The Carbon advocate. [volume] (Lehighton, Pa.) 1872-1924, 1890-03-29
A eIRL,s rRAclc pEArH.
A FATAL PISTOL BULLETS CRASHING
FORCE ENDS ALL.
was it Accident or Murder2 The Scene
"f the Ahaira Vale Of sorrow.
The Boy Lover in JAN.

" double frame dwelling house on the corne
" OF Second and Coal streets. this town. live,
- Corneda Hiskey, aged sixteen years. will
y her mother and half sister Mary, up TO las
Thursday night. In this small, ding,
= room, poorly and plainly furnished. tb,
y widow, LaYins Somit and her children
:, managed to exc out an honest existence b,
y taking in washing and doing houseworl
: about the town. Early Thursday evening
!" the family were sitting around the room
= talking planning and attending TO minor
e duties, while the girl eorneda, better known
d as uertie, was engaged writing a letter tor
her mother. Sometime near seven o,clocll
} there was gentle
KNOCK At THE DOOR,
y ana Gertie, who was evidently expectino
some one, rose and went TO the door where
she was met by Webster II. Campbell. who
/. now occupies cell in the county prison al
s Hauch Chunk awaiting trial for her tragic
death, An invitation 10 "come inn was
refused, and she went out to him and
closed the door. For an hour or mora
) possibly they stood on the porch In front
, OF the house engaged in conversation. when
more earnest and pressing invitation 10
60 inside was unfortunately accepted, and
OaHpoell went in and joined the family
J lie accepted chair near the door and the
glrl pulled a rocker across the room To bis
siue ana sat down in it. Their conyersa-
Ilon diltted onto various topics and incl
aentaliy the funeral of Carl Leitzman, who
vas Killed on The l.. & S. railroad Tuesdav
night and was buried that afternoon. Al.
ter thls campbell appeared depressed, anil
sat with his head bowed down saving moth
ing Tor ten or fifteen minutes After
a"nlle Gertle rose from her chair and sat
down on his lap whenCampbell commenced
Playing with cheap brass breastpin that
sue she wore, loosening it and telling her to
throw IL away that he would buy her bet !
Yer one. Following this the conversation
became more general with the inmates of
ihe room. It was sometime later when the |
nan sister Mary retired, and the mother |
sought an adjoining room on the same
moor. The hour was then near eleven o.
| CLOCK. What took place between the period
that elaDsed and the time of the tragic
event is known only to the dead girl
WHOSE LIPS ARE SEALED FOREVER.
ana webster H. Campbell. In the mean.
tlme they had moved across the room and
were occupying two chairs in close nrox-
| unity TO each other in the corner; Camp.
Oell sat TO the left, Immediately in the cor
ner, on chair some three 20 five inches
lower than the one occupied by the girl The
table stood directly in front of them. while
close to the right stood the old.fashioped.
nlgh, narrow cupboard. About this time
Campbell had taken the revolver from his
pocket and placed it on the table. This he
claims occurred while all members of the
Iamlly were in the room, but iC is denied
DY both Mrs. Somit and her daughter Mary.
Later IL was placed on the old cupboard.
ana when the girl and her youthful lover
were about changing their seats for the
rocker they passed by the cupboard ON
which lay the fatal weapon rhe Girl pre-
ceeded Campbell, and was close in front of $
him when he picked up the revolver 10
place it further back fIom the edge. In
9olng thls he claims, it was accidentally !
discharged and the deadly missel from an
Old fashioned 3S-calibre revolver crashed
Ihrough her head, at point two inches
from the left ear, the bullet taking an up- {
ward and forward course through the brain [
and lodging just under the scalp on the 1
right, singing the hair and burning the g
skin, lntlicting wound from which death {
resulted in five minutes, The loud
REPORT OF THE REVOLVER I
huTiedly brought Mrs. Somit into the
room. She was confronted by Campbell I
almost at the door who, in evident anguish {
cried, MY God, for Gods sake, l shot nv |
dear Gertie accidentally" Running out !
into the street the widowed woman called |
loudly for help She was followed by {
Campbell who fired second shot into tho c
air. Mrs. Somit was closely followed into
lhe room by William Schoepe, who lives 2
In the same house, Following him came j
Ihe SiIl mary VINO, running across the c
room to her sisters side lifted her up i'm s
her arms and held her to her bosom while c
the haze of death dimmed the wounded e
glrls eyes and her life's blood flowed i'm Il
streams from the ghastly wound and soak D
ed into the dress of the half-frenzed sister. o
This was the condition of things that CON Il
fronled the half dozen or more neighbors r
VINO hled into the room of death nigh onto h
the midnight hour-the mothers loud cries b
OF grlet and the heart rending sObs of the
poor, detormed girl bending under the
weight of her sisters dead body. The =
CRIES FOR HELP a
uttered DyMrS.S SOmit had the effect of bring n
ing to the scene John Walters and LafaV q
eue Schoch who we've on their way home, n
and near the corner of Second and Iron p
streets' tully three squares from the home
Oh the dead girl. Messengers were at once p,
sent ior llr. WV. Reber, Squire Beltz, and
Constable haWorth, all three of whom were
soon on the scene. Campbell was taken i'm
charge and was held in CUSTODY at the home d
OF Constable Raworth until the following b
morning when he was taken to Squire 81
BeiIz Office and remanded for the coro- v
ners verdict. Daylight dawned with fall K
ing ram, the air was murky and a dismal Il
pail over hung the town as a curtain of D
gloom. Men, women, boys and girls trudged y
W the mn TO the tragic scene and crowded y
ene outside building, waiting with ill-con- y
cealeu lmpatience for the COroner's iurv u
who were deiberating in the close aime.
sphere OF the basement. The impaLience G
OF the people was relieved when Coroner o
Buck, OF Weatherly, and the empanelled s.
Jury, II. A. Beltz, foreman, j. w, Rauden- v
Ohsh, John II. b. AclSer, Charles A Wag y
ner; l'hllip bartholomew and Wash Schocb II
uieu from the room and proceeded to the y
once OF Squire Betz ON First street. There
was great rush for that poipt and for half d
an hour the front of the building was p
thronged with people, the number of which a
gradually thinned out. Before twelve o.
CLOCK the jury reached the following decis
iOI' cleared OF all technical terms. viz: that
Corheda Hlskey had come to her death by
q plstol shot wound at the hands OF Webster
H. campbell" Constable Raworth i'm.
'neu"tely took the accused boy to the
COUNTY PRISON, o
at Mauch Chunk, where he is now confined o
followlng the shooting Compbell threw a
the pistol into the street, where II was fonnd
oy John Wallersi when asBed why he had
thrown IL away, he replied, "she told me 81
TO- meaning MIS-. SOmit. The revolver o
IS an old tive-baueled one and belonged IN 4
Ihe II boys rather, who is Henry Campbell,
Esq; merchant, residing along the canal G.
IN Franklin township. The boy saws the S
revolver came into his possession accident =
any lie was engaged cleaning out The
store few DAYS before when he found
THE FATAL WEAPON n
IN box and placed it In his pocket. He
never thought of it again until he Got into =.
the house, when he took il out and placed I
u on the table and later removed il to tbe .
cupboard. He cannot remember whether
the revolver went OFF in his hand or when =
II y struck the chair. He picked the weapon
.'i Iio,il lhe moor at point between the chair &