The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1903-08-15

sidewalks had been washed and scrubbed
thoroughly and the blood in the streets
carried away or covered up.
CITY IN MOURNING.
Winfield is in mourning. The terrible
tragedy which ended the lives of half
dozen of her business men and may cost
the lives of others, and the wounding of
more than a score of her people stunned
the people. 1t did more than that; it
paralyzed them. and they will not re-
cover for several days. The country peo-
pie heard Of the deed. and many drove
in to see the scene and to hear the news
of the injured.
Business was practically suspended all
day yesterday. and many of the business
houses were dFaped in mourning. None
cared to buy or sell. The business men
opened their houses as a mere Formally.
they did not expect customers, and the
customers did not come. The people
stood in groups about town and listened
to tales OF the witnesses, and everyone
discussed the. tragedy. The atmosphere
was like that of funeral. None spoke
above a low, tone and smile was seldom
seen in the crowd
As new corners arrived they went TO
the scene Of the tragedy, looked at the
blood, examined the poles, boxes windows
and buildings for bullet marks, and then
joined a group Of friends and listened
and talked about the deed Throughout
the day the people continued TO come and
go, stopping to learn the latest news of
the injured and hear a little of the dis
cussions as to the cause Gilbert Twigg
had in shooting so wantonly into crowd.
r.&ny Of whom were his friends OF ac-
qnaintances.
Five of the homes in the city were
draped in crepe early in the morning. and
as the day wore on crepe began TO appear
in windows of stores. and later crepe was
draped on the fronts of stores and bust
ness houses. 1t was d mark of SYM
patby for the bereaved.
SHOT AT MURDERER.
Ned Otis, a young man, clerk in the
Winfield National bank. says that he took
a shot at Gilbert Twigg as he stood at
the edge of the sidewalk near the mouth
Of the alley. 1t is possible that this shot
killed the murderer. instead of Twtgg
shooting himself. as it Is claimed by
many. The Associated Press dispatches
say that Twigg was shot by Officer Mich
OILS, a celored policeman, but yesterday
Nichols denied that he fired a shot.
Young Otis may have killed the murderer,
but circumstances make this seem impos-
sible
Twigg was standing at the mouth OF
the alley, on Ninth street and 40 feet
west of Main. He was firing east. Mr..
Otis stated yesterday that he was stand
ing near the bank entrance when the
shooting began. He ran into the bank
and procured revolver. He went out on
Main street and IA nthrough a store build
ing south of the bank and came out into
the same alley that Twigg was in, but
south of the murderer and across Ninth
street Mr.. Otis shot once, and under or
binary circumstances if the bullet struck
Twigg it should have hit him on the
right side. The bullet-hole in the muir
derer's temple is on the left side, and
Twigg must have turned partially around
in order to have received the bullet from
Otis gun. This may have been the case.
Those who claim that Twigg was killed
by other than his own hand point to the
fact that Twigg was right-haEded and
that he would certainly be placid in a
very awkward position to fire shot into
his temple. There We're. no powdeg burns
on tho head, which shows that either
the bullet came from a considerable dis
lance or that the gun was held so close
to the head that the powder was forced
into the head, without leaving a burn.
This is often the case in suicides. There
was one empty shell in the revolver, a
Smith & Wesson. 39-caliber. The gun is
of good quality, and will shoot hard
enough to force the powder into the head
if held within two or three inches of the
temple. Most of the people of Winfield
believe that Twigg shot himself, after
doing all the destruction posibe and real
izing that he was being hunted by Off
GERS.
Detectives Cal Ferguson, Dick Kruger
and Officer Nichols ran through drug
store half a block north of Ninth street
and came out in the alley after Twigg
fired his last shot and was writing
about on stone coping in the alley. He
fell so that his head was in a pile of old
junk. close to the building. He lived
thirty minutes after the shooting was
over. The officers had their guns drawn,
but none of them shot at the murderer
as they saw him lying in the alley