The San Francisco call., 1898-03-26
SUSPICION
 OF MURDER
 AT DAWSON Death of Mrs. lessen w as Not Due to
 Accident. Belief That She Was Mur- dered, Perhaps by
 Her Husband. Course of the Bullet Gives the Lie to the Theory He
 Advances. CRAZY MOTHERS CRIME. With a Hatchet a Douglas Island Woman Fatally Injures Her
 Babes.
CRAZY MOTHERS CRIME.
With Ratchet a Douglas Island Woman Fatally hi Her
 Babes.
Special Dispatch to The Call.

TACOMA. March 25.-DaWson advices received here via Juneau state that the killing of Mrs. lessen at Dawson last month is an affair that is viewed with great suspicion by residents there. Ac- cording to the story told by her hus- band, the occurrence was accidental and was caused by a revolver falling from a shelf and being discharged by striking a table, the bullet passing through the head of Mrs. lessen, who was standing close by. It is said, how ever, that the course of the ball indi- cates that the shot was fired from a point level with her head, passing from the back to the front and striking mirror before which she was standing, the points of entrance and exit Of the skull and of striking the glass being so nearly on a horizontal plane as to pre- clude the possibility of the shot having been fired from so low point as a ta- ble top The matter was being 1nVes- tigated when Mail Carrier AtWa- ter's party left, and the general De- lief existed that Mrs. lessen was mur- dered.
 On Sunday morning the residents of Douglas Island, near Juneau, were hor- rified to learn that in a lit or insanity Mrs. A. Aldrich, residing with her fam ily near Mexican Mine, had attempted to take the lives of her four children by striking them upon the heads with a hatchet infiicting wounds which are expected to prove fatal Ill the Cases oI two or three of them.
 Mrs Aldrich has for six years past exhibited symptoms Of mental aberra- tion, but as there were no apparent tendencies toward violence It was not thought necessary to place her under restraint The affiiction grew, however, and eliminated in the attempt made upon the lives of her little ones during the absence. of her husband, who works in a blacksmith shop at Mexican Mine
 He was required to work on Sunday but left home later than usual. lie had scarcely gone when Mrs. Aldrlch went to the woodshed, obtained a hatchet, and on returning struck each child seV- eral times on the head. Their little hands, put up to defend themselves, were badly cut, and two of the babes were rendered unconscious.
 While striking them Mrs. Aldrich ut tered terrific screams. These, with the cries of the children, attracted the at tention of the neighbors some distance away, who rushed in and disarmed the crazed mother. Mrs. Aldrich was taken to Juneau and is now at St. Ann's Hos pital The children-the eldest six years old and the youngest but seven weeks-are said to be in a very pre- cariouS condition.
 This case emphasizes Alaska's need of an asylum for the proper treatment of insanity cases. The matter is being agitated at Juneau, and efforts will be made to have the national Government provide for this need when new Fed ral buildings are erected there. There have been a number of violent cases of insanity at Juneau during the last year, several of which have been brought to the Steilacoom Asylum near Tacoma Incidental to this years rush, all Alaska towns are considered certain of having numerous insanity cases to deal with.
 The bark Richard III, which has been discharging at Skaguay for three weeks, started on Sunday for the re- turn trip to the Sound. While her crew was pulling the anchor aboard Sailor Joe Mcdonald, said to be from San Francisco, fell over her bow. His head struck the fiuke of the anchor as he went down and he was killed. The vessel did not stop to recover his body