The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1903-05-19
KILLED A GIRL.
Fatal Termination of a Drunk
en- Debauch.
Mary Mahanna, Is Years Old,
Is Fatally Shot.
FIRED THROUGH DOOR.
Girl Was Trying to Keep the
Men Out.
Elmer Mundin Is Charged
With the Shooting.
THROUGH DOOR.


Puddle creek" Fourth and Davis
streets. is dead, and four young men,
Elmer Mundin, E. D. Thompson, Cor
nelius Callahan and Thomas H. Devlin.
are in the county Jail on the charge of
murder, as the result of a rife shot at
$3.50 Monday afternoon.
The gang started early in the day to
get drunk, and after filling up on whis-
ky went out to the Mahanna place
where they began drinking beer. They
were very quarrelsome, and the fifth
member of the crowd, Henry Exendein,
a quarter-bree Usage Indian, and
brother-in-law to Mundin, had 81
calibre Winchester rifle. When they
first came into the house Exendein laid
the gun on bed, and later Mundin
picked it up and threatened to shoot one
of his companions in the foot if he did
not remove the member from a table.
A general squabble ensued, and the
family, consisting of Mother Mahan-
ma, an old man who lived a the place
and the girl who was killed. attempted
\ to get them to leave the house. They
would not do so, and forced the girl to
I drink with them. Later she lured them
outside the house and then lodged in
side bracing the door with short
\ board between the latch and the floor.
The men outside demanded instant
admittance which was denied them, and
/ they began beating on the door with
the butt of the rifle The blows from
the gun loosened the prop, and the girl
4 sprang to replace it. As she did so,
some one outside shouted, If you don't
/ open this door. I'll Shoot" and almost
at the same instant a shot was fired
The girl screamed and fell backward,
and the men fed. Mother Mahanna
says that Mundin had the gun in his
hand when he left the house. and there
fore believes that he fired the shot.
DR.. R. E Massey was summoned to
attend the injured girl and the police
were notified. also the sheriff Detec-
4 tive Reed and Deputy Sheriff Paddy
Belts got in buggy and hurried to the
scene of the shooting, followed shortly
I by the patrol wagon with several ofh-
GERS. When the first officers arrived at
the Mahanna place they found the girl
\ being cared for in the limited way the
I place afforded Dr. Massey made an ex-
animation and said that the bullet had
ranged downward and pierced the lung
cavity, and that she was bleeding inter-
naIly. An ambulance was called. and
4 the girl removed to Christ hospital
where the physicians saw at once that
she was beyond hope of recovery, and
did not attempt to probe for the bullet.
I She died al o'clock, about five hours
after the shooting.
Under Sheriff Belts and Detective
Reed examined the house. which is a
small, story frame structure on the
banks Of the creek. They found thar
the shot had been fired at the door al
close range as the wood bore a powder
mark. The door. which was made of
inch lumber, was pierced just inside
the lock, and the bullet struck the girf
in the left breast. just over the heart.
while she was STOPPING over to adjust
the brace. An empty 80 Winchester
shell was picked up near the house, and
several loaded cartridges of the same
kind were found in the pocket of one
of the men arrested. While the officers
were examining the house Mundin, in
maudlin drunk condition. came back to
the house and was promptly arrested.
He denied any knowledge of the shoot
ing, and said that he and another men,
Der of the gang did not stop outside the
door, but went down to the little bridge
over Puddle" creek, and that he went
arrested and brought back by the off,
GERS, and shortly afterward three of his
companions were apprehended-
All of them were very drunk, and al
though they denied firing the shot they
let drop some drunken remarks which
the police refuse to give out at present,
but which are said to impiicate Nun
din. Devlin says that he was not with
the crowd. Shortly after Mundin was
captured he was taken with an epilep
tic fit, and was put in the Woman,s 6
ward of the city prison. A physician
was called, and left some medicine. but
Mundin continued to have one attack
after another until midnight, when ne
recovered and was removed to the
county jail 1t was ecessary to keep
two men in attendance while the vio-
lent fits were in progress, and NJ O.
Charlesburg. a "trusty, was severely
bitten in the hand by him while at
tempting to hold him on the bed
Today the officers have been sweat
ing the men under arrest, who have
sobered and are able to talk if they will,
hut the results of the investigation have
not been made public
The Winchester with which the muir
A4oI hoe of
but the officers think it was thrown into
the creek or underbrush in the vicinity
of the Mahanna place. At noon today
E,xendein had not been apprehended-
Mary Mahannas who was murdered
was a pretty girl of IS. When she was
child she was taken to raise by a re-
spectable family on account of the abuse
of her father. Later she was taken back
suicide several years ago. Mother
Mahanna has long borne an unsavory
reputation. and her home on East
Fourth has been known as place
where E-uor was sold
Coroner Hoeeboom held an autopsy
at Shefabarger & Sons undertaking es-
the range Of the fatal bullet. The in
quest was commenced by the coroner ct
? O'Clock this afternoon.
ANOTHER ARREST MADE
Before noon today another arrest was
made in the Mary Nfahanna murder case.
Claude A4undin. a cousin Of Elmer
Mundin. who was arrested at the Ma
hanna hougs yesterday was taken on
a member of the party. He denied be-
ing with the gang, but each Of the four
positively identified him and said he
was
The story as secured from the men
today by officers is to the effect that all
five Of them, after getting sufficiently