Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-01-09
HE DIED INSTANTLY
Young Will Clements Shot in Pc
culiar Manner.
WITH Two YOUNG COMPANIONS
Boys Are Firm in Their Story of
the Affair.
SAD DAYS ING

Another proof Of the folly and danger
Of small boys trifing with firearms was
furnished in this city yesterday afternoon.
when a promising and interesting youth Of
| fourteen was shot and almost instantly
| killed by the accidental discharge of a pis-
| toll. The unfortunate lad was William
Gross Clements, son Of Mr.. and Mrs. Court
land c. Clements, who live at 1745 1St l
street They are greatly shocked by che
sad blow which has befallen them, and
| the accident has aroused a great deal OF
sympathy in the community.
The incidents leading up to the death Of
Will Clements, as he was generally known
among his playmates, are surrounded by
some little mystery, which the most careful
| Investigation does not dispense. Two other
boys were with him at the time of the
| fatal discharge of the pistol, Fred. and
Edgar Bryan, the twin sons OF Mr.. .. NJ
Bryan. the president Of the Chesapeake and
Potomac Telephone Company. There is no
shadow Of reason for believing that the
death was the result of anything but an
accident, but just how the accident oc-
will be.
The two Bryan boys who were school
mates of Will Clements insist that they
were in an adjoining room when they
heard a shot and rushed in only to fnd
their friend and playmate lying on tne
floor with a wound in the back OF his
head. 1t is difficult to see how the WOUND
which was behind the left ear, could have
been made unless the pistol was in the
hands of some one else, but the Bryan boys
insist that they know nothing OF 1t ana
the sharpest kind of cross-examination
fails to overthrow their story OF the acci-
dent in the slightest degree.
Buying the Pistols.
Monday afternoon the three boys men
tened went down town after leaving the
Force School building on Massachusetts
avenue which they attended. After doing
the errands for which they were sent, they
stopped in front of a window of a sporting
goods store on the avenue, where WIN
Clements saw three revolvers which pleased
his fancy Immensely.
He went in and tried to purchase them,
but the clerk refused to sell them unless
he could produce order signed by an
adult or was willing to nave them sent
home This the boys could not do, and,
the Bryan boys story. viii gave an old
| colored man dime to go IN ana BUY the
revolvers for him. paying $50 apiece.
They were 22-caliber. and at the same
time they bought two boxes Of Flobert car
tridges, such as are used for shooting at
targets, cats and the like. 1t was with one
Of these bullets that Will Clements was
killed yesterday afternoon. The Bryan boys
| insist that they had no share in the pur-
chase and Mr.. Bryan assured Star re-
porter this afternoon that as he did not
believe in letting young boys have spending
morey they could not have had enough to
purchase one pistol, much less two or three.
Yesterday during the noon recess the
| three boys practiced with the 1evolvers In
a vacant lot near the Force school. and as
one of them failed to revolve properly
| they were all given back to young Glenn
| ents. After the manual training class
yesterday afternoon the boys went to Mr.
Clements house. on 18th street. at VIII 8
| invitation, to see his Christmas presents
| and other belongings. 1t was the first
| time the Bryan boys had ever been in
| the house.
| AS they went up the stairs VIII called
| out cheerily to his mother, who was sit
| ting in her room at the time. What hap
pened from then on can best be told in the
| words Of young Fred. Bryan. as he de-
! scribed the accident to a Star reporter this
| morning.
Accident Described.
I'VE were all Of us in the play room. in
the rear part Of the third story, and next
| to it was WINS bed room. We had only
| been in the play room few minutes when
! Will went into the bed room, I suppose
either to hide the pistols or to unload them,
| or for something of that sort.
1--WE did not go into the other room. as we
! were not free Of the house, and he did not
| invite us. In a minute we heard shot,
Will lying on his back on the floor In front
Of the bureau, with a pistol near his left
side. 1 did not suppose he was badly hurt,
and the first thing did was to pick up the
| pistol, with another one which was lying
| on the bureau, and throw them out OF the
| back window, as was frightened and did
not want his folks to know he had pistol
| If could help 1t.
The Death.
Mrs. Clements heard the shot and the
! fall, and ran upstairs in time to reach her
son before he died. He was unable to
| speak, however, and breathed his last in
| his mothers arms without speaking word
| or giving any tntimation as to how the ac-
cident occurred. He kissed his mother sew
eral times. and then his head fell back and
he was dead. That was all.
An autopsy was held on the dead boy
this morning, which showed that death
was caused by the bullet, which had made
large wound in the neck, ranging up
ward toward the spinal cord.
The third pistol was found in young
Clements right-hand coat pocket after the
shooting, and the most natural explanation
| or rather the only one possible now. is
| that one of the pistols fell from the bureau
| to the floor, and SO was discharged or else
went off while young Clements was tinker
| ing with it. Both Of the boys. who Were
with him at the time, were greatly dis
| tressed and frightened by the sad affair.
| but they have told straight story OF 1t
| from the first, and have not varied in even
| the most trif1ing detail
Coroner Hammett will hold an inquest
| over the OeaQ DOQy at 4 y ciCCh tuiS al
| ternoon, but 1t Is not likely to cast much
light on the accident.
Mr. Bryan has been at home all day
with his two boys trying to get at the bot
| tom of the sad affair. He told a Star re-
porter this morning that If the pistol was
| in the hand of either one Of his sons when
| it went off he wanted to know it and clear
| I'D all doubt. 1t was nothing but an acc l.
dent, but he was anxious for the sake OF
all concerned to know just how 1t hap
pened
over and over again he had the boys tell
| the story, one at time, with the other out
| of the room, in an effort to trip them up
| If they were not describing 1t just exactly
| as it happened. All these efforts were
| fruitless and elected nothing beyond the
story as 1t Is told above. At his request
| The star reporter tried it all over again.
The Boys Firm.
The boys in manly, straightforward
way, told just how it happened, so far as
they knew. They were evidently deeply
panied and excited by the death Of their
| comrade, but remained firm in the state
ment that they were in the adjoining room
when the shot was fired.
| They described so exactly and infinitely
| Of no ba6r xphep hau