Bridgeton pioneer. (Bridgeton, N.J.) 1884-1919, 1888-04-19
ACCIDENTALLY KILLED.
Another Chapter in the Dun
ham Case

AdIQ CdS0
Had George McC. Dunham, the muir
derer of his mother-in-law, Mrs. Bar
bara HANDLE, been hung last month
when he was sentenced to pay the
death penalty, there would not have
been to day the sorrow and anguish
hovering about a home in the pretty
little town of Woodbury., where the
murderer is confined in the county
jail. 1t was terrible tragedy that
took place Saturday, and the unfortu-
nate victim was Mrs. Annie Yearricks,
the wife of Constable Yearricks, who
has been the watchman in charge of
George Durham since he was convict
ed of the death of his mother-in- law.
The tragedy took place in the jail,
Immediately in front of the condemned
mans cell, and only few feet away
from where he was sitting at the time
in the corridor.
Mrs. Yearricks was visiting her hus-
band, having brought his clean clothes,
as has been her custom to DO twice
week. She had been in the jail about
twenty minutes, had made up his bed
on the cot on which he sleeps just
outside the door of Dunham's cell, and,
having completed such wifely atten-
tions to the officers comfort, was sit
ting in a chair some five or six feet
from the cot, while her husband sat
on it facing her. Noticing book on
the floor under the cot, she asked
Yearricks to hand it to her. He arose,
turned around and stopped to comply
with the request. AS he leaned over,
his revolver fell from his inside pocket
of his loose sack coat, and, dropping
upon the floor of the Jail, struck on the
hammer in such way that it was dis
charged.
Mrs. Yearricks instantly jumped up
from her chair and starting to walk
down the corridor, staggered against
one of the cells. Before she could fall
her husband caught her in his arms.
the frightened man, but his wifi made
no answer. BY tits time Turnkey Sim
mons, having heard the shot, opened
the door from the Sheriff's office and
asked what was the matter. ''Go for
doctor; get help" cried Yearricks.
The request was quickly complied
with, DR.. Weston reaching the scene
in about ten minutes after the dis
charge of the pistol. He found the
woman dead. The ball had entered
the left breast and pierced the heart
The cries and means of the bereaved
and Mortified husband were heart
rending to the people, who soon crowd
ed into the Sheriff's Office to learn the
particulars of the distressing affair.
I Coroner McGeorge paneled a jury of
nine, who viewed the body and ad-
journed to hold the inquest to day.
The deceased woman was the mother
of six children, three boys and three
girls, the oldest being a youth OF 90
years, and the youngest little boy
Oft.
About two hours after the shooting,
which occurred just before noon, DIS.
Wilson and Redding made a post
mort EN- examination of the wound by
direction of the Coroner. They found
the ball had entered the woman's body
between two ribs. 1t had passed up
ward and back, cutting through one
lobe of the left lung and on upward
into the neck, The ball was not found
and is probably at the base of the
brain, the doctor being satisfied on
determining the course of the ball and
the fact that sufficient blood vessels
had been severed to cause death by
internal hemorrhages.
The body was given in charge of an
undertaken to be conveyed to the resi-
dence of the family, which is about a
mile out of town.
The grief-stricken husband was re-
lieved from duty in the JAIL and
returned to his children with the
corpse of their mother, who had lett
them IN GOOD heaith only a lew hours
before.
Marshal Dobson was installed as
watchman in Yearrick's place. A sub
scription paper circulated among sym,
pathetic citizens soon raised $50 toward
funeral expenses.
Durham seemed much frightened
by the shooting and its effects, and
seat out of sight of it and as far away
as possible. His wife, Martha, had
spent most of the forenoon with him,
and gone out only few minutes be-
fore the accident.
Three hundred women armed with
L j. i L.,