Waterbury evening Democrat., 1892-11-01
THE BARTLETT TRAGEDY
Both the Victims Well Known
in Dunkirk, N. Y.
THE MURDERER's EARLY LIFE

No Apparent Cause for the Triple Crime
Letters from San FrAncisCO to the
BartIetts' Friends Speaker the Couple
as Living Happily Together.
DUNKIRK, N. V, Nov. flames II
Bartlett, who shot and killed Lolita Car
penter, his wife's niece, wounded hiI
wife, and then killed himself at his home
in San Francisco on Sunday morning,
was born in 1S47 in Laona, four miles
south of Dunkirk, where his widowed
mother, nearly so years of age, and q
half brother, S. Z. Bartlett, are now liv-
ing. james spent very little of his life
at home, his most important journey be-
ing as first assistant engineer with the
Jeanette Polar expedition.
His wife was Miss Estella N. Lord,
daughter of the late Daniel Lord, hard
ware merchant of Dunk irk.
She was married to Bartlett on April
II, 1887, he having previously secured 8
divorce from his first wife, whom he de.
serted before making his voyage to the
Arctic.
Immediately after the marriage they
departed for the Pacific coast, where
Bartlett had Government appointment
San Francisco His wife's letters to her
friends in Dunkirk have been filled with
praise of her husband, whom she has al
ways described as exceedingly kind and
careful of her happiness.
a friend who visited her last spring
reported them as a very happy couple,
and the husband as devoted to the COM
fort of his wife.
Lolita Carpenter, the young victim of
the bullet, was the youngest daughter of
the late Charles Carpenter, whose wife
was sister of Mrs. Bartlett. She was
bright and pretty girl of IS years.
Three weeks ago Dunkirk friend re-
ceived letter from Mrs. Bartlett, in
which she wrote her usual praises of her
husband, and said,
Lolita is with us. She has come to
stay ana we have adopted her, She is q
great comfort to us. She is so good and
thoughtful of our wishes and Jim thinks
SO much of her. She is as our own
daughter"
Lotta's father died in Omaha last sum-
mer and her mother is now living in Rock
Springs, Wyoming, with her only son,
Lord Carpenter and her eldest daughter,
Mrs. Clyde Carpenter, who is n school
teacher.
Mrs. Bartlett's father, Daniel Lord,
was one of Dunkirk's oldest citizens. He
did large hardware business and owned
real estate, and the family had one of the
pleasant est, most hospitable homes of the
time. But the burning of his store in
1868 was followed by a series of misfor-
tunes and he engaged temporarily in
other business. He lost his life in Decem-
Der, 1868, in the collision Of the steamers
United States and America in the Ohio
River, as he was on his way to visit his
daughter in Evansville, Ind. His wife,
who was daughter of the late Erastus
Tucker of Geneva, N. v, died few
years afterwards.
Later Mr.. Carpenters family came to
Dunkirk and remained for time with
Mrs. Carpenter sisters, but soon after
Estella's marriage to Bartlett they all
moved West, having disposed of their
Dumkirk property, excepting the home
stead. This was burned in March, 1891.
Last summer MIR. Carpenter died, and
now the grievously afflicted family have
this terrible blow to endure. To the
mother OF Mir. BARTLETT the news Is ter
rible shock, as she idolized her hayward