Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1897-03-15
SHOTS WERE DEADLY.
Peter Ross Kills His Wife and Her
Sister and Wounds Male
CCmnaniOn.

Companion.
Kaukauna, Wis, March 9.-[Special.l
As the result of a shooting ARRAY,
which occurred at a house just outside
the city limits yesterday afternoon, two
women are dead and another person
perhaps mortally wounded. A man
named Peter Ross did the shooting, using
a 3S-caliber revolver. One of the dead
women is Ross wife and the other
sister and a man named Fred Schabau
of Appleton, who had tried to interfere
and prevent Ross from carrying out his
intent.
Ross shot his wife through the head
and also in the back. The Woman's
sister was shot through the right lung,
the ball making a very large wound from
which she slowly bled to death Internal
ly. Schabau also received a danger
GUS wound in the abdomen. The ball
was removed by Drs. Boyd and Titus.
The parties to the tragedy were Peter
Ross, aged 55 years; his wife, Nellie
Ross, aged 26, both of Kaukauna; her
sister, Miss IAittie Duprey of West De
pere, aged II years, and Fred Schabau
of Appleton, aged about % years. Ross,
who married the woman he shot about
five years ago, had quarreled with her
frequently of late. They each had two
children, ranging in ages from to II
years. Yesterday while at home with the
children Ross attention was called by
the oldest one to a sleigh which passed
in front of the house. 1t contained his
wife, her sister and the man Schabau,
with whom Ross had told his wife never
to go again. Ross left the house at once
in a furious state, hired a rig and soon
found the direction the sleigh had taken.
The party had been driven by a young
fellow named Philip Brown of Apple
ton, and were found at the Beaulieu re-
q Onn-haIf
of town, near the race track.
The Shooting.
Ross entered the place and found his
wife and her sister and Scha|s.u in Il
room. He demanded that Mrs. Ross
leave the place and go home with him,
but she replied that she would have moth
ing more to do with him and would re-
main there, at the same time requesting
Scha bau to put Ross downstairs. The
two men clinched, it is alleged, when
Ross, finding that he was getting the
worst of it, drew his revolver and began
to shoot, the man Schabau receiving the
first shot and Mrs. Ross the next one in
| the back. The third shot went close to
| Schaba but missed its mark and struck
Mrs. Ross fairly in the forehead, pene-
| trated her brain and killing her instantly.
| The shot which struck Miss Duprey and
| went through her lung, Ross, who relat-
ed the whole story of the tragedy to the
| count for. He said he did not remem-
Der shooting but three times.
| Ross Immediately left the place after
| doing the shooting and drove to town,
| where he surrendered himself to Chief
Dan Reardon: He said excitedly that he
had done up" three of them, and exhib-
| tied the revolver with which he did the
| shooting. 1t was then empty, but he ac-
| knOWledged that it was fully loaded
| when he started. Ross was Immediately
| placed behind the bars.
District Attorney Bottensek was tcle-
| phoned to and came down by the next
| train, taking Ross to the county jail by
| the 1901 train.
! Ehe dead woman was removed to Far
| COS undertaking rooms, where curious
| crowds viewed her remains during the
| evening. Miss Duprey died this morn
| ing IN the house where she received the
wound. Her folks were sent for as soon
| as her dangerous condition was made
| known by the attendant physicians. The
man Shabau was removed to Dr. Boyd's
office where the bullet was located and
extracted. He is now occupying a COM
| Portable cot in the police headquarters.
Brown, the young man who drove the
| party and who saw all of the trouble
at the Beaulieu resort, was placed under
| arrest and also taken to the county jail
Ross Tells His Story.
In an interview this morning Ross told
the whole story of the affray. He stated
| that his wife, Nellie Duprey. left him
abou. a year ago and had troubled him
continually with justice warrants and
that last Sunday he went to Appleton
| where she was staying with her sister
| Katie Duprey, to persuade her to return
and live with him. She refused. and
yesterday Fred Shabau of Appleton took
driver and the two women to Kau-
| kauna, driving past the home of Ross on
their way to the Beauleu resort, a mile
out of Kaukauna. Ross says he pro-
| cured horse and cutter and, following
them to the resort, again tried to take
his wife home. She refused to co. even
in response to the pathetic cry
! of Ross to Come home for Gods sake.
| Nellie Then he threatened to procure
a warrant. He went down stairs where
| he met Shabau, who after few words,
! Ross says, struck him in the face. Ross
says he then drew his revolver, and,
while the women urged Shabau on to
strike him, he shot Shabau in the abdo-
men, intlicting a serious though not NOR
tai wound. Another shot struck Katie
| Duprey in the chest. tearing hole
| through her lungs, from the effect of
which the woman died. Still another
shot struck Nellie Ross between
the eyes, and, as Ross saw his wife fall
to the floor dead, he says he put the
muzzle of the revolver to his own temple
and pulled the trigger. The cartridges
were all empty however
Ross then went to the Kaukauna po-
lice and gave himself up. He claims that
during the struggle Katie Duprey had a
sheath knife drawn under her apron
waiting for a chance to stab him. He
claims however, that the shooting OF
his wife and her sister was accidental
Ross broke down utterly when telling
his story, which was really pitiful in its
disclosure of his attempts to reform his
hayward wife, whom he loved despite
| her treatment of him.
A coroner's jury consisting of Thomas
Malone, D. Conlon, William Hyland, G.
W. Larson, n. Kettenhofen and Peter
Lappen were empaneled to hold post
mortem examination of the dead women.
New Wisconsin Companies.
Madison, Wis, March 9.-[Special. !
| Articles of association were filed with
the secretary of state today by the fol-
lowing new Wisconsin companies:
Oshkosh Logging Tool company; capital,
| 100000; incorporators, Elmer Leach, Chris
1