Huntsville gazette., 1894-01-20
A SENSATIONAL CASE.
A Woman Is Shot in Atlanta
While in Her Bed.
HER HUSBAND UNDER SUSPICION.

The Husband and Wife Had Slept All
Disturbed the Stiffness of the Room and
the Wife Felt the Sting Of Bullet-Ths
Husband Arrested.
ATLANTA, Jan. ia shooting that
has great deal Of mystery about it,
and which is likely to develop into SEN
sation Of no small magnitude, took place
at the Exposition Cotton mills in the
western part of the city just before day
light.
Tuesday night Mr.. and Mrs. William
Givens retired, as usual, for the night,
and Mrs. Givens slept, without distur-
bance, until after o'clock, when she
was awakened by the loud report of a
pistol in her room, followed in quick
succession by two other shots, one of
which took effect in her head.
At the first shot, Mrs. Givens screamed
and reached out to her husband, who
was, she supposed, lying by her side.
But search revealed tha he was not, and
just then she heard his voice calling to
her to be quiet.
Exhausted and faint, Mrs. Givens fell
back on her pillow; the firing ceased,
and her husband produced q light, and
very much excited, walked over to her
side and discovered that she was shot.
He helped her to stop the flow of blood,
and after daylight went in search of
physician. A physician was found and
went with Givens to the cottage, which
is located in the row Of cottages at the
Exposition Cotton mills, No. 80.
1t was not until o'clock that Givens
telephoned to the police. Officers Barrett
and Bone placed him under arrest, and
carried him to police headquarters, sus-
pecting him Of having done the shoot
ing. Givens protested his innocence,
and said he was awakened by the shots.
He sprang out of bed at the sound Of the
first shot, and could distinctly see that
some one was firing through the win
dow from the outside. He tried to
shield himself from the flying bullets,
and not until the firing ceased did he
make any noise. Then he called to his
wife. admonishing her to quiet herself
and stop screaming.
He says he made thorough investl-
cation after daylight, and found foo
prints under the window, and also fou
where horse had been tethered Just
outside his gate. He announced the
theory that scme assassin had crept to
the window to kill him, intending to
make his escape on horseback after the
deed was done. The motive for the kill
ing he believed to be jealousy.
Mrs. Givens indicated to the officers
her belief that her husband had done
the shooting. She felt morally certain
of it. although the evidence was mainly
circumstantial. She was suffering too
much from her wound to make full
statement to the officers.
Officer Bone believes there is no doubt
of Givens's guilt. He says he carefully
measured the footprints beneath the
window and compared the measurement
with the dimensions of Givens's feet,
and the two correspond exactly. He
also accurately measured the horse
tracks in the yard and afterwards meas
ured the feet of horse in Mr. Enniss
lot which adjoins Givens's home, and to
his surprise found that the feet and the
tracks were of the same size exactly.
Officer Bone says he thinks that Givers
took the horse out of the lot and tied it
outside his gate, intending to make his
escape on it after killing his wife.
An exhaustive search was made for
the pistol, but it was not found. Givens
was locked up on a charge of assault
with intent to murder, and if Mrs. Civ
ems dies it will be changed to more Sc
rious charge.