The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1900-04-02
HUSBAND AND WIFE
IN AWFUL TRAGEDY
A RECONCILIATION THAT WAS
SHORT LIVED.
James j. o'Boyle Dead and His Wife
in a Precarious Condition as Re-
suit of an Early Morning Shoot
ing ARRAY on franklin Avenue.
She Says He Tried to Murder Her
and Then Commit Suicide-Had
Been Estranged for Several Months
O'Boyle Buried Yesterday.

Between and o'clock Saturday
morning five shots were fired from
32-calbre revolver in the apartments
of Mr.. and Mrs. James OBoyle. 22S
Franklin avenue, and as a consequence
OBoyle lies cold in death, while his
wife is in a precarious condition at
the Lackawanna hospital with a shat
tered jaw bone and bullet hole
through her body.
Every ordinary indication points to
an attempted murder and suicide but
the relatives Of the husband strenu-
ously allege that 1t was murder and
attempted suicide, while a small but
rather mysterious circumstance points
TO the faint possibility of the impi-
cation of a third party.
The O'Boyles had becomes estranged,
but effected "A reconciliation last
Thursday. That same evening a man
answering the husbands description
and appearing somewhat excited pur-
chased u 32-calibre revolver in Doyle
& COmpany's hardware store, on North
Main avenue. He filled the five cham
bers while in the store placed the re-
volver in his pocket and told the clerk
he wanted to shoot dog.
Some time after o'clock Saturday
morning the family of John Coggins.
whose apartments adjoin those Of the
O'Boyles, were awakened by two pis-
tol shots, followed by woman's
screams. A moment later Mrs. O'Boyle
rushed out into the corridor and, see
ing Coggins exclaimed: Jim shot me.
Get a doctor" Her face and night
dress were despatched with blood.
THREE MORE SHOTS.
Before Coggins could make a move
three more shots in rapid succession
were heard, and, realizing that it was
all over with O'Boyle, he ran out into
the street to secure assistance. Sew
eral physicians offices were visited,
,.ut none of them could be aroused, so
he ran to the Center street police sta
tion and notified Desk Sergeant Jones.
The Lackawanna hospital was notified
and an ambulance FASTENED to the
scene.
When the police and physicians ar
rived they found O'Boyle lying across
the sill of the door between the bed
room and kitchen with blood pouring
out of three bullet holes in his head.
a new 32-calbre. five-cEamber revol
Yer was firmly grasped in his right
hand. Patrolman Parry had to use
some force to release it from the dying
mans grip. O'Boyle expired shortly
after reaching the hospital.
The remains were taken to his sis
ter's home at 401 Pittston avenue. His
relatives would not believe that he
had shot himself and insisted that the
wife had carried out a threat she had
| repeat tedly made to take his life. The
fact that one of the shots was fired
from the rear, the relatives argue
show that it was not done by his own
hand.
The odd circumstance in connection
with the case is that while the Cog
gins family and Mrs. O'Boyle herself
positively state that there was no one
in the O'Boyle apartments Thursday
night excepting the two OBoyles
themselves, the table at which, ac-
| cording To Mrs. O'Boyle, she and her
husband ate a lunch just before retir-
ing, was set for three. One coffee cup
had been emptied, IA second half emp
tied and a third evidently only slipped
from. Three chairs surrounded the
table.
NO STRUGGLE.
lnefe were no lndlCd tlOnS OF Strug-
! gle, although the bed room was
| splashed all over with blood, a stream
of it even having reached an ornamen-
| tai japanese umbrella suspended from
the center of the ceiling.
| Mrs. O'Boyls says her husband first
| shot her in the face while she was
| asleep and fired the next shot into her
body as she was getting out of the
bed. The first bullet entered just be-
| low the left eye, and taking a down
| ward course, shattered the jaw bone.
| The second entered at the breast and
| was removed from the middle of the
| back by the hospital PHYSICIANS.
O'Boyle was shot twice in front and
| a little above the right ear. These
! two shots fattened against the skull.
| The third entered behind and below
the right ear and penetrated the brain.
Coroner Roberts performed an autop-
| sy on O'Boyle, but decided to postpone
! an inquest pending the result of Mrs.
| O'Boyle's wounds. She was alive at
! midnight, but the physicians had small
! hopes of her recovery.
The O'Boylcs were married at st,
| Peters cathedral March %, 1893. They
| had known each other intimately for
some time previously. He was q years
of age and she is about 49,
Prior to her marriage Mrs. O'Boyle
was Lottie Kennedy. She was a step