Omaha daily bee., 1899-11-12

bullet did not strike her except to Craze
her wealth OF hair, which was dressed
waterfall a style then universally popu-
lar.
Matte Lee went home not knowing that
she had committed murder. The injured
woman was cared for that night and was
taken home Just before daylight the fol-
lowing morning. Every effort was made
to keep the affair quiet, but Margaret Nc
Cormick continued i'll and doctor was
called. Gradually the facts became public
To the attending physician Margaret Nc
Cormick declared that she had not been shot
She complained of intense pain in the
stomach, and the doctor, having heard the
story of the shooting, questioned her closely
Even in her dying breath she continued her
denial. Matte Lee was never punished, al
though there was more or less popular IN
dignaton against her. In her defense was
the well founded belief that when she shot
she did not intend to hit her opponent, but
simply aimed to frighten her. The Lee
Mccormick case attracted more or less at
tention throughout the country, despite the
fact that in those days the telegraph and
the telephone were not the factors in news
dissemination that they are today. The
papers in this tragic case are much more
voluminous than they would be in similar
case today, because typewriters were not
then inventzl and the scrawllng long
hand system spread out over a vast lot OF
paper.
woman Burned to Death.
When C. H. Pinney was coroner in 1858 he
had notable case in the death of Mrs.
Patrick Clifford. who lived on Jackson street,
between Twelfth and Thirteenth. She was
probably the first person in Omaha to be
burned to death while kindling fire with
coal oil. Mrs. Clifford used what was then
called Aurora oil" and she was careless In
pouring 1t on a fire out of can. loud
explosion occurred and she was literally
enveloped in flames. All of her clothing
except one shoe was burned from her body.
This was a terrible warning to users OF
Aurora OIL and in its verdict the coroner's
jury dwelt at length on the danger Of such
"combustible stuff"
On June TO- 1868, there was terrible fight
on board the steamboat Sangseik, in mid
stream, opposite Omaha. Ben Crusire and
John Morrison, employees of the steamer, be-
came involved in quarrel. Crusire was
pitching wood into the fire box. Morrison
chided him for throwing his wood lazily.
fight, in which Morrison struck Crusire over
the head with heavy stick. crushing his
skull and causing death. The records do
not show what disposition was made Of the
case further than the coroner's inquest.
The first fatal case of somnambulism that
ever attracted the attention OF the coroner
in Omaha was on July 1, 1869, when l..
Hitchcock of Jackson, Mich. walked out OF
the fourth story window in the International
hotel and was crushed to death on the pave
ment.
Suicide Becomes Epidemic.
An epidemic of suicide reached Omaha
in 1873. Joseph Neville was coroner then
and he had all the business he could at
tend to. Much of the self-destructon was
by poison, and each inquest brought rec
ommendation from the jury that the drug
gists be prohibited from selling poisonous
drugs. crusade along this line was
waged, but the suicides kept on until the
epidemic seemed to wear itself out.
In addition to the poison cases there
were many by other methods, notably gun
shot wounds, and when the coroner was not
busy looking after self-destroyers he filled
the interim by investigating murder
charges. notable tragedy of the year
was the killing of Charles Sommers by John
II. Butler, who was then city marshal. The
coroner's investigation brought a verdict to
the effect that the killing was in sef-de-
Tense and the marshal was fully exonerated.
William Keyes, 4-year- boy, died
under mysterious circumstances May 30,
1872. The coroner caused strict investiga-
ton, with the result that Helen Johnson,
his guardian, was charged with starving
the child This was one Of the most
pathetic cases ever brought to the attention
of the local authorities, if the transcript
o. evidence may be taken as an index
And SO on these musty records go with
thei: story OF crime.