Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1897-04-07
ATTEMPTED MURDER.

ATTEMPTED MURDER.
Suicide of the Would-be Wife Slayer
by Cutting His Throat with Razor.
The southeastern section of the city
was thrown into great excitement at
an early hour this morning by the dis
covery of colored man named Glenn
Dorsey in the alley bounded by Fairfax,
Lee. Wilkes and Gibbon streets, with
his windpipe severed and bloody razor
at his side. 1t was soon learned that
the suicide had first attempted to Kill
his wife with an axe, and that she was
living home with fractured skull and
a-horrible wound on the left side OF the
face extending from the forehead to
the nose. Shortly after four o'clock
this morning one of Dorsey's daughters
appeared at the station house and fran
ticallv informed those on duty that her
father had killed her mother with an
axe. Officers started Immediately for
the scene, but the accused had fled and
it was an hour later before his where
abouts were ascertained, when his life
less body was found where stated
above. DR.. Purvis, the Coroner,
was notified, and he was soon
on the scene, and DR.. Bechtel was call
ed to render assistance to the injured
woman. In the meantime the entire
southern section of the city had been
aroused, and Dorsey's house and the
alley in which his body lay were be-
sieged. The trouble which brought
about the terrible deed dates back
about one year. Dorsey had always
been looked upon as an exceptional
colored man, in this that he took care
of himself, was always at work, wss
polite and was generally liked by his
white acquaintance. He had worked
in the press room of the government
printing Office at one time, had been
waiter at the Tontine, when kept by the
Cooney Bros, at the Hygeia Hotel at Old
Point, at hotels in Washington and of
late had been waiter at the Exchange
and Ballard Hotel in this city. His
wife is rather an attractive colored
woman, and he has for some time be-
lieved her to be remiss in her allegi-
ance to him. Some time ago he
opened his mind to Lieutenant
Smith, of the police force, and
stated to him his suspicious,
On that occasion he named Pat. Lump
kins, public school teacher, as CO.
respondent, and said he strongly con-
templated killing Lumpkins. The
lieutenant dissuaded him from any
reshness, and told him to wait until he
was positive his surmises were correct
and then proceed against the parties in
lawful way. He did not take the
lieutenapt's advice. however, but bor-
rowed pistol from Mr.. G. w. Bell,
telling him he was going into the coun-
try and might have use for it, but he
intended killing either Lumpkins or
another colored man named Thomas
Caldwell, who, he alleged, had helped
to destroy his domestic peace. On the
10th of last month he wrote letter to
Mr.. G. w. Bell requesting him to take
charge of his life insurance policy and
turn it over to Mr.. B. Wheatley in
order that he could have proper
burial. The policy called for $50. He
protested against being buried in
Penny Hill. Dorsey asked Mr.. Bell
to attend to some other minor matters
for him after his decease, and then
went into an exhaustive history of his
domestic troubles in which he charged
his wife with infdelity and with
meeting Caldwell and Lumpkins at the
houses of Laura Robinson and Lucy
Baltimore. He charged his wife and
mother-in.law with being responsible
for the crime he was contemplating,
and alleged that his wife's mother aid
ed and abetted her daughter in her
acts against him. His wife got posses
sion of the pistol and also of another
he borrowed for the purpose of killing
Caldwell and Lumpkins Dorsey sent
another letter to Mr.. Bell on Sunday,
in which he confessed to borrowing the
pistol for the purpose of killing Cald-
we'll. The remainder of this letter was
a recapitulation of his previous charges
against his wife, mother-in- and the
two men. He gave minute accounts of
surprising his wife and her male friends
under questionable circumstances. His
letter throughout gave every evidence
that he was contemplating horrid
crime. Dorsey also wrote letters to
Mr.. B. Wheatley and his own daughter
Laura. The one to the former chiefly
concerned the disposition Of his body,
and that to his daughter was recon-
mendation that she apply for assistance
in procuring employment to Mrs. OAR
nell in Washington after his decease.
He also sent the following letter to the
editor of the GAZETTE:
ALEXANDRIA Va, March 10, 1897.
To the Editor of the Alexandria Gazette:
DEAR SIR: ! wish you would kindly pub.
lish this letter in order that the people might
know tho truth. discovered my WHO'S I'M
fathfulness moro than one year ago, and have
kept a strict watch on her ever since. Ono
night when l came from Washington between
8 and 10 o'clock, met her and this same
man, Tom Caldwell, near Mr.. Aitcheson's
wood and coal yard, and l went across to
where they were and asked her where she |
was going that time Of night. Her reply was
that she was going up the street. then said |
to her that l would 20 along too She re-
piled: Glow do you know l want you to go?'
and I said l would not ask her anything |
about it; so she started up the street with |
this man. and went as far as Green's factory |
corner, and then she saw that was deter
mined to take her home or 20 wherever she
went. She then turned right around and
starts back home, and this man followed on
the opposite side of the street until he reached
the tunnel. somc nights when l would come
home il came up the alleyway come one
would go out the front door way and did
not catch on to it for some time. People told
me about it, and just as soon as she found out
that was on to her tricks and as she could