The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1899-05-04
Alexander Masterton Muir
dered in a New York
Hotel.
AGED MANS CRIME
James Neal Plumb Stays One Of the
Metropolis Best-Known
Business Men.
Special Dispatch to The call

NEW YORK. May Alexander
Masterton, director of the Farmers
Loan and Trust Company, ~ years
of age, was shot and killed this after
noon by James Neal Plumb in the
Burlington Hotel, on West Thirtieth
street. Masterton was shot five times
and died within an hour or two. The
murder was premeditated, as is evil
denced by a voluminous statement
written in advance by Plumb, and
given out after his arrest.
At present the real motive for the
crime is unknown. Plumb, in his state
ment issued "to the public" and en-
titled why J. J. Neal Plumb. Shot
Alexander Masterton." declared that
he had been actuated to do the shoot
inE because Of a systematical bounding
Of him by Masterton. Plumb declared
,Masterton had not only ruined him
financially but had attempted to alien
ate the affections Of his wife and chill
dren and TO cause his social downfall
Plumb s statement. one copy of which
was addressed to the Associated Press.
deals with a period of his career en-
bracing the past thirty-five years. It is
rambling i'm many places and concludes
with the following:
No man has a higher regard for human
life than l have. But the lust and right
eouS punishment Of Alexander MaSterton
ls ueCrecQ by an outraged God. and l am
Simply the humble instrument in his
haHd. as he has selected me as his chosen
instrument of Wrathful vengeance. [
have rid the world of man who is not
fit 90 live and whose death a thousand
times over could never atone for the mon
strous wrongs done me.
AIasterton and Plumb met by agree
ment in the Burlington Hotel at 100
=. nl.. in the apartments occupied by
Manager Cole. They had been there
but short time when five shots were
fired in rapid succession. Plumb then
came out and walked into the reception
room, awaiting arrest The murderer
was taken before Police Captain Price
Of the TenderlOin precinct, of whom he
is an intimate friend. He was taken
later before a magistrate in the Jeffer-
son Market Police Court and held.
In his statement Plumb writes as fol-
lows:
The reason for taking this serious step
was that for upward Of thrty-five years,
commencing as far back as 1862, at the
time OF my marriage engagement. this
man has followed me like a sleuthhOund
from that time to this and yet l was
never able to discover the cause or mo-
tive Of his animosity toward me, as when
he commenced to attack me l had never
seen the man or ever heard of him.
Again in 1883, on my return from Cali
fOrnia, after three years absence, he at
once renewed the intrigues against me
in my family and i'm public, secretly do
ing me all the injury in his power, So
CIally and financially.
After all these years, down to 1876, this
man was constantly plotting and conspr-
Ing against me, endeavOring to under
mine my wife's confidence in me by
covert insinuauons. and endeavoring in
every way to ALLEVIATE the affections Of
my wife and children, and he had a pow
erful influence. being the trustee of my
Wife's large estate.
In 1877 Mrs Plumb died in Paris and
Plumb returned here and went to live
at Islip, L. !. He reCites a number of
circumstances showing Mastertons al
legged conspiracy 70 ALLEVIATE the affec-
tions of his children, a French maid
acting as spy for MastertOn. Plumb re-
feTs to another conspiracy" begun in
1855 which he says is known to his
friends in New York and Washington
rs the Washington conspiracy" where
his eldest daughter, Minnie, laid a trap
for Masterton and his lawyers by
means Of decoy letters and telegrams.
His enemy fell into the trap and did
not know he had been entrapped until
Plumbs daughter displayed the motive
of these kilograms in Surrogate Rollins
court during an action brought in con-
nection with the case.
After reciting the story of the mar
riage of his son, j. Ivers Plumb. in
1855, with a woman named Anna Bur
ton. Of whom he speaks in no com
plimentary terms, and laying the blame
for this undesirable marriage at Mas
tertOn'S door, he refers to what he calls
the last conspiracy Of Alexander Mas
terton, which has eliminated his long
years Of cruel, VindictiVe oppression by
his punishment decreed by an out
ragged God"
He says that soon after his sons
"disgra ceful marriage" he went to
Europe, intending TO make his home in
southampton, England, and he and his
daughters were as happv there as they
could be with a cloud hanging over
them in the moral death of his son.
He next refers to the kidnapping Of
his daughter LeOnita in 1888. after they
had returned to New York She was
forced into a carriage by the agents
Of MaStertOn, he AYERS. and taken to
the Victoria Hotel. Later she was
taken 10 Troy. she subsequently re-
gained her freedom. The object of the
abduction, Plumb claims was to force
the girl to give up her father. Plumb
declares the wrongs which Masterton
had done him no law could reach. His
words are:
The man who brought all this trou-
bic IN my declining years no law can
reach.
In addition to these consniracias
Plumb goes into lengthy details re-
garding the alleged efforts OF Master
son and others to bring about a mar
riage between one of his daughters and
a worthless fortune-seeking English
man. who had made the boast that he
could win the little American miss "
Plumb appeared cool immediately
, h1rt xHrh o+
station word came that Masterson had
died, Plumb broke down and said, 1T
had to be-"
A chambermaid at the Burlington.
/ who was the only one near the room in
which the shooting occurred, told the
police that she heard the men in angry
conversation just before she heard the
ristnl shots One of the rr1en she gid