Evening star., 1901-05-18
MURDER OF AYRES
Coroner and Jury Endeavoring 10
Solve the Mystery.
CORONER'S INQUEST NOWIN PROGRESS
Witnesses Describe Finding of
Body and Condition of Room.
DIED ALMOST INSTANTLY

James Seymour Ayres. office
clerk, twenty-one years Of age. was killed
| in his room on the fourth floor Of the
/ Kenmore Hotel on North Capitol street
between and c streets north, early in
the morning of May Is. When his body
was discovered the man had been dead
| several hours. He had been shot In the
| left hip. in the left arm. and the wound
that proved fatal in the breast. Inn
mediately above the heart. A revolver,
! with three empty shells and three loaded
cartridges in its chambers, was found in
the room.
The circumstances surrounding the traE-
edy were mysterious and have remained
SO. An attempt to unravel them was I've
! gun today at the sixth precinct station
house on New Jersey avenue. where the
morgue is located. Owing to the interest
!n the case and the number OF persons
| caQed as witnesses the inquiry. which
| presided over by Coroner hewitt. was con-
Quoted in the large dormitory on the sec
ond floor The only other cororers in
! quest ever held I'm the apartment was that
carried on over the body of George M
Rye but on that occasion Dennis J. Canty,
who killed the former and was finally ac-
quilted of the charge Of murder. was pres
! ent and was witness.
The jurymen sworn were Anthony Tvs
sowski, merchant; Jacob karr, leweler;
! Frank b. Metzerott of No. 2i2a street
/ northwest, George w. Harvey. restaurant
/ keeper; j. William Lee, undertaken. and
! Thomas A Rover, grocer.
Large Crowd at the Inquest.
The hour set for the inquest to begin WAS
/ IL o'clock. but long before that time the
! spectators chairs were occupied by mum
| ber of young men who had been classmates
] of Ayres I'm the Columbian Law School.
| The iron cots occupied by the policemen
who sleep at the station when on reserve
duty were piled In neat array in the south
ern corner OF the large apartment. The
capacity Of the room was soon tested, and
among the later corners were several ply
sicians.
Lieut.. Moore prevented the big crowds OF
! the merely curious who gathered on the
outside to enter the station, and this proved
to be wise Judgment.
A few minutes before the inquiry hegan
| MIR. Ashley M Gould, United States district
! attorney. and Mr.. Peyton Gordon assistant
! United States district attorney, arrived ana
took seats at the coroners table. An inter
| esting diagram was handed around at this
/ time. 1t was figure of a mans body
| showing the wounds received by Ayres. as
deiineated by X-ray photographs. On the
border was a description of the wounds
and the condition OF the body.
Jury Visits the Kenmore.
Photographs of the hotel and the room In
which Ayres met his death were shown.
After examining these the jury, accom-
panied by Coroner hewitt went to the Ken
more.
Upon the arrival of the Jurors at the hotel
Coroner hewitt called their attention to the
fire escape down which the woman was
seen to go to the veranda. Precinct De-
tective Williams OF the sixth precinct was
in the window of the adjoining house from
where Mr.. Baker looked at the woman as
she descended. The jurors went to the
room the fourth floor in which the crime
was committed and Coroner NeN lit assist
ed by Superintendent Schonenberger OF the
morgue proceeded to explain the condition
of affairs he found them upon the occa-
sion of his first visit to the hotel, which
was only a few minutes after the body was
discovered On the floor where the head OF
the victim had rested was the clotted blood
he had lost after the infiiction OF the fatal
wound. In the southwest corner of the
room was the bed which had undoubtedly
been occupied just prior to the consumma-
tion of the mysterious tragedy. The trunk
on which the revolver and musket were
found had been removed. as had other ef-
fects of the deceased.
More than one member OF the jury mani
fest ed interest in the condition of the walls
separating room 20 from the adjoining
rooms The partition between room ~ and
room 10. the latter occupied by Miss Law
less the jurors found an ordinary lath
and plaster one, while that between the
rooms of Mr.. Ayres and Miss Mary Minas
was of brick. There is a door in this par
tition and 1t was explained to the jury
that an ordinary conversation in one room
could be heard by the occupants OF the
other The window sill had been removed
but the coroner gave a brief explanation of
the blood marks on 1t. From the room in
which the crime was committed the jurors
sauntered through the hallway, going to
the second floor and viewing the parlor
through which the woman passed from the
Veranda.
The superintendent of the morgue as
sumed the defensive attitude in which the
body was when it was found, and the
coroner described the nature of the wounds
The Opening Proceedings.
Deputy Coroner Glazebrook, who assist
ed Coroner hewitt, began proceedings by
requesting all witnesses including police
men and detectives, to leave the room, and
called Daniel Woodhouse the first wit
ness. A stoutly built colored man respond
ed In answer to Coroner hewitt he said
he lived at 1923 New Jersey avenue and il
employed at the Kenmore waiter. He
said at $50 o clock Wednesday morning Miss
Mary Minas met him In the office and ask
ed him to go up and see il Mr.. Ayres was
up, saying she had heard some noise In his
room during the night. Witness de-
scribed how he went upstairs and Knocked.
keyhole and saw Mr.. Ayres' body lying on
the floor. There was blood around 1t Wit
ness than went downstairs and informed
Mr. Warfield, and he, another man and
witness went back upstairs. A step lad
der was procured and the party looked
over the transom and saw the body in
pool of blood
No attempt was made to open the door
while witness was there, and he did not
know II any word was sent to police head
quarters. Miss Minas was not excited
when she asked him to see IL MIR. Ayres
was up.
witness was closely questioned about the
habits of the guests in getting to their
meals and especially breakfast. Witness
had charge of a table In the dining room,
but Mr. Ayres was not one Of those he
served Witness however. had known him
and sometimes talked with him.
Witness was shown diagram of the
hotel and pointed out the location of Ayres'
room and gave the names of the occupants
of the rooms on either side OF that apart
ment.
District Attorney Gould then took up the
examination.
Woodhouse repeated his testimony about