New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1889-01-07
A MAN KILLS HIS OWN NIECE
HE THEN SHOOTS nrMsELF 40 DEATH.
THE Two HAD BEEN LIVING roeETrl.R-oUAB
RELs ABOUT THE woMANs SON SIP.
POSED TO BE THE CArISE

THE Tw0 HAD BEEN LIVING roeETrtl.R-oUABt
RELS ABOUT THE woMANs SON SIP.
POSED TO BE THE CAUSE
The discovery Of a supposed MURDER and suicide
on the fourth floor shocked the tenants Of the
double tenementhouse No 342 East Fifty-fourth-
ST. last evening and effectually broke up the
Sunday quiet of the neighborhood. As is nearly
always the case, the actors in this tragedy were
a man and woman, but the relationship that the
pair sustained toward each other made the double
crime unusually disgusting The murderer and
suicide was William Mann, age ifty-two. crayon
artist, and his victim was his niece Carrie Jones,
the wife of Stephen Jones' carpenter, who lives
at Poughkeepse. The reason for the crime Is be-
lieved to be il-feeling on the mans part because
the woman would not send away from her her
son, q lnd Of thirteen.
HOW THE POLICE WE'RE INFORMED.
Although the tragedy took place about o'clock,
the first intmation of 1t that came to the police
was ut o'clock In the evening, when Policeman
Kelly met the woman's son oil the sidewalk .
few doors from No. 814, and was told by the boy
that his great-uncle was lying upstairs dead on
the door of his room. Two frightened women,
dressed in deep mourning, aunts of the hoy and
sisters of his mother. were with him, and with
the policemen at their head they hurried up the
narrow. dark stairway Of the building to the
Mann and Mrs Jones and the boy waltss bad
only been living at No. sac three days. They
had three scantily furnished rooms-two bedrooms
and sitting-Ioom- Tho entrance to the bed
rooms was through the sitting-room. There was
only one bed in the place. and that was In the
narrow middle chamber. Kelly and the women
procured candle, and By Its dickering light es
prostrste figure Of the murderer, fully dressed,
lying of the other end OF the room, the body
blocking the door to the rear bedroom. closer
search showed them the dead body Of the woman,
and the wall. She was likewise fully dressed,
and there was bullet wound in the right temple.
The woman's body was In crouchng position,
raised as IL to shield her head. 1t looked as II
she had been chased and had taken refuge In the
corner Her murderer's feet were lying across
those &; his victims
TIE STORIES OF HIS RELATIVES.
What preceded the murder could only bo
gathered from the story Of the womans son and
the woman's sisters, both Of whom are the wives
Of respectable tradesmen in Brooklyn. Mann
and Mrs. Jones werc both natives of this city, of
German parsntage- Little is known Of him
except that in his early life he lived ON the
West Side, and about twenty-five years ago went
..outh and joined the Confederate army. Moth
hs Ing s Ts heard ard 09 s sn & e b , ,yss Mss hsSs ss
four years ago, when he appeared In
Poughkecpsie, where Mr.. and Mrs Jones werc
living unhappily together. Mann took the part
of his niece in the family quareis ana finally
She went to live with him as his housekeeper.
taking her son along For the last nine months
they lived at Forty-sixth-st- and Second-sve.
There were frequent jars between the pair about
the boy, Mann wanting him TO be sent away.
The womans sisters advised her TO leave him,
saying that her life was in peril, but the woman
said she was not afraid.
On Thursday they moved 10 Efty-fourth-et.
Last night, according to the boys story. they
quarrelled again. All three occupied the same
bed, the boy sleeping across the foot He says
be heard Mann say 70 hfs mother: I'll hx you
in the morning.. Yesterday morning Walter,
who II telegraph messenger boy, went 70 work,'
Hts mother got him his breakfast as USUAL but
away: Walter returned home at o'clock. He
found the door leading from the hall TO. the
sitting-room open. Through the open door Lead
ing into the middle bedroom he saw the body OF
Mann, blood flowing from a wound In the right
temple, and in his hand a revolver Owing 10 the
position OF The bed ne could not see his motheB
The boy ran out in terror. and went 20 Brooklyn
TO tell his aunts saying nothing 70 any one else.
1t was on his rrturn that he met Policeman Kelly.
From the appearance Of the room II could be
seen that Mann and the woman had eaten dinner,
at which they had had chicken and beer. Moth.
ing about the room was disordercd. The time OF
the shooting is fixed by Mrs. Brlsser, who lives
on the floor beneath. She heard two shots about
n,c1ock