, 1896-03-13
MURDER and SUICIDE.
Another Horrible Crime at the
Queen City.
WARD KILLED HIS WIFE
And Then HimselE, Because He He.
IIeved Her Faiihless-The Work
Of an %lnsanely Jealous
Man.

Of mn lnsane1y Jealous
Man.
Recently Denver has been prolific of
terrible tragedies. Yesterday another
was added to the long list. The Den
yer Times gives the following details:
Because he believed his wife to be
unfaithful to him, Edward Ward shot
and killed her 10 minutes before the
noon nour struck today, and then fired
a bullet into his own brain that termi-
mated his life instantly.
The crime was committed at the
home OF the wife, Mrs. Maria Ward, at
ll5 Wanless street, Highlands. OF the
family of three only one now lives, the
3~-year-old daughter. Myrtle May.
There was one witness to the shoot
ticulars. That is Mrs. George Somers.
| sister of the dead woman. The child
was present, but she is not of an age
when even so dreadful an event as the
death of both father and mother can
check the infant babble on her lips.
A before the killing took
place Mrs. Ward. Mrs. Somers and lit
tie Myrtle May were in the bedroom at
the front of the house, where Mrs.
Ward was dressing. They had locked
both the front and rear doors of the
house previously and felt secure from
the intrusion of the husband, who had
previously made threats on his wife's
life. and who was expected to return
any time t o the home he had quit and
wreak an awful vengeance on the wo-
man whom he believed had betrayed
him.
The feeling of safety was not war;
ranted, although the precautions taken
to secure it were good. An instant be-
fore Mrs. Ward raised her overskirt
from the bed to don it, there was a
crash from the e part of the house
ana the sound of ,hurrying footsteps.
Another Instant and the husband APP
peared at the door.
DEATH STALKED IN.
My God, Maria! Ed is coming"
1t was the sister, Mrs. Somers, who
screamed the words, as she saw Ward
enter the fateful bedroom. She flung
herself in front of her doomed sister.
and turned toward the advancing MUIR
derer. What she saw was approaching
death. The husband was drawing a
revolver from his right hip pocket.
Fer Gods sake. don't shoot, Ed"
These words, too. were the words of
the imploring sister and not of the
wife. Mrs. Ward never uttered a word
of importation or a cry of fear from the
time her husband entered the room I'M
til she fell dead at his feet. The sis
ter's plea was in vain.
With white face and an arm uplifted
in whose hand was clutched the wea-
pom of death. Ward never faltered or
hesitated, but strobe heavily forward
to where his wife was standing before
a little cracked mirror. With his left
arm he brushed the sister aside. Then
with fell deliberation he thrust his re-
volver into the face of the waiting wo-
man and pulled the trigger. The mes
senger of death sped true to it's aim
and struck it's victim an inch above
the right eye, penetrating sQuarely in
to the brain.
Death did not delay. The pistol
cracked, its victim fell. There vas
probably no spark of life when the
body touched the floor, sinking slowly
down.
Not a sign was there to show any
mortal struggle when the police off
GERS reached the scene Of the horror
80 minutes after it occurred. The body
lay extended at its full length on the
carpeted floor of the room, the feet to-
ward the dresser, into whose glass the
woman had a moment before been
peering. In falling. the body had evil
IDENTIFY turned slowly over. for when
found the dead wife lay face down.
Horrible to relate, her neck lay fairly
across the bottom rung of a chair, un-
der which her head had fallen, and the
blood gushed from the great wound in
the forehead, CLOTHING on the carpet,
spreading a crimson pool wei the
floor.
WARD DID NOT TARRY.
The murderer wasted no time in vain
regrets or in pondering over his ghast-
ly work. 1t is altogether probable
that as his wife fell he fired a second
shot at her from his revolver, but in
the hurried first examination of the
body of Mrs. Ward 1t was impossible
to determine whether it took effect.
Suffice it to say, that he did not tarry
to contemplate the form of his dead
wife, but turned and FASTENED from the
room.
On seeing the pistol raised by the
murderer first, after having been push
cd aside by him, Mrs. Somers did not