Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-06-12
KILLED HIS GUEST
Old Naylor Mansion Scene Of
Homicide.
S e O T G UN Us E D
ALLEGED MURDERER ATTEMPTED
TO MAKE HIS ESCAPE.
Party Of Four Said to Have Imbibed
Freely Of Beer and Some Be-
came Quarrelsome.
S Il O T. UN US E D


some distance back of Overlook Inn was
the scene Of homicide yesterday afternoon
about 3 o'clock. William Pruitt. timer.
who occupied the mansion, shot and fatally
wounded William Steele, guest, and was
arrested by Policeman Mccormick an hour
later. His victim, who received a load of
shot in his stomach. and whose right hand
was almost shot off, died at lie Washing
ton Asylum Hospital this morning about
o'clock Coroner hewitt made a partial in
vestigation of the affair and decided to hold
an inquest at the morgue at II o'clock to-
morrow morning.
Steele accepted Pruitt's invitation to visit
him yesterday afternoon and indulge in
some liquid refreshments. A neighbor of
Steele's named Chiseltine was also invited
and was there at the time Pruitt used his
shotgun to take the life of Steele. mir. and
Mrs. Pruitt. their son and the two guests
composed the party. When the police
reached the house they found what was
left Of big key Of beer. About 100 yards
scious form of Steele lying in the bushes.
while Mrs. Pruitt, her son an Chiseltine
were about the house.
Nobody was found who seemed to know
or would tell where Pruitt had gone, and
the police feared they would have some
trouble in locating him. Sergeant Ander-
son. who had conducted a successful pur-
suit In shooting case only few days ago,
was upon the scene in short time. He
had just reached the Anacostia station
when word was received that a man had
been killed in the woods on the Naylor
tate Mounting his thoroughbred, he went
OF In the direction of the scene of the
shooting as fast as the animal could carry
him, and all the men at his command were
summoned and sent in various directions.
The sergeant also enlisted the services of
number of persons who were about the
woods and made an offer of a reward of
short
time he had nearly hundred persons en-
gagged in the pursuit. So dense was the
underground that the horses were unable
to make their way through the woods in
places, and the intense heat made 1t diff
cult for the footmen to stick to the work.
Finally Policeman Mccormick came upon
him in clump of bushes on the top of a
gravel bank about 100 yards from the house.
of the gravel bank about the time the
slayer Of Steele was found and assisted in
escorting the prisoner to the house, where
he was placed in the patrol wagon.
Used Much Of the Beer.
When the man had been arrested Sergt
Anderson spent some time making an in
vestigation of the affair. He found that
all the persons who had been at the house
during the afternoon had patronized the
contents Of the beer key, and said they
showed the effects of what they had taken.
HE kicked up a disturbance in the
house" was the explanation Of the shoot
ing as given to the sergeant.
Several statements were made as to the
origin of the trouble, but the sergeant was
unable to learn anything definite from
those who were at the house. This morn
ing when Pruitt reached police headquar
tiers to be measured and photographed he
told Sergt. Anderson that the trouble dated
back to the time that he lived In Mary
yop
he said. Steele and others came upon his
place cunning and he had trouble with
them Yesterday, he stated, Steele recalled
that affair and he went upstairs and got
his gun. When he reached the foot of the
stairs Steele grabbed the muzzle of the
gun and was holding it when he PruitU
pulled the trigger.
Pruftt went to the woods to hide, and the
wounded man started to make his way to
the road, where he could get assistance.
The latter lost so much blood and was so
greatly weakened, however, that he soon
fell and was unable to get up. Mrs. Pruitt
made her way to the road near Twining
City to summon assistance for the wound
ed man. She found a pedestrian, who COM
the information to Policeman
Raedy, and it was in this way that the
police learned of the shooting. The patrol
wagon was sent to convey the wounded
man to the hospital and the police lost no
time In getting at work upon the case.
When Pruitt was found he was consider
ably under the influence of the beer in
which he had INDUCED, and was really not
able to give clear account of what had
happened. He is a timer by occupation
and has been in the habit of doing odd jobs
about the city. The police say they found
every evidence of poverty about the old
in which the best people of the
city were entertained many years ago.
1.-The key of beer" remarked one of the
policemen, "cost more than everything we
saw in the house"
The kitchen table had been overturned,
as II there had been a struggle of some
kind In the room On the floor the police
saw a piece of fat meat and some bread,
the only articles of food found in the house.
The dead man was forty-two years old
and leaves a widow and one child They
live on the farm of James E. Thompson, in
Prince George county. Steele was employ
ed in the navy yard. Today the body OF
the victim was removed from the hospital
to the morgue and will be held until 1t has
been viewed by the coroners jury tomor-
row. No arrangements for the funeral
have yet been made