Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1898-04-28
THE OTHER SIDE.
Mrs. AIphonso Elkey's Character Said to
Be Above ReDroach.

Mrs. Alphonso Elkey, TIE woman
who was murdered at Seymour by her
husband in Jealous rage April II, was
a daughter of Mr.. and Mrs. John Frazer,
formerly of this city. She lived here
for a number of years and attended
school. 1t is said that Elkey's present
inslnuations against his wife's character
were utterly groundless. For three
years previous to her marriage she lived
in the home of the PRESBYTERIAN minister
at Seymour and at her funeral, which
was one OF the largest ever held in Sey-
| mour, the minister III the presence of
tie church full of people preached a
very impressive and touching sermon
and spoke of the deceased in the high
est terms.
Elkey was barber, brother of Jim
Elkey who used to liyS. here and
possessed rather unsavory reputation.
He also had couple of other brothers
who were immorally inclined, one of
whom is now in Waupun. Therefore,
when an attachment sprang up between
Alphonso and Dora Frazer last spring,
her parents and friends opposed the
match. He was 10 and she Is. Finally
on July Is, 1897, they ran away and
were married by "a country pastor near
Seymour. They lived in Green Bay
awhile, but later returned to Seymour
and lived with her people.
The statement that she bad accom-
panied man to Stevens Point or Grand
Rapids several times is denied by her
friends. She has not been here since
her marriage. The man who is in
teresied in the case is Dol Witherall of
Grand Rapids, q brakeman on the
Green Bav & Western "scoot" running
between Grand Rapids and Green Bav.
He has wife and several children in
Grand Rapids and is respectable citl-
Zen.
Elkey was intensely jealous of his
young wife. He never could endure to
have her out from under his eye nor
wonld he allow her to fondle her sisters
children or in any way express anv
affection for anything but himself, and
he did not always reward any advances
in that direction with proper spirit.
She wanted TO come to Stevens Point to
visit her grandmother, and in getting
ready to come went to Green Bay to get
some clothes she had stored there.
While there she met Brakeman With
erall, an old acquaintance of the family,
on the bridge and told him she was
going to Stevens Point on q visit and
dektt Illu dDOut Vic tIdlHs. w ME
talking to him, her husband came up
and began to upbraid her for being false
to him. He had become suspicious of
her after her departure and had left his
brothers barber shop and followed her
to Green Bay, distance Of Is miles, on
foot.
Elkey afterward attempted to brain
her with an ak and later borrowed gun
to shoot her. They made up and he re-
turned the gun. Monday noon Mrs.
Elkey again determined to come to
Stevens Point, but her husband went
out and borrowing the gun from
neighhor again, as he said. to kill some
cats that kept him awake nights, he re-
turned and shot his wife three times.
He also received slight wounds in his
breast, either intentionally or accident
alv.
The funeral was held Wednesday
April Is, and eight prominent citizens
carried the BODY from the mouse to the
church. The Elkey family are said to
have extended their sylnpathies to the
girls family and sided against the hus-
band.
Witherall has been an acquaintance Of
the family for years and the girls friends
here told her when she came up to come
on his tiain.-Stevens Point Journal.