The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1897-12-04

Frederick Duhr, an aged man, ran
through the rough streets of desc
late part of Lackawanna, Thursday
night. announcing that his wife was
dying. He knocked at several house
doors, but was turned away with angry
imprecations on his head for his dis
turbanCe.
The people thought him crazy.
In the morning the whole settlement
was aflame with the truth Of the old
mans claim. The woman was dead.
Then followed n natural theory--that
she had died from unnatural causes.
The neighbors remembered that only
two weeks before old man Duhr had
tried to hang himself. His wife had
rushed out on the street in the early
evening and called loudly for assist
ance. When she returned to the house
Frederick Duhr was alive. He treated
her badly for the scene she made on
the street.
when Mrs. Duhr died so suddenly
the suppositior was that Frederick
Duhr had killed her. Acknowledgement
reached Coroner s. L. LOngstreet and
an inquest was begun last evening.
The jury will meet next Friday night
to prepare a verdict.
Coroner Longstreet DR.. Adam Steg
ner, Tribune reporter and the men,
bers of the jury reached the Duhr house
after dark last evening. The structure
is one-story high and about ten by
fifteen feet in dimensions, blaCkened
by the coal dust from the Old Forge
breaker, across the Lackawanna river.
1t is altogether an uninviting place.
III. ,F Ia,
Bloomsbury division, Delaware, Lack
awanna and Western company, is neal
by. The house was entered through
a small shantv posted to the rear. 1t
was here that old man Duhr attempted
suicide two weeks before.
WAS FRYING MEAT.
DUhr was found frying meat over
| a fire. There was no lamp-light III the
| room. Neither was there any Other
! person than Duhr, except the corpse
! in an apartment to the left. There are
no children. Duhr is a German anC
| speaks English imperfectly, He showed
/ the coroner the corpse and when asked
| to tell of the death, he said:
II sleep in that room there"-indi.
eating the other side of a board par
/ tition-"about II o'clock Thursday
night I heard my woman groan three
times He initiated the sound. q"
Knocked Ola the wall and says, What
the matter, you?' She did not answer
| say once more, and she was quiet
| sick myself, but I get up and go t,
her room. | rub her; she was gettin!
cold take brush and rub her feet
1t was no use. and | went out to Ton
Robinson's.
Il was not dressed I knock at TIL
door, Tom Robinson look out of win
! dow and say, Who's there" l said
It's me, Tom, your neGhbor, Fred
Duhr; my woman is dead; won't yo'
come and help your neighbour"
The scene in the room, dimly lighIe
row by dirty, smoky lamp, as tn
cid man told of his plea for help in tn
cold night, and he but half dressed
was affecting. The corpse of the We
man was uncofined and as the ma
spoke and gesticulated, he sometime
touched the body. so small was tn
space in the room. He contnued
Il went to lSullivan's and knocked o
the door. Sullivan came to the windo'
and says: Whose there?' | says: IT
me. Sullivan, your neighbOr, Ere
Duhr; my woman is dead; won't go
come and help your neighbour I wer
next to the 'squire's and to othe
places and then back to the house an
neighbOr Sullivan was there and hi
wife. My woman was dead. ] went t
the undertaker's and he came. That
. all I know, Mr.. Coroner; that's all
know
: WELL AS \ FISH.
Was she sick any time recently?
, asked Coroner Longstreet.
NO, no she was 50 well as a fish
was Duhr's quaint way of saying ii.
Duhr left the room where the corps
was and took a chair in the large
apartment, where he was first foun
The meat had been allowed to burn 4
the stove. There was but one lamp
the house, and that was being use
in the room where the autopsy was b,
+ ing performed. So Duhr sat in the dar
; | silent.
; As he sat there he was questioned I
( the reporter. He cited as a coincident
: that his wife's mother had died su
denly from heart trouble. His wife
age was 81 years; his was SO year
e They never had any children. He Ia
not heard what the neighbors we
I saying about him. All he knew WI
p what he told to the coroner
l Mrs. George Taylor, whose residen
= is near by, was seen. She said tn
. DUH beat his wife most shameful
He drank a good deal and has n
u worked for a long time. He was
miner in the Jermyn No mine.
81 often used to see him in the gar
en- beating his wife. No body won
dare go to help her, When he W
n hanging himself in the shanty t,
weeks ago said Mrs Naylor IT
q woman came out on the street cryil
n for some one 20 cut him down. She sa
a she was going in the house when 5
= saw him hanging by a rope from t
% roof She wanted me and Mrs. Richar
son TO go in and cut him down, but '
,e were afraid. When she went back
"a the house he had got loose and W
90 walking around"
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