Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1903-07-06
LAMOTHE DEAD.
Captured by a Detective, Satur-
day, in New York
Made Desperate Resistance and
Finally Shot Himself.
Died Sunday Morning Without Having
Made Statement.

Lamothe, the French Canadian who
was wanted in Lowell, Mass on sus-
picion of having murdered Georgianna
Goddu, died in St. Lulle's hospital, this
morning, from the revolver shot wound
in the abdomen which he received dur
ing a struggle with Detective Becker
in the reception room of the hospital,
Saturday morning. From the time he
was shot, Lamothe sank gradually and
was unconscious until a few moments
before death, when he regained con-
seriousness and asked for priest, who
was summoned and gave him the last
sacrament. In reply to the questions
of the priest as to his relatives, he
turned his face away and was silent. A
few minutes after he died.
Attendants at the hospital say that
the dying man did not utter a word
which could in any way be taken as a
statement.
1t is said that when the injured man
was being taken to the ward of the hos
pital. he murmured: Il want to die.
After an examination the coroner S
physician gave it as his opinion that
I.amothe had killed himself, probably
| Intentionally.
I.amothe it is stated, has a brother,
n clergyman, attached to St. Francis
Xavier church, Little Falls, MINI.
| New York, July 4.-Joseph A. La
mothe, the Lowell murderer, is dying
at st. I.uke's Hospital, this city, from
| a wound caused by the same hand ana
the same revolver that killed Georgl-
anna Goddu last Sunday.
| He called at the hospital shortly after
| 9 o'clock Saturday morning to visit an
orderly there named TeiuS Orien, whom
he had known when both were en-
ployed at the Massachusetts Charitable
Eye and Ear Infirmary. While waiting
to see Oren a detective who had been
living in wait placed Lamothe under ar
rest.
| Lamothe's hand Immediately sought
the right-hand pocket of his coat. Be
llieying that Lamothe intended to draw
la revolver and fight his way to liberty
the detective jumped behind him and
lpinioned his arms to his side.
| A second later a shot sounded
through the corridor. Lamothe, instead
of shooting the officer, shot himself
When his hand sought his pocket, he
managed to grasp the weapon conceal
ed there-a 3S-caliber self-cockine
Ihammerless revolver-but instead OF
trying to pull it out of his pocket he
pressed the muzzle against his abdo-
men and directed the bullet through
the pocket of his coat.
He was Immediately taken to the op-
operating room, and for four hours the
surgeons worked over him, although
4 = trS1
futile. The bullet had made 10 dis
tinct perforations of the intestines, and
although the necessary surgical opera
tor was promptly performed, the doc
| tors said at the time his chances fol
recovery We're not one in hundred.
No one knows when LamOthe arrived
in New York, or where he has lived
here. He first called at the hospita
about O'Clock Friday night, but Orier
was on duty at that time, and could
not be seen. A doorman named Won
Zooner, who had received one of the
notices sent out by the Lowell police
recognized him from the description
given, and tried to induce him to wait
long enough to summon the police.
Lamothe said he would call in the
morning, and departed The police
were Immediately notified, and two de-
.ectives spent the night in the hospital.
Shortly after 9 o'clock Saturday morn
ing their virgil was rewarded with the
climax as already stated.
81 don't care whether I live or die, p"
said Lamothe as he writhed in mortal
| agony on the floor of the waiting room.
AS he was being carried to the operat-
ling room he muttered: "Send for a
priest" FIR. Sweeney of 10th street
was summoned, and Lamothe's secret
is now locked in the priests breast.
Lamothe was conscious up to the mo-
ment he was etherized on the operating
table. He said his name wes Joseph
Lamont. that he was rs years old, and
that he came from Boston. There is no
l1uestion as to his identity. He not only
answers the description sent out by the
police, barring the mustache, which
has been shaver off, but Orien. who
saw him later in the day, says he Is
the Joseph Lamothe whom he knew at
the Eye and Ear Infirmary.
In his pocket, too, was found rough
draft of the letter he sent to Boston
paper last Tuesday. Lamothe's per-
sonal effects, apart from his clothing,
CONSISTED of a match and about S25.
IOrien, the orderly, knew nothing OF La
| mcthe's presence in New York or OF the
killing of Miss Goddu until after La
mothe had shot himself.
| He became acquainted with Lamothe
/ while, acting as an orderly to the Eye
and Ear Infirmary, where Laihothe
was a sort of a minor clerk and general