The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1891-12-31

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make"
Mr.. White then placed him under
arrest and took him over to the Jail,
to which he made no objection what
ever.
DIR. REEVES WOUNDS.
AS soon as the attendants who had
been startled by the gun shot, recov-
cred from their surprise, they ran to
the wounded man and picking him
up carried him up the stone steps and
Into the parlor, which is directly
across the main corridor from the of
flee. He was already dead and moth
ing could be done but await the ar
rival of the doctors and officers who
in very short time reached the build
ing.
On examination by the doctors, it
was found that almost the entire
charge of buck shot had penetrated
the breast, little red spots about as
large as the end of an ordinary lead
pencil, showing where the deadly lit
| tie missiles had broken the skin. VI
these spots there were counted nine,
six of them being in the immediate
neighborhood of the heart, while the
other three were slightly scattered.
Two of the shots, so great had been
their force, had gone clear through
the body and were plainly visible un
der he skin on the back, SO that by a
slight cut of the DOCTORS knife they
rolled out onto the floor and are now
in the possession of Justice Fisher.
The face of the dead man was per-
fectly natural and placid, indicating
that death had been instantaneous.
WITNESSES OF THE DEED.
When the shooting occurred there
was no one near enough to hear what
words passed between the two men,
if any there were. There were sew
eral persons near enough to see what
happened after their attention had
been attracted by the shot. Among
them was Mr.. John II. Traynham,
who with Photographer Ankenman
was engaged in taking some views OF
the buildings and grounds. MIR.
Traynham says:
"As soon as L heard the shot fired |
looked up and saw some one at
the foot of the steps fall and Purnell
standing at the top with smoking
gun in his hand. thought that the
man who had been shot was an at
tendant, as only day or two before
Purnell told me that he had been
badly treated by one of them and hat
he intended to have revenge. When
the shot was fired Purnell started
down the steps towards me and as he
passed L asked him who he had shot?
He replied, that he had shot Dr.
Reeves. | then asked him what he
Il 60 hn pnrlinI thnf hn haH
good cause for doing it. He then
started to walk off when | asked him
to give me the gun he still carried in
his hand. NO. he replied, Il am
going to town to give myself up,
but | intend to take the gun
with me- He then struck |
off across the grounds towards the
electric car line and that was the last
L saw of him."
MOTIVE FOR THE CRIME.
The motive prompting Purnell to
the commission of the crime is hard to
determine, and perhaps at the best it
was simply the working of his disor-
dered brain.
A number of stories setting up prob
able motives were circulated during
the day, but it will probably ever re-
main mystery.
Among other stories started was
one to the effect that Purnell has for
some time past been quite attentive to
one of the young lady attendants at
the asylum and evinced a desire to be
in her company almost entirely. This
coming to the ears of DR.. Reeves, he,
it is said, told Purnell that he must
cease his attentions or else not C, me to
the building any more. The above is
given simply as one of the
floating rumors and could be traced to
no authentic source.
CONTENTS OF HIS BAG.
The reporter last afternoon exam
ined the gun and game bag carried by
Purnell at the time of the shooting,
and found it contained the following
ammunition:
There were four shells marked on
the wad 9w; twenty-one without any
mark at all and full box of No. 6
shot, out of which one shell had been
taken, but it was found in the bag
with the others. All Of the above
shells were made of black paper, but
in addition TO them, was found one
shell made of yellow paper and
marked on the wad "H." 1t was evil
IDENTIFY loaded with buckshot and was
the companion to the one that ended
the life of perintendent Reeves.
The gan was an ordinary breech-load-
ing No. II.
REFUSED TO TALK.
After examining the game bag the
reporter was taken to the Jail by
Jailer John Hornsby in the hope that
Purnell might have some statements
to make public. The following con-
versation was held:
"Mr. Purnell, have you any state
mept to make of the difficulty that
occurred at the lunatic asylum this
"What paper do you representa-"
"THE STATESMAN"