Omaha daily bee., 1905-07-28
ETHERTONs STRIKE WRONG PARTY
Assault Woman and Are Shot by Her
Husband.


Husband.
Tom Etherton, horse trader, is lying at
the Council Bluffs General hospital with
bullet from a repeating rife in his body
near the groin, while Dave Etherton, his
brother, Is in hiding somewhere with bull
let wound in his right ankle. They were
shot yesterday afternoon by Charles Bor-
ner, residing on First avenue. near Thirty
ninth street, whose wife, 1t is charged, was
viciousIy assaulted by the Ethertons. Emma
Etherton. wife Of Dave Etherton; May
Coffin and Maggie Faith. who were with
the Ethertons, are in the city jail. being
held on charges of lewdness. Borner was
released on his own recognizance.
There are several accounts OF the trouble
which led to the shooting. but the police
are inclined to believe that the one told by
Mrs. Borner is the correct one. Mrs. Bor-
ner says that the Ethertons, with a COW
cred wagon. in which the three women
were riding stopped in front Of her house
and made preparations as n to camp in
| field which she and her husband own. She
told them that they could not stop there,
as she owned the land. The whole outfit,
she says, then abused and ended by as
sauting her. the two men knocking her
unconscious with brickbats.
Borner, who was working on a house
| itdiD9G Ndiu6 NOME ana Is SalQ TO nave
found his wife lying unconscious in the
weeds near their house. When he had re-
vived her she told him OF the assault and
that the people who had assaulted her had
driven west toward the motor bridge. Sc
| curing his rifle Boriler FASTENED In pursuit
and overlook the OUTFIT at the approach to
| the bridge. When Borner came up with
| the Ethertons they proceeded TO attack him
and attempted to take the rifle from him.
| During the struggle the rife was discharged
| and Dave Etherton was shot in the ankle.
| Despite his wound he closed In on Borner
and in the struggle the rife was again dis
charged, the bullet this time striking Tom
Etherton' who was rendered hors de COM
bat.
Several persons. attracted by the shoot
Ing, rushed to the scene and prevented
Borner from doing any more shooting.
The police were telephoned for. but be-
fore the officers could reach the place
Dave Etherton succeeded in making his
escape. 1t was said that he boarded a
passing hauling wagon and rode across
the bridge to Omaha
Tom Etherton was taken with the women
to the city jail, but later removed to the
hospital where the bullet was probed for
but without success. The X-rays will be
used today in an effort to locate the mis-
sile.
Another version of the ARRAY was that
the Ethertons entered the Borner house
and were in the act Of stealing some car.
penter tools when discovered by Mrs. Bor.
ner, who was knocked unconscious by one
of the men with a hammer which they
had stolen.
The Ethertons are well known to the
police and have a most unsavoFy reputa
ton About year ago Dave Ethertor
was brought back to this city from Elmer
son on charge Of KIDNAPPING the woman
, May CONN. The charge however, fell fat
, as It was proven that the woman left Cot
, fin, the man she was living with, on he
free WILL It developed that CONN an,
the woman were not married. but the twt
In order to avoid prosecution decided e
! have the ceremony performed. and the!
{ were married at the city jail. shortl,
after the marriage the woman again lef
Comm and rejoined Etherton. despite tn
fact that EtheFton already had a wife.
Maggie Faith. the third woman unde
/ arrest, belongs in Fremont Neb and tn
police records show that a short time az
n a reward was offered for the arrest o
Dave Etherton on the charge OF abductin
0 the girl who was under age. The polio
! were informed last evening that this charg
had been withdrawn and that the Fremon
authorities no longer wanted Etherton.
o Tom Etherton was arrested In this cit
last winter. charged with assaulting a
!; old man named Brown. in the western par
a OF the city. He served thirty days in IN
q county Jail for the assault Dave Ether
z ton was charged with completely in tn
: assault but eluded the oficers. While IN
men are ostensibly horse traders, II
charged that they travel around the eoun
/ try with the women In a covered WACO
for immoral purposes