Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1893-11-02
KILLED By A CRANK.
MAYOR CARTER II. HARRISON. OF
CHICAGO. SHOT AT HIS RESI-
1sENCE LAST NIGHT.
CRAZY MANS CRIME,
Bfes Twenty Minutes After the Deed
Is Done Murderer ConfsSSeS.


own residence tonight by crazy paper
carrier.
Mayor Harrison, who but d short
tine previously had returned home
from the festivities of mayors day at
the worlds fair, was lying on a sofa
in the front room.
About s o'clock the door bell rang and
when a servant opened the door a man
rushed into the room where Harrison
was lying and fired three shots at him,
all of which took effect.
Harrison died in twenty minutes.
! Thus another crazy crank has done
his deadly work, and Carter II. HaITi-
son, five times mayor of Chicago and
enc Of the best known men in the west,
lies dead at his home, 81 South Ash
land boulevard. Three bullets entered
his body. two of them making wounds
sufficient to cause his death.
The murder was committed by Eu-
gene Patrick PrendergaSt, a paper
carrier, who had declared that Mayor
Harrison had promised to make him
corporation council and had not kept
his word. This, he said, WAS his only
reason for committing the crime.
The only persons in the house at the
time of the shooting beside MIR. Harri-
son. We're his son, William Preston
Harrison, aged %, his fiancee, Miss
Annie Howard, and the servants.
Shortly before o'clock the door bell
rang. and when Mary Hansen, a do
,bn
confronted by Il man about five feet
five inches high, smooth shayen, with
clean cut features lit up by pair of
dark eyes.
! rs Mr. Harrison in?" asked the man
in a quiet, pleasant voice.
Yes sir" responded the girl, as she
! threw open the door to admit the man
! L would like to see him. please.
said the man as he walked toward the
back end of the haIl Hearing the MAN
ask for him, Mr.. Harrison stepped into
the hall and walked toward Premier
CAST.
( Without saying a word Prendergast
drew revolver and commenced firing.
He pulled the trigger but three times
and every bullet hit the mark.
I One bullet shattered Mr.. Harrison S
left hand, another passed into the low
er right side Of the abdomen. making
a wound that would have been mortal
within q few days, the third bullet
entered the chest, slightly above the
heart. This wound was the immediate
cause of his death.
/ As soon rs Prendergast began to fire
Harrison turned and walked rapidly
toward the dining room. He passed
; through the room into the buffers
pantry, where, weakened by loss Of
blood, he fell to the floor
, Pendergrast did not follow up his vic
tim, but replaced the revolver in his
pocket with the same deliberation that
: marked all of his actions and started
toward the door.
| Just as he was passing out William
Preston Harrison came tearing down
4 the stairs and the coachman ran into
! the rear end of the hall. The cries of
| Mary Hansen directed the son to
where his father lay, but the coachman
was after other game. He had a re-
|
he realized what had occurred he sent
a bullet after the disappearing form of
! the murderer. The second time he
fired the bullet went wide of its mark.
/ Running to the door the cOachman
prepared to continue hostilities, but
several people were entering to learn
the cause of the shooting and by the
! time the coachman reached the side
walk Pendergast had disappeared.
/ Across Ashland Boulevard, directly
opposite the Harrison residence, is the
home of w. J. Chalmers, a wealthy
! manufacturer of mining Machinery
Chalmers was standing upon the front
steps Of his residence when the shots
were fired. He dashed across the street
and met Pendergast at the gate.
| What is it?' said Chalmers. The
man walked rapidly away without re-
plying, and Chalmers fastened into the
house and reached Mr.. Harrison almost
; the same moment that VIM Harrison
found where his father lay.
Are you hurt?" asked Chalmers, as
he and the son Of the dying man Strove
to raise him.
Il have got my death, Chalmers"
eSponded the mayor. I'm shot through
the heart and am dead man.
A moment later Mr.. Harrison said:
"UnbuttOn my vest; there's where the
trouble is"
BY that time the stricken man had
been borne to a couch in the adjoining
room, and as he spoke Chalmers gently
opened his waistcoat The front of
his shirt was soaked in blood which
welled rapidly from the wound.
Its through the heart" said the
mayor again, his voice scarcely above
whisper. A moment later he sank into
Inconsistencies, and twenty minutes
after receiving the wounds Mr.. Har-
riSon was dead
When young Harrison came down
stairs and learned the cause of the
shooting, he turned in burglar alarm,
and even before he reached his fathers
side patrol wagon filled with officers
from the Lake street station was dash
ing toward the mayors house.
When the officers arrived all trace
of the murderer was lost. and even
before the mayor breathed his last Off
GERS from every station in the city
We're on the lookout for the murderer.
Every possible effort was made to
secure medical attendance for Mr. Har-
rison but when DR.. Lyman, the first
physician to arrive, reached the may
or's side, he was dead.
CnNIECCEC