Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1888-01-07
A FEARFUL DEED.
FURTHER PARTICULARS OF THE EAST
ERs SHORE TRAGEDY.
Mrs puers Terrible Struggle for Lifs-rhe
Insane Murdsrsr's Imagining
His Statement.
Especial telegram to the D,spatchl


OxAxcocK, VA, January 6.-Fuller
particulars of the shocking domestic
tragedy that occurred near Bell Haven,
in the northern part. OF Northampton
county. show that William G. Duer took
his wife and two small children yester-
day morning in wagon to visit some oil
his wife's relatives near Warotown.
Captain Orris A. Browne, OF Accomac5
Courthouse, passed them on the ROAD
and spoke to Duer, who, in response to
an inquiry, told him be was going back
TO Onancock to live. Duer's wife. 1t is
known, was opposed to returning to
Onancock, while he wss determined to
do so. 1t is supposed that this differ
euce Of opinion caused quarrel which
led to the terrible deed. Captain Browne
rode on TO Wardtown, where he was sitting
in his buggy talking to some irlendS
when Duer drove up from behind and
called to him. On looking behind he
beheld a horrible sight. Duer, covered
with blood, was glaring about. His
murdered wife was lying at his feet IN
tho buggy with her throat cut and deep
wound in her breast, and the two little
children, all bespattered with their
mothers blood, sat crouching IN one
corner of the wagon. Duer confessed
to Captain Browne that he had killed
his wife, but expressed no sorrow or re-
cret for the deed. He SAID that he bad
acted in self-defence and had killed
his wife because she had drugged HIM
and was unfaithful to him. He was
tired of her and had killed her to get
rid of her. lie expressed an utter IN,
difference az to his own fate, provided
his little children should be cared for.
Mrs, Duer's brothers, who live near
Wartown, took charge of her body and
the children. An inquest was held,
and a verdict rendered that the deceased
had come to her death at the hands
of her husband, who was insane
at the time Investigation showed that
Duer had killed his wife along the open
highway near where Captain Browne
had overtaken aud passed them, and
near the house OF Samuel Cutler, whose
children saw Duer when he seized his
wife. cut her throat, and stabbed her IN
/ the breast. Mrs. Duer broke loose from
her husband, leaped out, and fell to the
ground. where she lay until he picked
her up, threw her in the wagon, and
then drove rapidly away in the direction
of Wardtown. He drove into the town
unobserved by any one till he called
| Captain Browne and told him what he
| had done. Large pools OF blood were
found in the road where the deed waS
committed. and the ground foi
thirty or forty yards along the road was
stained with a stream of blood. The
knife with which Duer killed his wife was
found near the scene of the tragedy this
morning. The colored children who saw
Duer kill his wife say that she struggled
desperately for her life, and that Duel
acted like an infuriated mailman. liz
charge of infidelity against his wife Il
entirely false, being the imagination OF .
disordcred brain. Duer served through
the war in the Confederate army, and wa
severely wounded in one of the battles
around Richmond. He is now confined
in the northampton joil, where he Il
closely watched, and will probably b'
sent to an insane asylum as soon as ar
rangements can be made.