New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1898-02-08
DOUBLE MURDER PLANNED.
QUARRELs IN A BROOKLYN HOME END
IN A TRAGEDY.


w W. PLACE. MANHATTAN INSURANCE Ap-
JusrER ALMOST KILLED BY HIS wIFE-HIs
DAUGHTER VICTIM or HER sTEr
MOTHERS JBAIousY-ruE WOMAN
ATTEMPTS sUICIDE-BoTH SHE
AND HER HUSBAND now
N HOSPITAL.
Mrs Martha Place. Of No sos Hancock-st..
Brooklyn. wife o., william W Place insur-
ance adjuster. employed by the London-Lancas-
ter Insurance Company. at William and Pine
SIS, Manhattan. some time yesterday afternoon
murdered her twen.y-year-old step-daushter
Ida, while she sleeping. and then lay in
wait for her husband until about $40 O'Clock
when she tried to Kill him in the darkened hall
way OF their home by striking him the head
with the axe with which she had killed
her step-daughter. Fearing that the girl Ida.
toward whom she had an insane hatred might
possibly survive her injuries. she poured vitriol
over her face and down her threat. horribly dis
figuring her
Mr.. Place. who narrowly escaped almost in
slant death at the hands OF his Infatuated wife,
burst through the front door Of his house and
fell on the stess leading 10 the street. shouting
for help. But for the fact that ne succeeded
In reaching the front door and alarming the
neighbors, his wife would no doubt have either
committed suicide escaped she had
planned to leave Brooklyn for ewBrunswick
on an evening train a fact which
light late last night Mr. and Mrs. Place
taken 10 ST Mary's Hospital The husband Ia
likely to recover and the wife Is under arrest
From all that the police Of the Fourteenth
Precinct could learn last night the murder Of
Mrs. Places stepdaughter probably occurred
between 2 and o'clock IN the afternoon. Ida
had gone upstairs TO take afternoon nap
and Just how her stepmother surprised her and
ended her life Is something known only 10 the
woman herself The back OF the girls head has
a gaping wound where the blade Of the axe
went in. and the condition OF the bed indicates
that even after this blow was struck there was
a struggle as the bedclothes. when examined
by the police. were twisted. and the woodwork
Of the bed here and there was stained with
blood. The police and others who visited the
house early in the evening believe that after
Mrs.. Place had inflicted the fatal wound upon
her stepdaughter, she poured the vitriol over
the neck and face Of the girl
Mr. PLACES STORY.
Mr.. Place did no. reach home until $50
o'clock His story. told TO the police while ne
was conscious last night, is az follows:
1T was about $50 o'clock when l reached
my house in Hancock-st The only thing
noticed was that the house seemed 10 be I'M
usually dark The shades were down In the
front windows whereas they are usually up.
and there light in the hall. although
the gas Jet is usually burning after 8 o'clock.
I did not know what to make OF this ! frst
unlocked the vestbule door. and then the hall
door Finding the house dark, l called out
Martha but got answer. Then | called
again Martha where are youT but there was
no answer. Thinking that she might have gone
out 10 see some Of her friends and been de-
tanned. I took of my hat and coat and hung
them up. and placed my cane In the hatrack
Then I started TO go toward the basement
stairs. and was cropping my way along. my
eyes not being used TO the darkness heard
some one move near the foot Of the stairs Lead
ing TO the second floor The next thing knew
I received blow from an across my nose.
I, struck me with such suddenness that
thought at first was shot. I gave yell. and
started for the front door AMI Just az turned
the knob got another blow from the axe in
the hands of my wife and this made me- un-
conscious That is all that remember.
MRS PLACE ATTEMPTS SUICIDE.
By rare good fortune. y. D. Thompson. who
lives next door 10 the Places. at No $50. heard
his neighbor shout, and he Jumped over the
railing and 10 the steps leading to the door
at No 59s Just as Mr. Place fell headong
through the front doorway. Not knowing how
Mr. Place had received his injuries, he helped
him into his house. and sent members Of his
family for the police and an ambulance, and
also sent a messenger 70 the house Of DR.. Will
lam c. Terwger directly across the street at
No 800 Hancock-st.. the family physician Of
the Places who was not a. home. Ambulance
Surgeons German and Fitzsmmons OF St
Mary's Hospital. responded. and two or three
policemen were promptly on the spot While
the ambulance surgeons attending Mr..
Place two policemen went UP the stairs. expect
ing a battle with Mrs. Place. They entered the
back bedroom with drawn revolvers. and ap-
preached the bed to find the motionless form
OF Ida Place.
After looking az the dead Girl the officers
walked quickly 10 the front bedroom and as
soon as they opened the door nearly over
powered with a volume Of On the floor.
between the bed and the window. with her head
wrapped in blanket. lay Mrs. Place. One Of
the policemen stepped forward 70 shut of the
gas. and found the gas fixtures twisted and
broken He raised the window shades. letting
in the light and opened the windows 10 allow
the gas 70 escape. Seeing that Mrs. Place was
still alive but thinking that she was nearly
asphyxiated the officers summoned one Of the
ambulance surgeons from below. and Mrs. Place
,ros carried downstairs and laid on the parlor
nosr TUE WOMAN WAS su.yy1xG
DR.. German looked into the womans face and
sais. This woman isn't asphyxiated. She's
shammns"
The surgeon took hold Of her arms and worked
them in the manner usual in the cases Of as
Invitation, and in few minutes Mrs. Place
or ened her eyes and sat UP. looking around va
cantly. As II was not known 10 certainty
cha, she was shamming. she was taken 10 -.
Nsrv's Hospital in the same ambulance with