Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1901-01-02
HE HAD A GRIEV ANgE
L Treasury Clerk Shoots and Kills
Auditor Morris.
IL THEN TRIES TO KILL HIMSELF.

ID lHEn lklES III kILL HlMSkLt.
He Pay Had B en- Reduced and He He'd
Auditor Morris Kespons. hle or IT.
The Mardsrsr Undsr
Arrest
Washington, ID. c., Dec. 22.--Frank
q. Morris of Ohio, aue6bor of the WAC
department., was shot and Instantly
k1ised about 2.10 o'clock this aroer-
noon by Samuel Macdonald, aaso of
Ohio. recently d1sburslng clerk of
the treasury. in the formers ONCE a&
the Winder bulldlng on Seventeenth
street. Auditor Morris was ciVseled
aao0e with Macdonald when the
shooting occurred. In trysmg to
make has escape Macdonald also as
sautted the wELchmas. 1hos. Cus4ck,
wuah the butt of his revolver. he was
arrested whlle leaving the buadIng.
before being taken INTO CUSTODY, NV
ever, he shot hmIselt In the s.olnach
and also made an ugly gash in his
throat wllh a small Pen. kuaie. Wnen
the officers arreS,ed him he Was heard
TO exclaim:
81 dad II. know I'm done for"
An eye witness TO The laLter part Of
the encounter between the TWO men
stated that upon hearing the sound OF
uhe shots he ran into the auahtoris
office, which he had just vett. Upon
entering the room he saw the Two
men struggling in each Others arms.
Macdonald holding his reyoayer close
up to Morris breast. Macdonald.
after firing again, aotempted 10 gct
ont of the room, but encountered
yk,<<r
the sound OF the hIang mad brought
TO the doors, and then turned and Lid
again. This lis beMeved to have been
the fatal shot.
Employees who knew Macdonald
said he had a grievance against Mor-
ris, who 1T is clahned was resP.n-dD4e
for having has pay reduced Ornefs
who knew him slid they So1.d mol
amtrdbute his deed to anything bnt q
diseased brain from over. hdulgence
In liquor.
Frank n. Morris was a native of
Cleveland, o. He was 49 years OF age
and 1eaves a widow and iwo sons. He
entered The government service at the
1eginnIng OF the present adnasIt stra-
tion as audtJor for qdle navy depart
memt. During the frt TWO yeals he
made ali exceptionally good record Tor
efficiency, blanglng the delayed work
up to dnue and putting the office In
a beIter shape than ever before. A
year or more ago Morris was made
auditor for the war department,
changing places with Audd,or Brown.
In his new place he maintained has
soon had the work. which was much
behind, up to date.
He was well regarded by the treas
ury otncfaTs 49, was not popular with
some of the subordinales in hs office.
who complained that he was unneces-
sardly harsan in his treatment of them
and often exaxsDed more work than
they could do. 1t also is said that in
order to keen the work up to date he
would require them ITO work overtime
and lose part of their annual vaca-
ton. The treasurr officia4s, however,
do not agree with these statements
and say that the auditor required
from each clerk god days work and
ne more.
Macdonald Is Q brother of William
H. Macdonald, the well known bari.
tone singer of the Bos5onisns, who ID
said to Lave educated him FOR the
operaaic sosge. He is unmarried, 50
years of age and is wall and fire look
ing. He also is from Ono, and has
been dn the government service since
soon after the civil war. In 1869 he
was removed from his position &C
chief of division in the office OF COM
missioner of customs. lm 1890 he
was reappoinfed clerk in the once OF
the auditor Dor the war department
In 1897 he was made disbu-sing Of
ficer in THAT office in addition TO his
other duties, receiving I'm all $1,000 q |
year.
In February, 1900, his accounts
were fourr,d short 1000, ard upon be-
ing required to make an exp.anaiodn |
he claimed that ON one occasion he |
had forgotten to close his safe on |
leaving his ONCE aud that 1T had been |
robbed of $1,000. He produced evil
dence which rended to eAonerate him
from the charge of taking the money |
and as he immedia.ely made good the
amount nouhing further Was done ex-
cept to reduce his 50 .ary to $1.400 and
transfer him TO the once OF the audi
tor for the posto1nce department, |
where he was employed at the time
of the tragedy. It Is siate1 that Mac |
Donald has been g. hard drinker at
times and that many of his misfor-
tunes can be traced TO this course. |
He has many friends, however, who
regard him as man OF many excel
lent qualities.
Macdonald was removed to the
Emergency hospital where the doc
tors have been busily engaged in try
ting to save his life. He was bleeding !
profuseqy from the gashes he had