Waterbury evening Democrat., 1891-12-26
MURDER OF WOGAN
Selling Says He Shot in Self
.is Defence.
TOM GOULD DENIES THIS.
he Says That the "Bounosr" Was De-
&. iberately Killed.

A Murder in GOuld's Dive No Surprise.
but the Many Conflicting Stories Make
the Case Pecu1iar-The Shot Fired on
the Sidewalk and Entered Wogan's
Abdomen, Causing Almost Instant
Death-Ths Story of the killing as Told
BY the Prisoner
NEW YORK, Dec 26.-The killing of a
man in Tom Gould's saloon is not
matter OF much surprise, as the place is
such a notorious dive, but fhe murder
OF john j. Wogan, the reputed pro-
prietor, but in reality the man employed
BY Gould to manage the saloon, is pecu-
liar from the many conflicting stories
that are told of the occurrence.
The facts of the case are probably
about as follows:
The Christmas Eve orgies at Could
were wilder and more protracted than
usual. At midnight, when the church
bells were peaiing, three or four hun
dred men and women sat around tables,
below the level of the street, drin king,
shouting and laughing
The thick clouds of vile tobacco
smoke hanging low around and about
the besotted groups made the figures
appear like phantoms. But no clouds
could conceal the paint aud powder on
the faces Of those scores of women.
Taey were CHASTITY faces, made all the
more horrible by the articles used to
conceal the pallor and the wrinkles
caused by nights of excuses in that
underground resort.
There were fifty men and women still
in the place at 7 o'clock in the morning.
Most of them were so drunk that they
could not get away.
One story is as follows: Among those
who had reinforced the dwindling crowd,
at about b O'Clock, were two neatly
dressed men. One of them was Joseph
Selling and the other Julius Kohler.
They sat down at a table and ordered
drinks. A woman who calls herself
Mrs. Ida Adams, and lives at 237 West
Fortieth street, came over and sat down
with them. Two hours were spent in
drinking at that table. Selling and
Kohler drank little, always of beer.
At about o'clock the bouncer,
''Cad' Millspaugh, who was drunk,
came up to Selling and reproved him for
having thrown a newspaper on the floor
Selling is a little man, and Millspaugh
| tall, slender, but powerful one. Sell
| ing replied that he had meant no harm.
Yves you did, - you, and you'd
better get out o. here; seeP
| "All right, I'll CO." said Selling, and
| AO onu AAOuLoE SO0 u W oSpdEG.
AS they were moving toward the door
the bouucer seized Selling by the arm
| and whirled him around with great
| force. Just then Wogan, a short,
| stocky man, weighing over 200 pounds,
| came up, and, being in fighting mood,
l also seized Selling. He, too, whirled
4 the small man around. Wogan and
i Millspaugh played with the smaller
1 fellow as pair of playful terriers
might with a rat. Then Wogan became
| tired of the sport and grabbing Selling
i by the threat threw him half way up
| the stairs.
| When the sidewalk was reach ed Sell
ing was almost unable to breathe, aad
I drawing his revolver he placed the
and fred. Wogan released his hold and
as Gould came running up the stairs,
| remarked:
81 guess Pm done for :"
Wogan walked down the stairs, sat
down ON a chair, and moment later
rolled over to the floor, dead
Selling, meanwhile, had run into
| Twenty third street, pursued by a
crowd of people from the dive. He was
caught by Officer John Hughes, who
took the still smoking revolver from b il
hand, and pl aced him under arrest.
In the afternoon Gould and other
witnesses were called to the under
takers by the cor onor. Gould's state
ments were SO conflicting that the
a witness.
| During the afternoon Selling told this
story:
81 went to bed at 10 o'clock on Christ
mas Eve, but my cough was SO bad and
it was so hard for me to breathe that
could not sleep. My restlessness dis
turbed Kohler SO that he could get no
I -. lad %<
| dress and go out into the air for a walk.
1t was better than tossing on the bed.
1--WE walked over to Sixth avenue
and, seeing Gould's place open, went in
1 IA friend of mine at the next table
to ours had a newspaper sticking out o
hi s pocket. l pulled it out and threw
it down GU the floor in a joking way.
T he bouncer called Cad saw me do it
and came up to tell me that he'd throw
| me into the street if l did anything
more like that. He was drunk anC
ugly, and l merely said that had no
meant to do anything wrong. Then he
ord cred me out, and as got up to sc
he swung me around so hard that
almost fell against Woghn, who wa
walking toward us.
''Wogon abbed me and swung m
back toward Cad Then theysnad ful
with me, one tossing me to the .othe
for several minutes. Finally Woga
grabbed me by the throat, and beGge
him not to do me up He threw IN
out of the door and 1 fell on the steps
Then he took me by the neck again an
hauled me up to the sidewalk, where h
pushed his knuckles into my throa
until could not breathe. begged hin
| not to, but he kept choking me, an
feeling that he meant to kill me l dreV
my revolver and fired. Then he le t m
1 go, and tried to run away"