Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1889-12-17
WAS MR.. GOwEN MURDERED?
Theories Advanced Concerning Last
Saturday. Tragedy.

| Friends Of the late Franklin B. Gowen, whose
sad death startled this city last Saturday, still
cling to the theory that he was murdered.
Many ingenious suggestions as to how he
might have been assassinated have been
| worked out Of the materials at hand. Practi-
cally all that leads to o murder theory In the
difficulty Of discovering any motive for self-de-
| struction on the prrt Of Mr.. Gowen, backed by
general understanding that threats had been
made against his life by the survivors Of the
Mollie Maguires, whom Mr.. Gowen was very
| instrumental in disbanding and Furnishing.
These facts are set forth by Mr.. Cassius, n
O. Anstett, a friend Of Mr.. Gowen. He lived
| at Wormley's for four years, and during Mr..
Governs last visit saw him several times at the
hotel He says he was present when the body
was removed. and that he believes he was
murdered the murderer having ample
time and opportunity for escape. It was not
Mr.. Governs habit to keep his door locked, as
serts Mr.. Anstett. and he proceeds to ask:
what was there to hinder any one of the par
! ties who had threatened death to Mr.. Gowen
from entering his room, killing him at the first
discharge of the revolver, and escaping by the
| transom or the fre-escape? Had Mr.. Gowen
| intended to hill himself he would have been
most likely to have shot himself through the
| temple in front OF the mirror, and not through
the side Of his head, holding the pistol. as is
alleged, some distance from his own head"
THE SCENE OF THE TRAGEDY.
A STAR reporter this morning visited room 81
in Wormley's in which the terrible tragedy oc-
CURED. He was accompanied by one of the
| hotel clerks. The room is on the second floor,
south front and is entered by a single door. On
| the west side Is a small bath room opening into
| room 81 and also into the corridor. The hall
door Of this bath room is always locked
When the reporter entered the room had
been prepared for the scraping Of the walls by
| paper hanger. The carpet had been taken up
| and bundled into q huge roll on the sofa. The
bed was made, but the room had q desolated
look. On the floor, under the edge Of the small,
obiong table, were two deep red spots, as if
some coloring matter that had soaked through
the heavy brussels carpet had left the imprint
Of the texture. The spots were Joined by
being considerably larger than the other. This
was where Mr.. Governs head lay as he fell upon
| the floor. The blood, pouring from the wound
Of entry on the right side, made larger stain
than that which came from the left ear. The
table usually stood straight in the center Of the
room, and contained the heavy drop light
which was fastened to the fixture by tube.
As the body fell the head must have struck
the edge Of the table in slanting
direction, showing it to the north slightly an
The dead mans toes were evidently under the
edge of the movable iron hearth plate, for it
had been twisted out Of place. There were q
few drops Of blood on the white marble hearth
stone and half a dozen minute red specks on
the face of the marble mantel. The mirror is
directly above the mantel, which stands against
the south wall between the two windows.
COULD NOT LEAVE BIZ The DOORS.
The murderer" could not have left the
room by the doors, which were found locked
from the inside. The transom must be re-
moved in order to let him get out in that way,
and the transom was so tightly in place when
the room was entered that sharp blow had to
be given to the edge in order to start
it swinging Thus, II murder were
committed inside the room, the
assassin had but the windows from which to
escape. When the room was entered the east
window was down to within three inches of the
bottom and the west window entirely closed.
The yellow shades were in both cases pulle
down to the sill. The windows look out on an
open space, across which can be seen the rear
OF the buildings on Pennsylvania avenue. The
hotel wall is clean, flush, straight, without q
fire escape in sight. The escapes are all in the
interior court, across the corridor from room g.
FIFTY FEET TO THE GROUND.
Fifty or more feet below the sills is the
ground. First there is a four-foot paved pas
sage way, belonging to the hotel, then board
fence covered with dry, brittle vines; beyond
the fence is the extensive yard Of the German
ullIlsteT house, wherein ualI OOZen savage
dogs are, according to the hotel clerk,
wont to lay in wait TOR intruders. There
were none in sight when the reporter
made his survey. A leap from one Of these
windows would mean serious injury II not
death, and would leave marks of some kind on
the soil in the ministers yard or upon the dry
vines on the fence. There are no such signs.
The only way to jump and not leave a mark is
to hang by the hands on the sill and drop to
the bricks fifty feet below.
THE TRANsoM THEORY.
1t does not seem probable that any assassin
could have been in the room with Mr.. Gowen.
The only other way apparently that the hypo-
thetical murderer could have accomplished his
crime was to shoot Mr.. Gowen through the
transom. In such a case he made his selection
OF time when Mr.. Gowen was standing before
the mirror, his back to the door, his head
turned to the right sufficiently to enable a
marksman to hit him SO square that the ball
went through the head in a straight line from
ear to ear. The fact that Mr.. Governs own
pistol was found at his side with bullet dis
charged also makes this theory seem unreason-
able.
THE DELAY IN THE INVESTIGATION.
There is considerable comment about town
in regard to the failure Of the police to sum-
mon the coroner Immediately upon the dis
covery of the body, SO that an inquest could
have been held in the midst Of all the circum-
stantial surroundings. This would have dis
pensed with many Of the surmises and con-
lectures that are now being raised.
THE MARKS LEFT BY PISTOL WOUNDS.
A STAR reporter, in a conversation with q
prominent army surgeon this morning at the
medical museum regarding the death Of MIR.
Gowen, asked what was the significance Of the
external marks in the case of a pistol shot
wound. The surgeon said that If tine pistol
were placed in contact with the flesh before
the discharge there would be no blackening OF
the flesh around the wound of entrance caused
| by burnt powder, as it would all enter the
| wound. If the pistol were held at distance
| of from few inches up to several feet, as
would naturally be the case with q sui
eide, there would probably be a con-
| siderable portion of the flesh marked
| by the scattering powder. This however, is
| not invariably the case and the absence Of all
blackenng and Of the mark made by the smut OF
the pistol when held in actual contact would
held at more than arms length from the body
extent and nature of the blackened portion de-
ponds largely on the kind and size of the
| weapon, on the nature of the powder, whether
| quick or slow burning, smokeless otherwise,
| or the amount of powder used, the
| relative weight Of the powder and the ball and
| also on the character of the flesh in the imme.
| date neighborhood of the wound SO that it ia
| next to impossible to lay down any invariable
| rule in the matter. II will be remembered tina,
| in the case of Mr.. Gowen there was no smut
mark found nor any space blackened by the
burntpowder.
| DID Mr. aowEN FEAR pAREsrs2