The Portland daily press., 1893-12-01
LOOKS LIKE A MURDER.
Investigating the Mysterious Sheet
ing Of Mrs. Meyer.
SHE WAS PROBABLY SEEN BY THE
PERSON WHO SHOT HER.

He Stood About Forty Feet from the
Entirely Cover the Window, Would
Seem to Have Been Able to See His
Aged Victim The Theory that the
ing Along the Railroad Track Not
Plausible.
The people of Yarmouth are still all
at sea regarding the mysterious shooting
OF Mrs. Meyer, full account of which
was published in the PRESS yesterday.
All day yesterday crowds focked to
the scene of the tragedy, and Deputy
Sheriff Clarence L. Buchanan, who is
carrying on an investigation, secured
many additional. particulars concerning
what followed, and believes that he
showed several things yesterday with
almost, if not quite, absolute exactness.
For example, Mr.. Buchanan is confident
that the shooting was not the result of
an accident. The theory that it might
have been done by some one who was
passing along the track of the Grand
Truk railroad first received his atten-
tion yesterday. "The very location of
the ground disposed of that" he said. AS
a matter of fact it would have been
case. of shooting around corners had it
been done from the railroad track.
That was simply out of the question.
Mr.. Buchanan then tried an interesting
experiment. He went to the room where
she was shot and found the holes
through which the ball passed. It cut
through the glass, close.to the bottom
of the sash, did not go through the cur
tain for very good reason to be touched
on later, inflicted the wound that will
probably prove fatal in the course of the
next few hours, then passed through
very slight wall, and struck. and fell
back from beam lin the next room.
There it was found by George Carter
while the wound of Mrs. Meyer was be-
ing dressed. Mr.. Bucknam yesterday
took a line, had one end secured at the
exact point where the ball struck the
beam, passed it through the hole in the
wall, then through the hole in the win
dow, and from that point following the
line Of the ball to the ground. 1t reached
the ground just fifty-seven and one-half
feet from the house. The point where
the one who fired the shot stood would.
of course vary somewhat, but in the opin-
ion IF In prJn Is
sent, about thirty-nine feet from the
house would be good average. 1t was
selected partly for the reason that sever
al men present found that they could
"sight" the hole in the window from
that place, better than from point
few inches either way.
When the place was fixed, it was re-
marked that it was exactly on apple of
stones, and that as was first observed by
DR.. Hanson in the morning it was nearer
the stable than the end of the house,
or. in other words was not in a direct
line from the room where Mrs. Meyer
was at the time of the shooting was,
however, almost in a direct line from
the kitchen Of the house, the room in
which Mr.. and Mrs. Prawda had been
talking just before, the room Mr.. Praw-
da had just left, and where Mrs. Prawda
still was at the time they say they heard
the report. The curtain of the kitchen
say, and the lamp was lighted. The
one who fired the shot took desperate
risks of discovery, and is believed to
have selected his position deliberately,
and to have fired with full knowledge
at whom he was shooting, and with a
much more than shadowy mark. 1t is
believed that whoever fired the shot not
only saw the figure, but the face of the
aged woman whose life he tried to take.
This is the proof. 1t was incorrectly
stated that the ball passed through the
curtain. AT the point where the ball
cut through the glass, the curtain was
slightly raised, and it struck George
Carter when he and others were pre-
sent in the room after the shooting that
it would be possible for anyone stand
ing outside the house, to see through
the slightly raised curtain if at the pro-
per point. A.G. Gerow and George Car
ter went outside, while DR.. Hanson and
CIV. Gerow remained in the room, and
in the spot occupied by Mrs. Meyer when
she was shot. AS a result of this ar
rangementsMr. Carter said yesterday that
they saw those in the room. This prac-
tical test, showed clearly and
conclusitvely that Mrs. Meyer was
not shot because she was mistaken
for some one else. The fact that the
party who fired the shot stood where the
investigation conducted by Mr.. Buck
man showed that he must have stood,
makes it a deliberate attempt to COM
nit murder, and there seems to be no
doubt that in the end the attempt will
prove success.
There is some uncertainty regarding
the manner in which Mr.. Prawda de-
scribed the nature of the injury Mrs.
Meyer had received at the time. He said
that he did not know what had hap
pened, but accepted the view of the case
taken by Mrs. Meyer herself that the
H. I ii En-