The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1896-11-26
WIFE THE CAUSE OF 1T
DAVID COFFEY. COLORED. PERHAPS
FATALLY WOUNDS MARTIN LOUD.
An Affair on Harmon Street-COfey's
Wife, 1t Is Claimed, Went to
Live with Loud.

Martin Loud. a colored man forty-fve
years old. of 262 Harmon street, was shot
and perhaps fatally injured yesterday
evening by David Coffey. also colored. The
trouble was on account of Coneys Wife
and she was present at LIQUIDS house and
a witness to the shooting.
Harmon street is a mere alley. lying be-
tween Delaware and Alabama streets, and
extending from South to McCarty street.
1t is lined with cheap tenement houses oc-
cupied mostly by colorec people. Inc
house where the shooting occurred Is on
the east side of the street about a half
a block from McCarty street. a pale vapor
lamp casts a pickering light about the vi
cinity, but it fails to render the darkness
less intense except fer a few feet near the
corner of the intersecting alley where 1t
is located.
1t was just about 6 o'clock when two
shots were fired and the ~neighbors and
many men who were passing along Della
ware and McCarty streets on their way
home from work. CROPPED their way up
through the mud to the scene of the shoot
ing. Among the first to arrive was Patrol
man Crannon, who was on his way home
from 6 o'clock roll CALI He captured Cof-
fey and sent him to the police station
charged will shooting with intent TO Kill.
He also summoned the ambulance and had
Loud removed to the City Hospital.
Coffey does not deny the shooting. but
claims justification. He was married TO
the woman, who is the cause of the troub-
lie, in July and lived with her on Maple
street. He says that she was in the habit
of meeting Loud then and he moved with
her to 23 East Court street. He then
1901 l. - f.
a while he learned that his wife was again
meeting him.. He says he has had almost
continuous employment with the Indianap-
oils Water Company ever since his mar
riage. and has provided well for her. About
three weeks ago, he says, he went home
from work one night and found that all
the household goods had been moved out
and his wife was gone. He traced her and
the goods to a house on McCarty street,
where he claims she was living with Loud.
When they learned that he had found them
they moved to the house on Harmon street
and it was not until last night that he
found them. He did this by going to a
house on Spann avenue, where his wife
was at work washing, and followed her to
the house. He says he asked her to go
back home with him and that Loud inter-
Tered and struck him. He then fired the
shots.
Mrs. Coffey tells an entirely different
story. She says that her husband has been
a brute and compelled her to leave him.
she says when he worked he would spend
all his money in dissipation and then de-
mand that she give him the money she
earned by washing that he might play pol
Icy. She recalled instances where she re-
FUSED and, when the numbers he wanted
to play came out, he would come home
and beat her. She exhibited scars on her
arms and body where she says he bit her.
She claims that she has been rooming with
a friend on McCarty street ever since she
left him and has been earning a living by
washing. Yesterday vixen she started home
from work she noticed her husband follow
ing her. When she reached Harmon street,
he says, she turned in and ran into LIQUIDS
house TO escape her husband; that as she
entered the house her husband fired one
shot at her and then, when Loud stepped
between them, the second bullet, which
was aimed at her, struck Loud.
When asked what she did with the furni-
ture she took from her husband she said
she stored 1t. Afterward she said she did
not have any furniture, and then again
that she sold 1t. Then she admitted that
she kept her trunk at LIQUIDS house. She
months and that he protected her when
her husband left her without money with
which to purchase food. Loud has been en-
ployed at the rolling mill;
At the hospital LIQUIDS wound was
dressed and DR.. Marsee was summoned to
remove the bullet. He found that 1t had
entered the body on the right side just be-
low the ribs, but he was unable to locate
the ball or to even ascertain in which d-
rection it went into the body, for the rea-
son that Loud refused to allow anything
to be done in that direction. The wound
was simply washed and treated antisep-
tically, but no attempt was made to remove
the bullet. DR.. Marsee said the wound may
not be at all serious and it might prove
the belief, however, that the man would re-
cover.