The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1900-01-12

a lamp. His disordered Imagination mag
nified the tiny flame of the lamp into
great con1agartion which threatened des
truction to the city.
He rushed into the street and sum
moned the whole fire department o
Mount Vernon to put out the fire tina
existed only in his imagination.
Less than a year ago he and his wifi,
moved into a small frame house at No
295 South Tenth avenue, Mount Vernon
They had one child, Flora, a girl nov
nine years old
Like everything else connected witt
Morrison, Their is a mystery about thi:
| child. He swore on the witness stand
at the inquest over his wife that the
girl was the offspring of his marriage.
Yesterday he said the child was moi
his own; that she had been adopted He
| further said that Flora was the child OF
a dead friend of his Mount Vernon wife
| The New York wife is also said tc
have had child Inmates of the Third
avenue house in which she lived declare
she told them her child had been taken
by the Gerry society.
No record of such a fact could be
| found in the books Of the society yester-
/ day. and it could not be learned from
| Morrison if the girl Flora was the child
| of his New York wife.
The inquiry into the death Of Mrs. Ali
da Morrison was a somewhat peculiar af-
fair. Coroner Banning, who conducted
it, was on the scene of the shooting a
short time after the trgedy.
KNOWING oil dataiIe fro-,
he did not rely solely on the testimony,
taken to form his judgment
Several important facts are not made
clear by the testimony. Morrison's state
ments at all stages of the matter do not
agree. These are the salient points of
his sworn testimony at the inquest:
He had been married to the dead wo-
man twelve years, and had never been
married before. The day preceding the
night of the shooting his overcoat had
been taken by a piano tuner, and was
afterward recovered by the police.
This incident made him fear burglars.
He had always been in dread of burg
lars. Before going to bed he prepared for
them. He had his wife clean and oil
his revolver, also her own revolver, one
of 22-calibre.
He and his wife occupied separate beds
in the same room. A crib stood near his
wifes bed in which young baby belong
ing to a neighbor was sleeping.
He oegan to dream about the piano
tuner and thought the man had broken
into his house and was standing at the
foot of his wifes bed. Then he dreamed
the piano tuner and his wife began a
struggle.
This is as far as the dream went. He
remembered the baby made a noise and
half awake he saw his wife reach out
to give the baby something. He thought
his wife was the burglar he had seen in
his dreams and snatching his pistol from
under his pillow he fired.
The next he knew his wife was calling
to him:
ALFRED, you have shot me; run for
DOCTOR
1t was not made clear at the inquest
whether Mrs. Morrison was lying in bed
was shot. Who owned the baby in the
room was another matter not cleared up.
DIR. Shfpman. one of the physicians
called, testified that the womans wound
was such that Morrison must have been
sitting up in bed and the woman must
have been lying down or bending over.
The bullet entered her right shoulder.
came out under the arm, entered the alb
men and passed clear through.
Policeman Lynch, the first person to
reach the Tenth avenue house after the
shooting, but who was not called to tes-
af ha ho
Mrs. Morrison was not in bed when he
got there and that he helped to place
her in the bed.
Flora Morrison. the nine year old child,
testified that she saw her mother after
she had been shot and before her death
The child said in answer to questions:
Mamma told me papa had shot her,
but that he did not mean to do it. Papa
and mamma were always good to each
other They never had any quarels."
DR.. Shipman said that in lieu of a fee
he had accepted the pistol with which
Morrison killed his wife The weapon, |
however, is still in Coroner Bannings |
care. Another doctor called in was given !
Mrs Morrisons pistol by the husband.
The verdict rendered by Coroner Ban |
ming states that Mrs Aida Morrison |
came to her death by a pistol wound in |
the abdomen inflicted by Alfred Morrison |
while in a somnambulistic state mis- |
taking her for burglar and said Alfred |
Morrison is herby absolved from all GRIM |
nauty in the matter
Coroner Banning said yesterday:
The discovery that Morrison is big |
, T11ie 10 Of h.
He never intended to kill her |
He was too much in love with her. He |
acted like a crazy man after the shoot
ng
she had a small amount of insurance /
On her life 1t was about enought to bury /
her. He showed me the policy and told |
ne he would never touch the money"
He was going to tear the policy up, /
when / told him he was a fool; that he |
should collect the money and use it to
put up a monument over his wife's grave |
where he could have a monument made |
told him and he went off at once and /
ordered the stone.
THAT is the kind of man he is-errat-
c, eccentric, always switching from one
hing to another
HE told me that he slept with pistol .
lnder his pillow for three years, but he
said he was not fit 10 have fire arms
about the house. He found that out too
ate"
Mrs Morrison's mother and sister at
ended the funeral Coroner Banning did
lot call them at the inquest.