Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1904-09-06
CHARLOTTESVILLE TRAGEDY.

suddenly terminated the Ii fe OF Mrs. D..
Samuel McCue, of Charlottesville, add
to the mystery which has surrounded it
from the beginning. They differ some
what from the early version. As the
story now stands, it is to the effect that
Mr.. McCue was preparing to retire and
was taking of his shirt when he saw a
man, who he now thinks is white, en-
ter his room, carrying baseball bat be-
hind him. Before he could disengage
himself from his partly removed shirt,
he was Knocked senseless. Just as he
became unconscious he heard his wife
scream. Recovering consciousness he
teephoned to. his brother, Dr. Frank
G. McCue, who lives nearby on the same
street. When the Doctor arrived he
found the ex-Mayor standing halfway
up the stairway, unable TO speak. DIR.
McCue searched the house, finding Mrs.
McCue in the bath tub. The bathroom
was not lighted. The dead woman was
in the tub in her night dress, one leg
thrown over the side of the tub and the
other bent under her body, supporting
it in a STOPPING posture. Water was
running from the spigot In addition
to the horrible gunshot wound in the
breast, which must have caused instant
death, the lady's nose was broken and
there was an ugly bruise on the ear
The assault on the ex-Mayor was made
Just inside Of his bedroom. 1t consisted
of blow delivered across. the right
cheek and temple.
1t is not clear where Mrs. McCue was
when she screamed, but it seems evident
that the fatal shot was fred in the bath
room, by the door of which the gun was
standing when found. This bathroom
is at the end of a hall, 20 feet from the
door of the bedroom entering the hall,
the only way of approach to it.
The above is the account given by
William McCue, the 1s-year-old son of
the murdered woman. His conjecture
is that his mother got the gun, which
was a winchester belonging to his father
and kept by the wardrobe in the bed
room, in which Mr.. McCue was assault
ed, and that the miscreant struck her,
ending his murderous assault by shoot
ing. The motive for the crime is not APP
parent. The murderer is believed to
have concealed himself in the room occu
pied by Mrs. McCue's sister.
Except the three immediate actors in
this drama there was but one person in
the house, colored boy in a room in
the rear. The entrance from this room
to the main partof the house was locked
by Mr.. McCue and was found locked at
close. This boy, l6 years old, states
that after the scream and the shot some
one ran hurriedly down stairs and then
up again. This is all he could tell about
the occurrence.
Mr.. McCue had returned from West
Virginia by way of Washington on a
train arriving at Charlottesville about
6 o'clock Saturday evening. Mrs, Nc
Cue had reached Charlottesville little
earlier from Red Hill, where she was
NC VI bh~
household, save the son, William, were
on a visit 10 relatives in the county.
The coroner's jury empaneled Sunday
night continued its sessions from 1920
Yesterday morning till 6 o'clock yester-
day evening, when an adjournment was
bad till Wednesday morning. The SEES
sions were held behind closed doors and
with 10 jurors sworn to secrecy.
A reward of $500 was offered by citi-
zens for the detection of the criminal and
Governor Montague was asked by wire
to offer an additional reward. Mr.. Nc
Cue posted a notice yesterday offering
81 600 reward for the arrest and con-
viction of his assailant and his wife's
murderer.
The City Council met at noon and
passed resolutions expressing regret and
horror at the tragedy and assuring the
ex-Mayor that they will do all in their
power to help detect the murderer.