The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1898-10-24
VICTIMS OF
JEALOUSY.
Two Husbands Shoot Their
Wives and Then Kill
Themselves.
SLAIN BEFORE Her CHILDREN
Nothing to Show Any
Cause for the Wretches
Suspicious.
PULLMAN PoRTER'S INSANE RAGE
After Numbering the Woman
He Attempts to Kill
His Son.


Two terrible tragedies occurred in Jersey
City yesterday morning with IN r"o
hours. They We're exactly similar IN
all respects. save one. Two men shol
their wives and then ended their own
lives. one of the victims stu ives.
Nothing like it has ever occurred peiore
in the history of the Jersey City Police
Department. In each instant the CRIME
was caused by jealousy. Each crime was
nremedjtated and deliberately planned
The first tragedy occurred shortly after
eight o'clock. AT 500 O'Clock Henry w.
phillips. a negro, who owns the nat
house. at No. 1872 Van Horne street
rushed into Fountains drug store, al
communipaw and Pacific avenues, ana
said that Henry Jones. a tenant had
locked the doors to his apartments ana
was shooting a revolver. He feared that
Jones was numbering his wife. Mr.. Foun-
tain notified the sergeant at Police Head
quarters. who in turn notified Sergeant
Joseph Edwards at the Communipa" ave
me station. Sergeant Edwards at once
sent Patrolman Smell, Bracken and Palroi
Driver Jockens to the Van Horne street
house.. Ten minutes later Jockens tels-
phoned that Jones had shot himself ana
his wife and that both We're dead. Both
doors to Jones apartments were cioseu
and apparently locked. The police forced
open the door TO the front ROOM Ahes
found that the kitchen door had peen
kept closed by the bodies of the two We
TINS of the shooting, which were lying
against it. Jones body lay across that
of his wife.
Thu police on arriving on the scene OF
the ragged found Clarence u. Jones'
twenty-three years old, d son or the TWO
victims, in the bath room, which is at the
end of the hail adjoining the kitchen Inc
bath room can only be entered from the
hallway. Clarence told the police that he
had fed from the kitchen, where the
tragedy occurred to escape the fate when
befelI his mother, as 1t was ms father
fired one shot at him. Luckily it missed
him. 1t was found by the police embeddea
in the wall. Captain McKaig and Detec7
tive Hottie We're not far behind the othef
policemen in arriving on the scene OF the
n,,,rder and suicide. They at once cues
toned Clarence Jones who was the only
witness of the shooting. The young mdu
told the story of the affair from peglnr
ming to end. He told the police Inat nIs
father committed the crime through
lea lollsly. He objected TO the COMPANY
tina Mrs. jones kept. he thought inae
she associated with women OF question:
able character. Jones who was 10 years
old. was employed as a Pullman eaf
porter on the Pennsyivanla hallfo "a ai =
returned home Saturday night afseF pehls
absent on a I'VE days trip. lie faleu 10
find his wife, Esther, who was hVs years
his Junior, at home and at once became
ieolo5.s md suspiciouS. He brooded over
the matter and worked nlmseiI into d
passion which resulted in a quarrel Satur-
day night and the killing yesterday morn
The story of the killing as told by
Clarence Jones. who is employed as a
waiter in Wanamaker's. is as loho"s-,
M father came home at five o'clock
last night and l came home at $3.50 O'Clock.
When | came into the house my fatner
asked me where my mother was. ! loiu
him | opposed she had gone out Tor a
few minutes My father - Well her
place is home. Now it is nearly SIX
o'clock. ] suppose she is either IN New
ark or New York (The Jones lived in
Newark until a few months ago) linen
he put on his coat and went out. left
shortly after him and went to Newark.
AS I passed the junction on the car l
saw him standing on the corner. | waved
my hand at him but he did not reply.
/ came back from Newark about twelve
o'clock and my mother let me in. We
went into the kitchen. She made signs
that there had been some fuss MY
father was in bed. My mother came back
into the kitchen and said she could not
( likO ll&4 0Ca ON-o - t4NN F1s -
was lying. I will make up a bed in the
front room she said. That ended last
nights work. This morning ] was asleep
on the floor in the Kitchen when was
awakened by a revolver shot. / jumped
up and went to the closet and grabbed a
big glass spoon holder. He had shot my
mother. One shot struck her and she fell
and when she was down ne shot her
again, but before the second shot he fired
at me. Then lie went into the bedroom
and shot himself"
Urtnr1 III son urac q rnyakpnad - hU the
first shot his mother and father were in
the kitchen between the door from the
kitchen to the bedroom and the door into
the hall. The china closet was on the
other side of the room, directly opposite
the hall door. Clarence on jumping up
from the shake-down on which he had
slept took in the situation at once. His
mother had been shot in the left breast
and was lying face downward on the
floor, almost blocking the hall door,
which was closed. Clarence had no
weapon, so he seized the large glass spoon
holder, which was nearly eight inches
tail and made a formidable weapon
While he was getting the glass his father
fired at him. His aim was bad and the
bullet narrowly missed him and Became
embedded in the wall over his head. Then
Jones stopped over his fallen wife and
placing the revolver at the back of her
neck sent a second bullet into her.
Nlarenee, seeing that he could do nothing
for his mother. who had been killed by
the first shot, and knowing that his own
life was in danger, made a dash for the
door into the hallway. He used the
spoen-holder to intimidate his father and
made a bold dash by him. Jones. to
escape being struck by the glass, jumped
back into the bedroom. Clarence reached
the hallway and closed the door after
him. Then he locked himself in the bath
1ooFa, where he was found by the police.
He had scarcely locked the bathroom
door when he heard another shot closely
followed by a second one. When he and
the police tried TO open the kitchen door
II n2 H4flI nor IN