The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1882-11-09
AN AWFUL TRAGEDY.
The Wifc Of New York Physician Murder
ing Her Three Children aud CommittiRs
Gu;rida.

The wife Of n New York Physician Murder
ing Her Three Children and Committlns
Suicide
The killing of her three children by Mrs.
Seguin, wife of one of the most prominent
physicians in New York, followed by her
self-murder, was one of the most terrible
tragedies that has ever occurred in q city
noted for Its tragic Httnts Mrs, Seguin
was handsome woman of thirty-two
years, intelligent and refined, and
wanted for nothing that wealth could bring.
She resided with her husband and three
small children on. West Twentieth street.
Her children were Edward D., John Van Duyn
and Jeanneite, aged r6spestivsly; siS, five
and four years. For some days the mother
had been suffering from depressed spirits,
and in the hop9 tSata change a ot scene oa would
take her and the children on trip to Niagara
Falls. On the afternoon OF ttihiS tragedy DIR.
Amidon, her brother, called, and was told
that his sister was out with the children. DR..
Amidon went away, saying that he would be
back in an hour; At the appointed time he
returned, Tho ehanibtrniai6; ~ho let him
in, said that her mistress had not returned
from her walk. On account of the damp,
foggy and disagreeable weather. DIR. Amidon
thought it strange that Mrs. Seguin, if she
were i'll, should be out so long. He ques-
toned this chambermaid more closely as to
Suddenly, as If she had thought of some
thing unusualj the girl said:
"1hp doot dt this spaTe room. is licked, and
when tried to get i'll there short time ago
| could not. The key is turned on the in
side. did not hear anything inside, how
ever"
That Tic sptre ftort should he locked on
the inside was indeed strange, and DIR.
Amidon did not hesitate at the foot of the
stairs moment He said afterward that his
heart was filed with .foreboding as he ran
up the flights vi steps. It vas rather dark
and the doctor inpatiently ratified the knob
of the door. 1t was as the girl said, locked
and the key was turned inside. The doctor
burst in the door with a kick of his boot. 1t
was then 4:20 o'clock, and the light in the
room rendered objects almost indistinguish-
able. But scanty as was the light the sight
that met the gaze of the doctor almost froze
the blood in his veins, The girl who followed
him took singls gianee inte ths room, and
then ran into one of the small rooms scream
ing with fright.
A policeman who afterward saw the same
scene said that it was the most awful sight
he had ever witnessed during his whole ex-
| perience on the police force. The room was
large one, carpetless and scantily furnished.
There were only bureau, table and small
bed in the room. In one corner was small
| closet. Two feet to the left of the closet
door, as one enters the room, and within five
feet of where the doctor stood, the
BODY of Mrs. Seguin lay, face down
| ward, with her arms and head bent under
! her. Her right hand clutched the barrel of
a pistol. In the center of the big room was
| the body of one of her boys, Edward ID.
He lay, like his mother, face downward, but
| his hands were tied behind him with twine,
and his eyes were blindfolded with hand
kerchief. After the first sensation of horror
had passed away, the doctor examined
the body of his sister, 1t was cold
| and hol oIp,,
hours. Her brown hair was matted with
| blood which flowed from bullet-hole in the
! left side of her head Just over the temple.
DIR. Amidon removed the Remington pistol
! with its blackened muzzle from the dead
woman's grasp and laid it on the bed. He
then examined tho corpse of the little boy.
| His head lay i'll pool of blood, while his
| brains were oozing from the track of the
pistol ball, which had plowed furrow along
! the side of his head.
The Mortified physician looked next for
| the bodies of the other children in the deep
ening gloom of the room. Inside the closet,
| lying side by side, both with their eyes
| blindfolded and their hands tied with tape
behind their backs lay the bodies of little
| Jeanette and John Van Duyn. A terrible
ballet wound in the head of each one showed
| the deadly accuracy of the insane mothers
| shots.
| The appearance of the room showed that no
struggle had occurred when the death scene
was taking place. Mrs. Seguins countenance
had peaceful and almost smiling look. She
! wore a dark cashmere dress, which was
spotted with blood. The three children
were prettily dressed their clothing was
bedabbled and spattered with blood
! The crazy mother had in the opinion
of tho witnesses, with the shrewl
cunning of an insane person, made
her children play at blindman's buff that
she might the more easily kill them. The
| a "a m ha Of
b"-ned by, the flash of the powder. The
body cf John Van Duyn had fallen forward
! after he was shot and his head lay on the
s.h of the closet door. There were pools of
blood on the walls of the closet as if he or
| the little girl had rolled over two or three
times after they had fallen. In the room We're
found lying upon the table two pistols
i'll addition to the one which was found in
the dead woman's hand. One was target
pistol with barrel eleven inches long. 1t
had only one chamber, and the smut on it
! showed that it had been used by Mrs Seguin.
A double -barreled, nickel-pated derringer
was found TO be loade in both barrels. The
other three shots fired by Mrs. Seguin were
from a five-chambered thirty-two-caliber
Remington, with which she killed herself.
The most painful of the immediate duties
| that followed from the triple murder and sui
eide was to convey the news to DR.. Seguin,
who had been thus suddenly bereft of an en-
tire family. During the whole of the after
noon the doctor had been absent attending
to his professional duties, and it was within
few minutes of o'clock before he
returned to his home. The news
was broken to him by DR.. Amidof =.
DIR. Seguin sank into chair, and for the
greater part of the evening he remained sit
ting in the chair in his office with his eyes
fixed and staring, and seemingly unable to
believe or comprehend what had taken place.
The grief-stricken physician was put to bed
afterward. Later in the night parlor and
bedroom in the Fifth Avenue hotel were
engaged, and he was taken there. 1t is said
that he looked like a man in whom only a
little life remained.