The sun., 1905-09-13
BURGLAR SHOT MRS. MORRELL
DAUGHTER or EDMUND G. CON-
VERSE DISFIGURED FOR LIFE.

Bullet Fired Into Her Face From So Near
That Powder Marked Her Skin-Jaw
shattered-Nurse Knocked on the Head
Lover OF Cook ID Under Arrest.
GREENWICH, Conn; Sept. IA masked
man, probably burglar. broke into the
house OF Mrs. Antonette Morrell, the
dau ghter OF Edmund G. Converse, early
this morning. knocked out nurse maid
with the butt Of a pistol and shot Mrs.
Morrell In the jaw, dsfguring her for iife
Within an hour John Brown, a hostler,
who has been making love to the Morrell
cook, was arrested, charged with the crime.
The local police are looking for another
man who was supposed to be In on the
job.
Edmund c. Converse owns big country
estate at Sandwich, a few miles from
Greenwich. His daughter, Mrs. Morrell,
who has been separated from her husband
for year and half, has been living In q
house on his estate. or late Mr.. Converse
has been altering his mansion. He closed
it, went to live in Mrs. Morrell's house, and
rented for her the Anderson farmhouse,
on the Boston road, just over the Cos Cob
line from Greenwich.
This is large old fashioned place, set
back from the road and in rather a lonely
situation. Mrs. Morrell lived there with
Mrs. Plaisted, a companion, and four female
servants. A gardener and a coachman
lived in the barn, little apart from the
house. There were no men In the house
at night.
Monday night one Of Mrs. Morrell's
two baby boys was Ill. These children slept
with Isabelle Eurns, nurse, In the rear
room OF the second story The child kept
his nurse awake until midnight. Then
he became quiet and she lay down for .
wink Of sleep. but with one ear open in case
the boy should wake and cry.
She was reused by the sound Of some one
in her room working at the fastening Of
her window, which opens on the roof Of
back piazza. Supposing something was
the matter with the children she sat up
right and saw man fumbling with the
catch.
Miss Burns screamed at the top Of her
voice. The man whirled, flashed in her
face little electric searchlight, and cracked
her over the head with the butt Of re-
volver She raised her hands to defend
her head. when he struck again, breaking
one Of her fingers. Then he turned and
started down the hall toward the staircase
Miss Burns had presence Of mind enough to
throw up the window and yell for help.
Pandemonium broke loose In the house.
Mrs. Plaisted, who slept on thesecond floor,
toward the front Of the house, was the first
out OF her room. There is little drop In
the hall by the landing Of the staircase; one
must go down three steps and up three
more before reaching the back hall. As
Mrs. Plaisted. running by insti net toward
the childrens' room, popped her head
above the stairs she almost ran into tho
burglar. He fired straight at her.
It was complete miss, but she fell on
her face from the fright Of it. just back
Of her, and cutting of approach from the
staircase, came Mrs. Morrell. The burglar
raised his gun and fired straight into her
face He was 80 close that the powder
marked her jaw. She fell, and as she fell
he gave her the butt Of the pistol on the
head. Even then she was not knocked
senseless but she had the presence Of mind
to play dead. The burglar hurdled over
her, ran down the staircase through this
house, and banged out of the kitchen door.
The maids who slept in the back part Of ths
house say they heard voice saying
"Quickl Beat it, and the sound Of buggy
wheels.
Mrs. Morrell was lying in the dim light
Of the hall. bleeding terribly. Miss Burns,
the nurse, had the forethought to get to
the telephone and call up Deputy Sheriff
Ritch, who represents the police force OF
Greenwich and Cos Cob. She told him q
connected tale, after which she got doctor
on the wire and then tainted.
Ritch, realizing that the burglar would
try TO get out Of the region as quickly as
he could, telephonod to officers along the
line Of the New York, New Haven and Hart
ford for three or four stations UP and dowr!
telling them to get to the railroad and arres,
any early morning passenger whose clothes
were wet. 1t was raining heavily at the
time, and Ritoh figured that the burglar,
buggy or no buggy, must have got wct.
He sent Jack Creamer, his deputy. to hold
down the Greenwich station. This was
about O'Clock in the morning.
At APO a small, inoffensive and very wet
man plodded through the dark and wet
to the station and sat down on a bench,
as though waiting for the curly train.
Creamer looked him over, drew his gun.
and put him under arrest He was taken
to the town Jail, protesting loudly. Tho
police searched him and found two suspi-
cious facts. The first WAS that he was
drenCneQ 10 tne SuSpenOeTS. nc ndQ peeu
travelling without regard to tho rain. The
second was that he carried on his person Q
letter from Kate Tierney, the Morrell cook.
1t was not an incriminating document,
simply love letter with little gossip,
but it established at once his connection
with the Morrell home. He gave his name
as John Brown. a hostler, and that was the
name on the love letter.
He spun a thin yarn. He said he had
left New York on the 9:29 train TO see his
girl" but had noticed upon arriving at
Greenwich that it was a quarter 10 IL, which
made it too late to call. So he had hung
around in the wet all night, waiting for an
early train, 1t happened, however, that on
Monday night there was a tieup on the
line, so that the 9:29 train didn't get In
until after midnight; and, further, he had
$l2 in his pockets, so that there was no
need of his staying out in the rain all night
He was locked up.
Up at the Morrell house In the mean
time Deputy Ritch was learning things
that tended to classify this as plain burg