Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1905-07-06
" 0 MAN ARRESTED.
MRS. MAY MERRITT CHARGED
WITH SHOOTING FRED ROOTS
YESTERDAY.
Alleged That Shooting ARRAY Fol-
lowed Drunken Quarrel Colored
Man Was Boarder at the Merritt
Home-PreIiminary Hearing.

Following a drunken quarrel, Mrs.
May Merritt, white woman is alleged
to have shot and probably fatally in
jured Fred Roots, one of her colored
boarders at her home, 1907 Hayne
street, yesterday afternoon and is now
being held in jail on the charge Of as
sault with intent to commit murder.
Roots is at the Ottumwa hospital with
an ugly shot gun wound in the head,
and the physicians say there is little
hope for his recovery.
Considerable mystery surrounds the
affair as the police have as yet been
unable to find anyone who will admit
that they witnessed the shooting, but
slowly circumstantial evidence is be-
ing accumulated which 1t is believed
will prove the woman to be the one
who fired the shot.
In the little home Of James Merritt
yesterday party Of friends were eel.
ebrating the Fourth. A key of beer
| was on tap and they were having a
merry time. About 2 o'clock the re
port reached the police station that a
man had been shot and Chief of Pc
lice F. w. Eckers accompanied by a
Courier representative at once went
to the place.
In the yard just outside the kitchen
door at the rear of the house lay Fred
Roots, unconscious and bleeding pro
fusely from wound in the head. His
head rested in the lap of Mrs. Merritt
who was bathing the wound with wa
ter.
| Says Shooting Was Accident.
| The woman was crying and seemed
almost crazed with grief. She said:
Fired took the gun and said that he
was going to kill a dog which had
been bothering the tame rabbits. He
set the gun down against the porch
and suppose he did not know it was
loaded and accidentally shot himself
| do not know how it happened. After
he took the gun went back into the
house. / heard the shot and ran Out
in the yard and when I saw him lying
here did not know what / was doing
! and took the gun back in the house
We had not had any words at all anc
were the best of friends"
| Woman Is Accused.
1t was after seeing the nature of the
wound and hearing the story of some
of the neighbors that Chief Eckers de
cided to place the woman under ar
rest until he could make complete
investigation of the affair. Roots wal
shot on the right side of the heat
above the ear, the wound being abou
three inches long and two inches
i wide. Portions Of the skull wer,
Z found lying on the ground. 1t woult
u have been impossible for Roots t,
!, have shot himself with the shotgun
, and inflicted such wound withou
taking the trouble to have rugged III
some sort Of continuance for holdin,
the gun and pulling the trigger an,
the physicians say that it was hardl
possible for the gun to have fallel
from standing position and inflic
, such a wound
Boy Gave Alarm.
i w. G. Krieger, who resides at 100
Hayne street, stated that he was Il
the yard at his home repairing som
machinery and saw Roots walking fron
the rear of the lot toward the house
He said that Roots had just passed GU
of sight behind the summer kitche
when he heard the shot and that tn
colored man would not have had tim
to have gone into the house and take
the gun end set it against the porch
Just after the shot was fired, Alv
Shelley, young boy who lives mex
door to the Merritts and who was pla!
ing in the back yard, came runnin
to Krieger's place crying, Mrs. Me-
rift has shot Fred Roots" 1t was M
! Krieger who telephoned for the polio
and for the doctors.
A colored woman who resides at Ke
and who was spending the day at tn
Merritt home, ran to the house Of Rol
ert g. Merritt on South Vine stree
and is said to have told them that Mr.
Merritt red shot Fred and for them
leone ct once. The colored woma