The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1901-02-28
WIFE, THEN HIMSELF
DIR. WILLIAM f. AIKEN's DOUBLE
DEED OF CRIME.
TWO LIVES BL0TTED OUT.
HIS LITTLE BOYS TRAGICMESsAGE
TO THE POLICE.

Fired second Bullet Through
His Brain-On "A single subject
He'd Been Insane a Year-Twice
Attempted suicide.
Savannah awoke yesterday morning to
face one of the most heartrending and
sonlber tragedies that has marked its re-
cent history. DR.. William F. Aiken,
shortly before z o'clock shot and instant
" killed his wife; then turned the weapon
upon himself and ended his own too brief
but too unhappy life.
insanity" This was the general ex-
PLANTATION offered by those who knew DR..
Aiken. and his cultured and charming
own profession who had enjoyed the best
opportunities of investigation and knowl-
edge; finally. it was the conclusion reach
ed by the coroner's jury. deduced from
the clear and indisputable evidence to
which the jurymen listened.
DR.. Aiken lived with his family. his
wife and four children, at No. 22S ogle-
thorpe avenue, east, between Abercorn and
Lincoln streets; hundred yards away,
diagonally across Oglethorpe avenue. on
the corner Of Habersham street. is the
police station house.
A few minutes before o'clock Patrol
man Harry LANCE, on duty in the sally
port. was walking from the sergeant's Of
flee to the station house. when he heard
behind him the patter of bare and boyish
feet lie turned to face Conrad Aiken.
DR.. Aiken's 12-year-old son.
Papa has shot mama and then shot
himself" said the boy.
who is your father?" the policeman
queried.
Or Aiken"
Notifying sergt Walter Fleming, who
had just come on duty. as he passed the
Office, LANCE hurried with the child across
the street to Dr.. Aiken's residence.
Room OF Death.
Entering the house through the office
door in the basement. LANCE, with the lad
following close at his heels, passed up
the darkened staircases to the room on
the second floor, In which Mrs. Aiken
slept. The room DR.. Aiken was accus-
toned to occupy, and which he had &C.
cupied during the night, Immediately ad-
Joined that of his wife, being the hall
bedroom at the front of the house. The
larger bedroom at the front was that
of Mrs. Aiken, while that Immediately Ia
its rear was occupied by the three young
or children. Across from this latter was
the room occupied by the lad who brought
the fearful tidings to the station house.
With a degree OF caimness and self
possession beyond his years and that I'M
der the tragic circumstances was almost
weird the lad indicated the room of his
mother. Lange pushed open the door and
entered. The room was in almost total
darkness, as it was then scarcely broad
daylight, and the shutters Of the windows
were closed. The policeman had single
match, and striking It. a 1ickor1ng and
uncertain light shed itself over the room.
BY It's rays the grim details of
the tragedy were revealed. The bed
was just to the ieft of the policeman as
he entered the ROOM and stretched on
this, lying in an easy and natural posi-
tion on her left side, was the body of
Mrs. Aiken. A pistol wound. CHASTITY and
gaping, in her right temple, explained too
we'll the cause of her death. On pillows
end bedclothing, and on the walls of the
room near the head of the bed. were fur
Their evidences of the short distance from
which the fatal shot had been fired
On a rug at the side of the bed, face
downward, was the body Of DIR. Aiken.
like gaping wound in his right temple and
the revolver from which the shots had
been fired still clasped in his right hand.
The position in which he had fallen show
cd that death had been instantaneous.
In the meantime. Sergt Fleming had
arrived, and Lange was sent to notify
DR.. T. ]. Charlton and Coroner Keller
Within a few minutes both had reached
the house. and DR.. Keller assumed ofii-
cial charge. 4
Pathetic Scene.
1t was a scene to touch and melt the
hardest heart. The eldest boy, Conrad.
fingered outside the door, while the other
children. Elizabeth. Kempton and Robert,
the last named but years Old scarce
realizing the extent OF the awful calamit y
Of which they were the innocent victims
and from which they would be the great
est sufferers, covered in terror and sor-
row unrestrained, in the adjoining room.
which they occupied. The Swo younger
peered wide-eyed from the bedclothes in
which they were huddled.
Tender hands led the little ones from
the house Of gloom and to the residence
Of Or. Charlton, two doors away. There
they are being cared for until the arri-
val In the city OF some Of their mother S
relatives. Mr.. Alfred c. Potter of Cam
bridge, a brother of Mrs. Aiken, has
wired that he would leave at once for Sa-
vannah, and is expected tonight or. to-
morrow morning.
Undertaken r. II. Henderson was noti-
fed at the same time as the coroner and
hurrying to the house, prepared the
bodies for interment They have been
embalmed. No preparations for the fu-
neral will be made until Mr.. Potter's ar
rival in the city. and It is not now known