The times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1882-1897, 1890-07-18

cause, a coward by nature, and one who
had always made life burden to his assO-
ciates. III he had been content to have
killed himself and no one else, the world
would have been none the worse of. These
remarks may seem harsh, but we feel that
the facts justify them.
The murderer had borne fairly good
reputation in the community, was recogniz-
ed as well-to-do farmer, an expert marks
man and noted hunter. But, back of all
this, the fact that he had been unkind to
those who should have been dearest to him
was known, and in the community of late q
general feeling of disgust for him had grown
up; the neighbOrs had talked of horse-whip-
ping him. of dragging him i'm the river, ETC..
for abusing his wife and threatening TO do
what he did Sunday morning.
Perry COmstock, farmer residing in
Rush township, three miles north of the city,
on Sunday morning about four o'clock shot
his wife, attempted to shoot his adopted son,
and then blew out his own brains.
The news reached OwOssO early Sunday
and all day long hundreds of people were at
the scene of the tragedy-those arriving
first seeing sight which made them turn
away in horror
The facts of the affair, as told by the two
witnesses, Ollie, the 10-year-old adopted
son, and Miss Shuster, at the inquest, are as
follows:
Ollie COmstock, witness produced, sworn
and examined upon said inquest, upon his
oath says that: IL reside in the township
of Rush, in said county; am 10 years Old;.
am the adopted son of Perry COmstock,
l have lived i'm the family of Perry COmst0ck
since was four or five weeks old; have
| been acquainted with Mrs. Dora Comstock
| about two years; she was at home last Satur-.
day evening, July 12, 1890; i was at home
| until about o'clock that evening; got
home from the city of Owosso about 10
| o'clock at night; saw Mr.. and Mrs. Com
| stock when l got home; COmstOck was lying
| on the couch in the house, and Mrs. Com
stock sitting ON the couch beside him; l
remained in the house few minutes; she
was i'm the house sitting on the couch when
i left; did not hear them say anything: |
| saw her again that night about IL o'clock;
| she came out to the barn where i was; she
| said to me that COmstOck was abusing her
and the baby; went to the house but she
did not go with me; after / went TO the
house / went back again to the barn and
tried to get her to go into the house; she said
she was afraid of him and did not go; she
said she would stay in the barnyard and
wanted me to go back to the house; | went
back to the house; she wanted me to go back
|
the baby; when went to the house the last
time, COmstock was still lying on the couch,
he said he hadn't said anything to her, only
wanted her to go to bed; he made no threats
| and told me to go to bed; the child at this
| time was lying on the bed asleep; l then
went back to the barn and she was still
| there; went back and he sent me to bed;
| the next time / saw her was was Sunday
morning, when he sent me for her; found
her at Wards; he told me to tell her to come
back; she came back to her home with me
| about o'clock in the morning; he was
| sitting on the door steps when we went back;
they got into words; she did not 90 into the
house; he went into the house and got his
| gun and she started and ran into the road;
| followed behind him to the road and they
were both running; she was going south and
he followed her up with the gun; Mrs. Com
stock was about 13 rods south from the gate
when he got to the gate; he went about 8
rods from the gate with the gun in his hands
and he hallOOed to her to stop; she did not
stop; he hallOOed to her again to stop: she
did not stop and was still running; then
hallOOed to her to stop or COmstOck would
shoot her; she then thrned partly around,
when he shot her; he then turned on me and
said, boy, your time has Gomez; then ran
and got out of the way; went from there
to Edgar's; L did not see Perry Comstock
shoot himself; heard one shot after that
| that Is all l know about the shooting; went
from Edgar's to OwOssO to get the coroner;
at that time / didn't know that Comstocy
was shot; / next saw him near the gate,
dead. OLLIE COMsToCK.
/ Athelia Shuster, witness produced and
sworn, says: II am 90 years old; reside
near Henderson, in Rush; / have been to
work for COmstOcks people; worked five
and One-half days; was there at the house
on the evening of July 10, 1890; about IL
o'clock Perry came up stairs and told Ollie
to get up and help him find Mrs. Comstock.
AS he was going down stairs he said y
don't see why she would run out doors; l
have not said cross word to her since she
came back from Will's;' then he went out Of
the back door and went in search for her; l
was looking out of the window; i next saw
Mrs. Comstock when she came back from
Wards, about o'clock; she was coming up
the walk to the back steps, where he was
sitting; he said to her, Dora, what do you
intend to do; have you come back to live
with me or not" She replied, how do l
knows? and they repeated the same three
times; / next saw her running east to the
road; next saw Mr.. COmstOck running
after her with gun in his hand; Mrs. Com
stock was still running south and he follow.
| ing her; saw him shoot at Mrs. COmStOck,
but could not see Mrs. COmstOck; next
saw COmstOck run for Ollie; he turned
around and came through the gate into the
yard; he then placed the gun at his heart
and fired; he fell to his knees and was
halooing and moaning; l then went for
Mrs. Galloway, and when came back he
was dying; he had OH his coat when l left;
no one near him at the time of shooting
| ATHELIA SHUsTEI.
Mr.. Comstock's first wife, a sister of Mr.
Oscar Wells, died in October, 1887. IN
January, 1889, he married Miss Dora A.
Collins, af Batavia, N. Y, whose age was
% years, while Mr.. Comst0ck's was 81.
Their married life was not happy one.
About eight months ago babe was born to
them, after which he seemed to grow merose
and jealous of his wife and the adopted son.
| This grew on him and eliminated in the
tragedy of Sunday.
Mrs. Comstock was shot through the heart,
death being instantaneous. COmstock first
shot himself i'm the left side and then, after
taking off his coat, placed the rife, repeat
ing Winchester, to the left side of his head
| and fred the fatal shot, the ball blowing off