The Billings gazette. [volume] (Billings, Mont.) 1896-1919, 1904-03-04

William d. Schwink shot and almost
instantly killed and a woman who
posed as his wife stricken by bullet
from the same revolver and picked
up in supposedly dying condition
was the sum of the murderous work
OF John White when he walked down
stairs of the lodging house at the
southeast corner of Minnesota avenue
and Twenty-eighth street at about
12:4O o'clock yesterday afternoon.
While there were no actual wit.
nesses to the occurrence, several ap-
peared almost instantly afterward and
before White had time to leave the
building. The first of these, Edward
Kelley, arrived while White was still
standing over one of his victims, with
pistol in hand. To the fact that the
weapon no longer contained any car.
tridges is Kelly indebted that he, too.
was not killed, for the maniacal mur-
derer deliberately aimed at him and
snapped the empty revolver within
few feet of his body.
No Apparent Cause.
AS before stated, no one witnessed
the shooting, but from the incidents
Immediately following and the gen.
eral appearance of the place the
manner in which it was done was
easily deductable. AS there was no
apparent cause for the deed, all who
saw the perpetrator and heard his
story arrived at the conclusion that
it was the act of an insane man, one
affected with homocidal mania.
White occupied room No. 5, olagon-
ally across the narrow hall separat-
ing No. 4, the one in which Schwink
and the woman were. His first at
tempt to kill them was made by shoot
ing through the door of their room.
He had evidently heard them speak
ing and approaching the door fired
two shots through one of the panels.
The presence of a couple of bullet
holes and the marks of powder plain |
ly indicate this.
Woman's Close Call.
The woman seemingly was seated |
at small table directly across from and !
in line with the door. A chair stand.
ing on the north side of the table |
and a partially eaten sandwich would |
indicate that she was eating a lunch |
when the shots were fired. The bull
lets passed on either side of the west !
leg of the table and imbedded them
selves in the wall, passing by the I
woman without doing any harm.
Run from the Room.
The shooting frightened the couple
and they sought to make their es.
cape. Schwink, who was dressed
only i'm his undershirt, probably had
not yet got out of bed, but at the
sound of the shots ran for the door
and turned to his left, south, facing
door at the end Of the hall which
opens onto platform whence flight
of stairs leads to the ground. The
woman ran in the opposite direction
q few feet and then turned and sought
safety by attempting to run down the
stairs leading from the front, with
one door opening into the street and
the other into the saloon on the lower
floor.
White had evidently stepped back
into the door of his own room and
as he saw the two began to shoot at
them. He hit both. Just where
Schwink was struck could not be
seen, but he was found lying almost
against the door through which he at
empted to seek safety. He seems to
lave been the first one nj, for the
woman had reached the head of the ,
stairs toward which she was fleeing ,
before she fell. !
When Kelly arrived he found her ,
lie first two steps. He caught her ,
with the lower part of the body on {
n time to prevent her from falling {