The daily gazette., 1883-02-01
=. otD MAIDS AnaER.
- Yrto and KilIing One Of . Group
shoos'n ,t,le Girls who Annoyed Her.

- xcto and killing One Of Group
shoo.'s s..,a Girls who Annoyed Her.
o. philadelphia Times.l
c,,r,att 19 years old, one Of the
MaggiSG I'm of Jehn @. and Lucy @. Curlett,
iVe Ghilu1 az 15l7 Mount Holly street, was the
TeslulnE ~, evening of an extraordinary
tictlhl, u,daI attack by Catharine Burnison, or
homlciuS han % Years old. The woman fired
bu.aI burpeSIoh hot at a group Of little girls who
i plsul .anding in front Of her uncle's house,
weIe ao Tasker street; the shot pierced Maggies
~ ~. anJ she fell and died an hour after
praln' hn,1e a 70 her home. The motive for
pelnS Ssooting Is q strange enc. The Burnt
llc 'ho housc Is in a row on the north side OF
Tu.,er Cn street. Opposite, and extending
ir IN the southwark, are commons.
Tho lot ia the receptacle tor the ashes and
aG,sc from the dwellings In the vicinity.
rho children, too, made Il their play
i,rnd The woman who did the smoothing
.nJ her uncle were said 70 DC OF ah nasclDle
is.nositIon, and this fact being apparent 70
he mlschieyous youngsters OF the vicinity
NAV have annoyed and harasseu tne couple
aty ny ~ ways. A boy named Cunningham,
niaaJ .,i.,,Iay. Is said to have pestered them,
.ta snnposition is that the shot that
a,u f, srcd with such fatal effect was intended
tUr him .....,,.s.. IL,
naii ior her years, with regular, blonde
s'n,,,ras '',m and long light hair. She was in
Z. N. sscondary school and had just passed
a.editahle examination, About D O'Clock
-,orJay afternoon she was sent by her
'otbsr 10 dump a pan Of ashes upon the
=, on her way she met Lizzie and Alice
1I,,,lins N" Of i7ll Tasker street, and
b'',ado Moore. of 1728 Tasker street,
onI the fsur stood on the pavement
!, front of 1909, chatting about the
s,smination. A proposition was made
q ret a rome and have some jumping exer-
'I.s Maggie remarked, "Wait till throw
bsse asbes on the lot" when the window
az ,he Burnisou house suddenly was flung
nm and the children heard Catharine's
'hro,yish. aud angry voice call: "There is
iaw for this Before they could run the
yoman's hand was thrust out, holding
n.to There was report and Maggie
TurIett dropped to the sidewalk without q
groon, The terror r-stricken girls stood for
~ instant and then fed as they saw
Catbarine's weapon hastily drawn In before
.be smoke fosjed away.
80, Mrs. Curlett, your Maggie Is hurt !"
,honted one of the little girls as she ran
into the Curlett house. Miss burnison
shot her."
The wounded child was at once removed
to her home. She was unconscious. DIR.
Erney found that a ball had entered her
head, above the right eye, penetrating the
brain. Unconsciousness continued until
! 30 o'clock, when the girl quietly died In
her mothers arms.
First district, were notified Of the shooting
|| apd went direct to the residence of the Bur
nlsons AS soon as they knocked at the
door Catharine opened 1t and simply re-
marked, ~ am glad you have come; here's
the plstol +" and she handed over an ancient
hooking affair, which looked as though 1t
\ bad not been fired for 20 years. Neither
,ncle nor ueice made any statements. The
woman was taken to the First district police
Station While she was being removed an
excited crowd surrounded her and her Gus
tolans making strong threats against her.
At the police station she gave her name,
age and residence in quiet voice, and was
locked up to await the coroner's action.
She was ignorant of the fatal effect of the
pistol shot
Special Officer Calhoun and patrolmen
found the Hawkins girls and Maggie Moore,
who were witnesses TO the shooting, and
y. j. and William Gillespie, lads, residing
at 1886 Mt. Holly street, and John Clark
Of l34j Rose street, who are said TO have
heard threats made by the Burnisons that
somebody would be shot yet II the children
did not stop annoying them. Burnison is
an Englishman of middle age. The theory
oi the police and residents near by the scene
Of the calamity is that the children were
mistaken for some Of those who had been
larassng the Burnisons.
The Curlett family live in neat little
house on Mount Holly street. The father
said late last night that he could not i'm
aglnc why his daughter had been shot, be-
cause she seldom went near the Burnison
house
When application was made to Lieuten-
ant Warnock at the police station about
midnight for permission to see the woman
accused OF perpetratlng the crime he said
She was in cell asleep. He said he had
not questioned her and that as far as he
knew she was not aware that the child was
dead. This may have accounted for her
Tepose. The Lieutenant took down In writ.
Ing the statements Of the young witnesses
Of the attack and those who had heard the
threats previously made.