Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-04-21
kDESPERATE A MANIAC.
A YOUNG MAN SHOOTS HIS UNCLE AND
KILLS HIMSELF.

The Officers Held at, Bay Until Further
Resistance Was Impossible, When He
Took His Own Life-A Realistic Tale oil
Blood and Bullets.
ESPECIAL TKLEGRAN TO THE DIsr KrcH.l
PROVIDENCE, April 2o.-A tragedy was
enacted at the little borough of Foster Cen
ter on Sunday afternoon. The place is
miles away from any telegraph or telephone
Office, and nothing was known here OF the
tragedy until a horseman dashed into the
city seeking Sheriff Rathbun's ald
in capturing the murderer. He
was strongly intrenched in an
attic room, we'll armed and commanding the
yard in every direction. He not only re-
fused to surrender himself to the neighbors,
but he held them prisoners in the lower
part of the house. He threatened death to
the first person who left the house, and as
he was a crack shot, he succeeded in keep
ing several would-be captors cooped up In
the kitchen until darkness enabled them to
escape
James Payne is a wealthy farmer living
at Chestnut Hill, Conn. His nephew,
James Adams. a reckless young hercules,
has been boarding with the widow Smith,
other houses. On Friday last Adams wrote
note to this uncle, inviting him to spend
Sunday at the Smith house. Mr.. Payne,
who is about 60 years of age, harnessed his
horse and drove over to his nephews
boarding place. The young man met him
at the door and invited MIN upstairs.
He led the way to an attic room and Mr..
PAYNE followed. Once in the room Adams
locded the door and then faced his uncle
witha derringer in one hand and an iron bar
in the other and cooily demanded money,
saying that he had gotten into trouble and
must have money to clear himself. Inc
uncle had a small sum with him and offered
that. but it was not enough to satisfy Adams.
Mr.. Pavne offered to go and get more
but the Young man would not allow him to
leave the room. Mr.. Payne pleaded for his
lie. This only made Adams the more vio-
lent. He cooked his revolver aud fired one
shot through the roof. The Old man the
moment the revolver was turned away from
his head sprang upon his nephew, but he
was no match for the powerful young fel-
low.
Adams held him off with one hand and
fired point blank at his face. The bullet
crashed through the right jaw and passed
out of the neck near the jugular. Another
bullet quickly followed, aud this went into
shoulder bone, where it lodged in the
body. Mr. Payne fell near the trap
door to the stairway, and then kicking
1t away with his foot he fell headlong to
the first floor of the old house. Adams did
not follow, but shouted to Payne to send the
officers along or anybody else, that he would
kill five men yet. Mr.. Payne, bleeding
copiously, managed to get into his buggy
and alarm the residents. While one con-
Quoted Mr.. Payne to a doctor, several others
went TO the little old farmhouse with the
intention of capturing the would-be muir
derer, but before they had entered they
quickly realized that he commanded the
situation and dared not leave the house for
fear of being shot At night one of them
stole out and came to this city for aid. Sheriff
Rathbun sent posse, with instructions to
capture the young man dead or alive They
didn't leave here until nearly noon, and
they expected hard fight before routing
the young desperate from his fortress. But
they found only lifeless corpse when they
reached the farmhouse. Adams maintained
his defiant attitude until the posse could be
seen approaching the place, then he placed
a revolver to his temple and blew his brains
out