The Brookhaven leader. [volume] (Brookhaven, Miss.) 1883-1891, 1886-06-24
TERRIBLE TRAGEDY.


Joseph "HeraId," Fatally Shot BY DIR. $.
A. Richmond-The Latter Then Fires
shot Into His Own Brain-Evidently the
Act of a Lunatlc.
ST. JOSEPH, Mo-, June 1s.-At eleven
O'Clock this morning as Colonel j. W.
Strong, manager of the Herald, was sit
ting in the countingroom, his back to
the door, DR.. S. A. Richmond entered the
doorway and drawing revolver fred one
shot, which struck his victim in the left
side of the neck. Colonel Strong jumped
up and staggered toward the back Office.
Richmond fired two more shots and
Strong fell. Richmond then turned out
side, and going some twenty feet from
the door, placed the revolver to his tenn
pie and fred, dropping instantly to the
sidewalk.
At the time of shooting Colonel Strong
was engaged in conversation with some
unknown man and was totally uncon-
scious of the approach of an enemy until
he was struck by the first bullet. Rich
mond drove up to the front Of the office
in his carriage, sitting on the back seat,
his driver in front. lie Is said to have
alighted coolly, and walked to the Herald
Office door without any traces of excite
ment. When he commenced to shoot his
driver drove away and left him, and it
was after turning to ook for his carriage
and finding it gone that he shot himself.
Colonel Strong fell, struck by two bull
| lot. ,,f I,s 81. Il ntr
| the neck, ranging upward into the brain.
The other struck in his back aud is be-
| lieved to have penetrated his heart. He
said: ~ am dying" and passed away in
five minutes after the first shot was fired.
Rchmond's bullet took effect in the
| left temple, and as yet it is impossible to
tell whether it will prove fatal or not. 1t
| is believed, however, that he will not
recover, as he is n raying maniac at
present. The trouble is solely of Rich
mond's own making. He has long
been known to the newspaper fraternity
as the discOverer and manufacturer OF
Samaritan Nervlne, and has been an ex-
tensiye advertiser and has had an enorm-
Gus business in his nostrum. Some year
and a halt ago Colonel Strong was oneof
the principal attorneys for him in his suit
with Harlan p Hubbard, the advertising
agent of New Haven, Conn. 1t is be-
lieved that his business affairs were too
Weighty for his brain, and that he became
crazy. Some five months ago he diSap-
pearcd from this community and left
lot of papers, evidently the work of either
knave or hopeless lunatic.
He charged Colonel Strong and other
prominent attorneys of this city with hav
ing ruined him in these papers, and indi-
Gated that he had ended his career in the
river. At that time opinions differed as
to his condition, some holding him crazy
and others believing him simply working
a sly ruSe to obtain $4,000 insurance on
his life. Two months ago he turned up
in Chicago, crazy, and was brought home.
Since that time he has not been seen
about town but once or twice, until the
tragic event of to-day.
All people acquainted with the circum-
stances know that Colonel Strong was
entirely innocent, as were the other par
ties, of the charges made against them in
Richmond's manifesto, in which he
claimed that he had only been restrained
from killing Strong and others by the
greatest moral efforts. The deed of to-
day proves Richmond's lunacy beyond
doubt, or at least such is the popular
verdict.
Colonel Strong leaves a large family,
six persons, consisting of a wife and three
sons, the eldest of whom is John 2.
Strong, editor-in-chiefO OF the Herald. The
other sons are aged respectively fifteen
and twelve. The oldest daughter is Mrs
w. b. Summey, of Washington, who was
married about month ago, and the other
a little Girl of ten years. He was sixty
one years old, lawyer by profession,
and man who has been very prominent
in the Republican party of Northwest
Missouri for nearly thirty years. His
home was originally Jacksonville, H.,
where he has large number of friends
and relatives. He was man of violent
prejudices, but was well liked and es-
teemed by those who knew him best, and
especially was he liked by the men in his
office. He was a forcible writer and a
man Of great mental force.