Milford chronicle., 1903-03-13
Hurled NTO ETERNITY
A. R. Pennell Killed and Wife Seri-
Ously Injured at Buffalo.
AUTO PLUNGED INTO DEEP ABYSS

Mr.. Pennell Was One Of the Chief Fig
F.! ures In the Investigation Of the Bur
dick Murder Mystery-Not Known
How Accident Happened.
Buffalo, N. Y, March 11.-More ter
rible almost than the death of E. L.
Burdick was the tragedy that occurred
late yesterday afternoon, when Arthur
r. Pennell, one of the chief figures in
the investigation of the Burdick muir
der, was hurled headlong into eternity.
Mr Pennell was riding in his electric
automobile with Mrs. Pennell. They
were on KensingtOn avenue, near Fill
more avenue, slimming along the
edge OF the Genres stone quarry, a
huge ribbed hole in the ground. Mr..
Pennel's hat blew off. The autOmO-
bile swerved, and in some ineXplicable
manner it leaped over the curb into
the abyss below. Mr.. Pennell was
killed instantly his head being crush
ed to an unrecognizable mass. Mrs.
Pennell was injured so severely that
the surgeons at the Sisters Hospital,
to which she was taken. say her
chances OF recovery are very slight.
Two boys saw the tragedy They
were too far away to know positively
just how it happened. Mrs. Pennell
when found was unable to speak. She
was only semi-consciOus when taken
to the hospital, and could speak no
coherent words. After the operations
performed Immediately by DR.. Eugene
Smith, in the hope of saving her life,
she lapsed into Inconsistencies, and
hence there can be no true version Of
precisely how the affair occurred.
Mr. PenneB left his Office in the
Austin building at 4.05 o'clock yester-
day afternoon. A friend who called
up Mr.. Pennell on the telephone was
informed that Mr.. Pennell was in. but
that he was just going for a drive. Mr..
Pennell himself answered the tele-
phone and said that he would be back
between $50 and z O'clock making an
appointment with his friend for that
hour
"Would o'clock do?" he was asked.
"Oh, well, you might come at
O'Clock, but you better make it later,
said Mr.. Pennell.
1t was learned last night that the
matter mentioned in the telephone talk
was something he considered most
serious, and which weighed heavily
upon him. It was in connection with
the Burdick murder.
Recently Mr. Pennell made the fol-
lowing statement: About this case of
Burdick l have told the authorities
l went away to New York before the
murder, and that met Mrs. Burdick
while ! was away. In fact l saw Mrs.
Burdick near New York two or three
days before the murder of Mr.. Bur
dick. | came home again Wednesday,
the day before the murder. l have
told it frankly, and the meeting was a
proper one. But they seem determined
to drag all this business out in the
papers. would do anything to
stop it,"
Pennell and his wife left their home
at 4 so o'clock or one or two minutes
before that time. 1t was a gloomy
afternoon and rain was falling. 1t
seemed a strange day for a man to
take his wife out automobiling in the /
lonely northeast section of the city, /.
at such an hour.
Pennell was not a veteran at auto
mobiling Yet he was an expert at .
handling the machine and was expert /
enced as to its management. So far .
as could be learned, he never had any .
accidents Certainly he was not re
garded as a green or incompetent .
chaffeur. What was unusual about .
yesterdays proceeding, according to .
the maid, was that Mrs. Pennell had .
always before told her when they .
would return. Yesterday, however" /
said the girl. when they went out it
was Mr.. Pennell who told me- Mrs.
Pennell went on ahead of him, and
he came back and called me and said:
Lizzie, we will be back between $50 .
and Z o'clock l said All right and
they went away. That was between
4.4O and 4.5O o'clock, just after Mr..
Pennell had talked over the tele-
phone"