The record-union., 1891-01-12
Fatal Result of a Quarrel Between
Husband and Wife.
60 Witnesses to the AfTair-story of tho
Husband, Auguste Forgous-
Result of Drink.

Auguste ForgouS and his wife.
The neighbors soon collected in front
Of the house, and some of them attempted
to enter, but they found the doors fast
ened. Forgous soon presented himself
and warned the crowd not to enter the
place on peril of being shot.
A young man was dispatched for an
officer, and he met policeman Lowell at
Tenth and NJ streets and related what had
occurred The officer entered the young
man's vehicle and arrived at the scene OF
trouble in a few minutes.
Persons in the crowd that had gathered
advised Lowell not To try to get into the
house, aS Eorgous was in q state OF great
excitement and would kill him. The
officer, however, went to the side door
and Knocked and as soon as Forgous ap-
peared Lowell grabbed him and pulled
him outside
Leaving his prisoner in the hands OF
stout young man on the sidewalk, the
officer re-entered the house. 1t was then
getting quite dark, and he struck light
Ihls revealed the body of a woman lying
on the floor in the kitchen, and close by
her pistol. The officer and some of the
neighbors attempted to raise the woman
and found that it was the wife of Forgous.
She was dead, but still warm.
Lowell secured the pistol and took For
gons down to the police station, and also
notified Coroner G.. II. Clark, who went
out and took charge OF the body.
WHAT FoRGoUs SAYS.
The prisoner was laboring under great
excitement when brought to the JAIL and
he spoke English so imperiectly that no
one there could understand him. Finally
j. i. Barron was sent for to act as inter
prefer, and the prisoner was taken into
Captain Lees office. There were present,
beside Captain Lee, officers Lowell and
Higgins, and two reporters, District At
torney Ryan, Deputy District Attorney
Buckley and City Attorney 4. G. Hart.
EorgouS, whose condition indicated
that he had been drinking, was told that
he might make voluntary statement if
he desired to. He inquired as to the con-
dition of his wife, and when told that she
was dead, he burst into tears and cried,
''Oh, Marie! Marie!' Finally he made
statement through the interpreter sub
stantially as follows:
My wife works for Mr.. LeAIay, the
French baker. She went there to-day
and cooked dinner. After cooking din
ner she came home. ! asked. her If she
had clean shirt for me- She ironed
shirt and then put it away. 1 asked her
for it, and she said | didn't want it-that
/ wasn't going anywhere. She said: If
You go out, you know ! asked, Know
what?' She said: There Will be trouble:
i viii kill you l said: If the children
come here and give you trouble, that had
nothing to do with me-
'.She had been drinking and was very
drunk then, and did not seem to know
what she was saying. She was in the
habit of drinking, and | spoke to one of
her daughters about it.
she talked about going to LeAiay's to
cook supper, and told her there was no
necessity for her going, bat she said She
would go, and If | interfered to prevent
her she would blow of the top of my
bead Her daughter was present at the
time.
she said: You know / found your
business greferring to his pistol. i had
discharged ii on New Years and put il
away, but she said she had found il and
put cartridges into it. She said | was too
negligent, and | replied: Yes, ! am; /
work every day ut the shops, and can't
look after everything
Continuing, Forgous said he had sew
eral times reproached his wife for her
carelessness in doing her work at Lee
Mays, and did so again yesterday. She
again said she was going there to cook
supper, and he told her he would go with
her, She said no, that he was dirty and
good for nothing. He then reproaehed
the daughter for coming there and max
ing trouble.
His wife, he said, spoke up and said
her daughter should come when she
wanted 10, and he might go into the
street, or 10 France, or wherever he
pleased. She would shoot the top of his
head Off. Then she threw up her hands
and said she was going. He told her to
wait until he could change his clothes.
korgoUs said ne then won't into the
yard to feed the chickens. and, as he re-
entered the house, his wife shot ut him.
He caught her by the arms, and the next
time she shot the pistol was turned
toward herself, and the shot took effect in
her own person.
She was stronger than him, he said,
and he Kept pushing her away, saying
she could shoot herself if she wanted to.
but not to shoot him. Finally he tripned
her and threw her upon the floor He
then got down and kissed her. and asked
MARIE, ARE YoU DEAD?"
During the scuffle she was furious and
frequently said: q want TO get through
with YOU! / am through with your
forgous was asked how many shots
We're fired, and he said he didn't know
lie insisted that he did not do anything
10 her.
He then showed how he caught hold of
his wife, and how the pistol became
turned toward herself during the scuffie.
He declared that his only object was to
prevent her from doing injury to him or
10 herself.
FoRGoUs AND HIS WIFE.
The prisoner said he was native of
DecareYille, France, and that his Wife
was a native OF Paris. He was married
10 her in this city TWO years ago, she hav-
ing two grown daughters-AlrS. George
Heisch and Mrs. James Murphy. and a
son who is employed in the railroad
shops. He himself is employed there.
REFUSED TO TALK
A RECoRD-UNIoN reporter called on
Mrs. Heisch, the daughter of the de-
ceased woman who was present at her
mothers house during the afternoon
quarrel, ard after informing her that
Forgous had made a statement concern
ing the shooting, politely asked her If
she would tell what she knew about the
origin of the trouble that led to her
mothers death
Mrs. Heisch quickly replied. 81 won't
say anything about IT, / won't talk TO
you, and | will not testifyin
With this she slammed the door in the
reporters face.
WHAT NEIGHBoR HEARD.
Among those who visited the scene of
the tragedy shortly after it occurred was
District Attorney Ryan. A Mrs. Sehin-
zer- who lives near by. informed Mr..
Ryan that she heard loud voices in For
gous' house, then 4 woGan'S scream and
Immediately thereafter pistol shot An
other scream followed and then several
more pistol shots.
ABOUT THE PISTOL.
George Heiseh visited the Norgue last
night, and on being asked by one of the
attaches about the pistol with which the
woman was shot, replied:
KNOW all about that pistol, and win
go on the stand and swear to what he
{Forgous) had said about it,
The weapon is z S2-caliber. of the tsbull-
dog pattern, having six chambers.
When found on the floor by The dead
WOInan'S side fOur of fhn roc bod