The diamond drill. (Crystal Falls, Iron County, Mich.) 1887-1996, 1889-01-12

ACCOUNT fHSy 155kkD Sa!0 stooD'


Inox RIvHn. january 10.-The busy i
little city III Ir0n River was thrown into
considerable excitement last Saturday |
night by shootiIu affair, ON Genesse
street The shooting t<sssk place between
six and seven o'clock, John II. Blessing
uprrrssor and Samuel II. Arnold, who |
has also spent several years in that |
vicinity, but more recently of Waters |
meet, being the victim. As usual there |
WAS woman in the case. In order that |
your readers may fully understand the
whole matter i have spared no pains to
obtain the whole story from beginning To
end. Some twenty years ugo, Phoebe
| LaGrue, the woman In the case, was
married TO Paul Walker. mt Escanaba,
Mich, and bore him two children-a boy
and "A girl--aiter which she and her hus-
band becams estranged and she went ~
live with her mother and step-iathcr, Mr..
and Mrs.. Il. Riley, on the shore Of Green
Bay, about eighteen miles south al
Escanaba, where she met John ii. Bios
singham, who at that time was working
in the cedar woods at that place. In the
meantime Walker h al commenced pro-
ceedings for divorce, but his suit was
never brought on to n hearing and was
finally abandoned; Walker marrying
grass widow. After Walkers marriage.
Blossingham and Mrs. Walker applied TO
an Escanaba justice To perform the mar
riage ceremony for them, but this the
justice refused To do on account oil Mrs.
Walkers husband being still alive and
not divorced. Instead III applying Tor n
went to live with Blossingham as his
wife, and continued to live with him un-
I'll sometime last autumn when she left
him and moved To this city. While
living with Blossngham she bore him six
childred, five al whom are still living.
During the sixteen years that they lived
together they have resided mt Escanaba,
Spalding, Crystal Falls and Iron River,
and were supposed To be husband and
wife by all their negbhors. She has
signed deeds and other Instruments IN
writing as his wife. For some reason,
7 though, she became dissatisfied with him,
while hvingin Crystal Falls last fall, and
: moved here On Monday, December 81 f,
1888, rhe was married at Florence, Wis,
{ under her maiden name OF LaGrue, To
! Samuel +. Arnold, who has been the i'm
innate friend Of the family for several
years, and commenced to reside on Cen
, essee street I'm the meantime Blessing
! ham had tried i'm vain TO get her to come
! back To live with him, offering TO furnish
her the necessary money To procure u
divorce from Walker. and then To marry
: her afterwards; but she would not listen
! to him aud refused to have anything
: more 10 say or do with him. Last sat
! urday evening, shortly after six O'Clock
the door az the Arnold residence. was
u suddenly openrd and in stepped Bloss
Z inghan, with his little pop" IN his hand
u and commenced shooting az Arnold
: firing four shots in all and all OF which
took effect upon his victim, one bnle
e slightly wounding him in the face, unothe
W in the left wrist, another IN the abdomen
- on the left side, and the other througl
the left breast, the latter bullet passInl
through the heartand pulmonary artery
~ After doing the shooting Blossinghan
~ walked west ON Gencsse street nearly
- block, and went into the Sullivan hous
,e and surrendered himself upnnd was con
! veyed to Jail by Deputy Sheriff Wait
= Drs. ID. NJ. and II. L. Bond were calle'
~ but could give the wounded man bu
u little relief, and he fingered on until
little after six o'clock Sunday evenin
" when he expired On Monday pos
NC mortcm examination was made by DIR,
ID. NJ. Bond and w. Il. Carpenter when
=, was ascertained that one oil the bullet
al had passed through his heart as mention
rs ed above, and that lac had lived Ia
C. twenty.four hours afterwards. Whel
- Blossingham commenced To shoot "a
Arnold Mrs. Arnold nee Mrs. Walke
is and two ~ her children were In the siam
,d room. Mrs. Arnold wentinto the pantry
no the eldest boy jumped througha window
IL and the smaller boy sought refuge unde
v. "A table and besought his father not :
shoot him. Blossingham was examine
a ON Wednesday before Justice Y. Campbell
o. who held him for trial in the Circuit couI
~ without bail. John III. Blossingham. II
il. prisoner, is ~ native OF Virginia but ha
- resided in Michigan for n long time. II
10 il ~ good stationary engineer and hs
= always been able 60 command good pa.
e Since his reputed wife left him he has bee
Nv somewhat unsteady and greatly excite'