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

Another proof of the folly and danger
of small boys trifling 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 18th
| 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 disperse. Two other
boys were with him at the time Of the
fatal discharge of the pistol, Fred, ana
Bryan, the president of the Chesapeake and
Potomac Telephone Company. There is no
shadow Of reason for believing that the
accident but just how the accident oc-
Cured is not known and probably never
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 md
their friend and playmate lying on the
floor with a wound in the back OF his
head. It is difficult to see how the wound,
which was behind the left ear. could nave
been made unless the pistol was In tne
hands of some one else but the Bryan boys
insist that they know nothing or IL ana
the sharpest kind of cross-examinatlon
fails to overthrow their story of the acci-
dent in the slightest degree
Buying the Pistols.
Monday afternoon the three boys men
ticned 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 III front of a window of a sporting
goods store on the avenue, where VIII
Clements saw three revolvers which pleased
his fancy immensely.
but the clerk refused to sell them unless
he could produce an order signed by an
adult or was willing to have them sent
home. This the boys could not DO, ana,
going outside of the store. according to
the Bryan boys story, Will gave an old
colored man a dime to go in and buy the
reVolvers for him, paying $l.O 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 a Star re-
porter this afternoon that as he did not
OeueVe IN letting young boys Hdtc SpeAuiHS
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 MT
Clements house. 18th street, at VIII
| 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 Will 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-
| 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 Wits bed room. We had only
| been in the play room a 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 q minute We heard a shot,
and ran into the other room. We found
VIII lying on his back on the floor in front
| of the bureau, with pistol near his left
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 1 was frightened and did
| 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 intimati ton 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 1t. Both Of the boys, who We're
with him at the time. were greatly dis
tressed and frightened by the sad affair.
but they have told a 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 Ills al
ternoon, but it Is not likely to cast much
light on the accident.
Mr. Bryan has been at home all day
| with his two boys trying 10 get at the bot
tom of the sad affair. He told q Star re-
porter this morning that If the pistol was
in the hand of either one Of his sons when
1t went off he wanted to know 1T 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 a 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
fruftIess and elected nothing beyond the
story as 1t is told above. At his request
The Star reporter tried 1t all over again.
The Boys Firm.
The boys in a 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
| the appearance of the bedroom when they
| fret ran in and the pOSitiOn of the diving