The Oskaloosa herald., 1905-12-07
THE EVANS SHOOTING.



10 a Representative II enc tlefald
Saturday Afternoon AKaes Duke. che
ieyearold sin. held N san npon the
chapee, admitted String The shot
which caused the death ~ Mira lisa.
bel Hughes 81 Evans.
NothinH was Further from the
thoughts Of the girl than the awful
tragedy which followed the thought
ieAs eh0vtlnR. Two shots we're nred
BY the girl az the result o. thought
less banter, and not for half an hour
after the shooting did Agnes Duke
have. the slightest suspicion that she
had caused Mrs. hughes ueAtn.
The girl told her story 20 che repre-
sentative Of the Herald fully and
freely, without the slightest hesita.
ton or subterfuge. The statement
vas made because the girl felt that
she had nothing TO conceal and even
as the story In the telling revealed
the tragedy, II showed nothing except
the natural impulses OF a girl OF her
age, a girl not yet out OF school, and
reflected nothing upon the character
OF Agnes Duke.
THE story told by Harry Walker
to the Herald was substantially cor.
rect TO my belief" said the giro ''and
I know of no statement that | would
like to change. 1t was satisfactorily
correct.
THE shooting occurred like this;
Harry and Agnes Wright and / were
in our parlor playing the plano. 4
stepped out into the restaurant part
and when / returned Agnes had
done something to Harry, and he
said IL she did II again or something
like that he would kill her. II was
all In fun. He showed US the revol.
yer. ! picked II up and said | wasn't
afraid 10 shoot II, and they said L
was and I took the gun and went out
on the porch and fired two shots. 4
didn't look where | fired. didn't
think whether | was shooting into
the air or not. | just turned my
head the other way and pulled the
trigger, twice.
4 didn't know that you could shoot
as good as that, Harry laughed,
when | went into the house. had
never had a revolver, and | had never
shot a revolver or any other gun be-
fore. ! didn't know how II was to
shoot a revolver.
1T was a long time before | knew
what had happened. We saw some
people running and | asked them what
was the matter, and they told me
that a woman was sick up there. Az.
ter awhile Mrs. Stratton came along
and I asked her what was the matter.
She told mo that the woman was shot
and then I knew that II must have
been me that shot her"
All through the statement Of the
girl a a note OF deep sorrow at the
awful consequence OF her t~houghtless
act. Agnes Duke feels deeply the
consequence OF her thoughtless act,
her inoxperlence. Inc girl IL but q
school girl. She was sixteen years
old last spring, and was in school in.
III this year when because Mrs. Duke
went to Kentucky, she was kept at
home to look after the house. She
would have entered oskaloosa nigh
school this year.
Miss Duke explained her refusal TO
make any statement after the denial
made by her at the time Of the shoot
ing. The girl, learning that she
might be criminally liable for the
death OF Mrs. Hughes, was greatly
frightened by those VINO told her, and
denied the shooting. Later she WAS
advised by her attorneys TO maintain
silence. and not until this time was
she allowed by her attorneys TO af-
firm or deny the statements made by
Harry Walker.