The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-08-31
IN JEALOUS RAGE.
Concluded FROM FIRST PAGE.1


the mother saw him again until ne appeared
in front of the Carr house with a revolver
In his hand.
Five hundred people. including fashion
ably dressed women and many children,
crowded about the house on East New York
street a few minutes after the smoke from
Totten's revolver had hOated away. Press
ing and showing each other they fought for
a view of the slender body as it lay in the
little passage-way between the house and
a neighboring house. The corpse had been
hastily removed from the front of the house
and laid temporarily on the narrow side
walk in the passage way. The eyes had
been closed and the limbs hurriedly ar
ranged. StaIwart policemen held back the
curious crowd until men from Ragsdale's
undertaking establishment removed the
body to the house.
THE DAUGHTER TALKS.
Inside Minnie Totten was moaning and
sobbing on a sofa, consoled 2by a girl
friend. Mrs. Carr was attempting to re-
strain her own grief as she answered the
questions of the detectives. He always
was mean TO my mother said the girl.
He was always threatening TO Kill her and
insulting her before her children. Finally
NIB " oO NAAN EAC A
from him, and even then he would not let
her have the children. 1 wanted TO live
with her, but he would not let me. 1 had to
go down to our old home and stay until L
thought It was safe to com back. / have
known times before he and mother sepa-
rated that he would come home and would
grip her arms with such force that she
screamed from pain. He would slap her
face or he would pull out his revolver and
rub 1t across her face, saying that when ne
| got ready he would put an end to her run
ming around. There was never any cause
| for II, because mother was always good TO
him. He was so mean TO her that she was
driven to say hard things sometimes, but
he would have tried the patience of a saint.
He was never much of a drinking man I'M
til about a year ago. when the separation
occurred. Then he took to drinking heav-
lily. When l saw him at the Franklin fair
| last Thursday he did his best to make me
say where mother was and TO tell things on
her, but 1 would not do It. Then he
watched me when 1 took the train for home
| and followed me to where mother and 1
were living The girl, who is rather pref
ty and neatly and tastefully dressed, went
on with the story of the murder.
Mother and l had been down town, and
when we came up this way we thought we
| would stop in and see Mrs. Carr. whom
| mother used to know in Providence. They
were brought up there as girls together.
| Both Mrs. Carr and mother were anxious
| to hear about the fair, and they were ask
ing me all sorts of questions about the peo-
pie / had seen when L saw father coming
up the street with his eyes staring like a
crazy mans. He looked just like a man
that was insane, and 1 am certain he must
have been when he fired those shots. L
knew at once that he was going to do
| something terrible. and mother seemed to
know 1t. too. AL three of us sprang up, but
before we could hardly move he began
shooting and bullets began to fly
around us"
MRS. GARR'S STORY.
Mrs. Garr's story of the murder was iden-
tical with that Of Minnie Totten. Mrs.
| Totten and 1 were school friends together
in Providence" she said, and 1 have al
ways liked her. Il knew that her husband
had been jealous of her for years, and al
ways put il down to the fact that he was so
much older than she was. He was ffty-twO
and she was thirty-six. So far as 1 know
there was no cause for the crime except
jealousy. i am hankfu that 1 was not
shot myself. One of the bullets came so
| close to me tina 1 felt its heat on my neck,
| and when Mrs. Totten was shot she was so
| close TO me that 1 could touch her with my
| hand. The mother and daughter have been
living together for some time at No. 427
East Market street. Totten had been in the
country. He had been in Barkersville,
whre he has a brother. and also in Budd,
where he belongs to a lodge and where he
lived when a young man."
When Totten's clothes were examined at
the city Hospital papers were found on
him indicating that he was a Mason and
a Red Man. A letter was found from the
treasurer of Union Village Lodge. No. SIS.
Budd, Ind, asking Totten to send IS in pay
ment of dues he was delinquent. Receipts
issued by the Prudential Life Insurance
Company furnished the information that
Totten had insured the lives of his three
children and his wife in that company. All
the policies were paid UP. The amounts of
each were not given. Two letters found on
his body indicated the fear in which he was
held by his wife. One was from Mrs. Tot
ten. written to her daughter Minnie while
the latter was visiting. She warned her
daughter never to let Totten know that she
Was NlllllSs anu ~ always buiH TIE lttltGS
she received. A few sentences in the letter
explained the cause OF separation, saying
that he was constantly jealous and that he
made her life miserable. Another letter
was from Minnie to Totten. written while
she was visiting in Franklin. She said lit
tie about her mother in the letter, writing
for the most part about indianapolis and
the things she saw here.
Coroner Brayton made a careful examina-
ton of the body OF the murdered woman
and found that OF the four bullets that had
been fired into her any one of three would
have been sufficient TO cause death. Three
went In at the back. near the middle. and
one entered the right side. just above the
right gland. One OF the bullets that en-
tered the back passed through the heart.
Later ne examined Totten's body and found
that death had resulted from a single bullet
which passed from the temple through the
brain.