The third was highly-orna-
mented derringer with two barrels, one
above the other, silver-plated, covered with
chasing, and affixed to a handle of ivory and
silver-plate. This derringer carried bullets
the size Of those used in the Remington.
These were the DOCTORS pistols, and had
always been kept in the house. For
the murder of her frst-born the insane
woman chose the French target-pistoL
That she put it close to his temple
as he stood blindfolded and pinioned
unsuspectingly in the middle of the floor is
shown by the marks of burned powder on his
face and under his hair. The ball went en-
tirely through his head, in at the right side and
out at the left, and buried itself in the plaster
wall. He fell forward dead Mrs Seguin
seems to have next taken her little girl jean
nette from the closet and to have stood her on
low stool in the corner formed by the front
of the closet and the easterly wall of the room,
and there 10 have shot her with the
big Remington revolver. In death the
little girl was found with one shoulder
above the other, and her head
held sideways, as if she died shrinking from
the touch of the pistol, or had been playfully
pretending to hide her head in the corner.
Her plump face, her nut-browl curls, and her
large dark eyes formed a picture that the po-
lice say showed her to have been a beautiful
child. She was found in the closet, but the
blood and bullet mark in the corner show that
there was where she died. Next Mrs. Seguin
shot her youngest boy as he crouched in the
closet She aimed higher than in shoot
ing either of the others and the bullet plowed
through the child's skull, following its
arch and fracturing the crown for a space of
three inches Finally the woman, still using
the Remington pistol, shot herself in the mid
die of the forehead and fell backward dead.
She was but 81 years old, very slight, and is
spoken of as good-looking woman, with
youthful, kindly face, which in death was
tranquil Wavy brown hair fell over her
brow. One hand clutched the Remington re-
volver; the target pistol was on the floor near
by; the unused derringer was on the bed with
the box of cartridges. When Dr. Seguin
returned to his home and heard of the
dreadful blow that had befallen him, he is
said to have fallen into chair as though shot
"He was paralyzed when saw him in bed"
said Capt Williams, adding he did not seem to
be conscious of what went on around him.
DR.. Amidon, his brother-in-law, said of him
that he was like a man who had received an
awful wound; like man so hurt he had an
intermittent pulse. "Nobody thought Mrs.
Seguin liable to do violence" said Dr. Amidon
II thought she rallied and her spirits i'm
proved when was with her at lunch. She
acted like sane woman, though she was sub
ject to what we call the blues and had been
dispirited for several days. None of us
thought her insane" DR.. Amidon said there
never had been any insanity in his family He
said that his father is now alive and well at
his home in Massachusetts,
Mrs. Seguin had been married about eight
years, and DR.. Amidon was her only near rela-
tive in the city. She was native. of New
England
Dr. Seguin is man of 80 years Of age. and
a graduate of the College of Physi-
clans and Surgeons. His father was a
French doctor of great distinction,
and Dr. Seguin stands at the head
of his profession. When he came to the house
OF Rof0 hoi- ,,,nFJ u
deed. When the news was broken to him he
would not believe it 1t was repeated to him
with so much earnestness that the truth was
forced upon him. His grief was
pidful He was like one petrifed
He sank into chair, and could say
nothing. He could not look upon the forms
of his wife and children All the evening he
sat in rear room buried in grief Several
times he asked DIR. Amidon if it was true
they were all dead He seemed TO doubt the
statement, when it was repeated to him over
and over again. The servants did not know
what caused the excitement last night, and the
9ext-door neighbors knew nothing of
she matter. The bodies still lay in the
room. Very few people knewsof the event.
and at no time were there over twenty in front
Of the house The only ones who entered the
house were Capt. Williams and his officers.
Coroner Brady and Robt B. Boyd, and
Dr. Mason and DR.. A s. Ball Dr. Ball, an
say that there were no domestic intellect
ties in the household DR.. Seguin and his
wife were deeply attached to each other and
loved their children Mrs Seguin was very
loveable woman, of pleasant disposition, and
she could only have done tho deed while In
sane DR.. and Mrs. Seguin were to start for
Niagara Falls tomorrow morning.
Dr. Seguin bought the tickets this
afternoon. Mrs Seguin could not
have premeditated the shooting. She
left no note explaining the act. She
must have taken the children into the room on
sudden impulse. She had calculated to de-
celve the servants and callers by saying she