The Morris County chronicle. [volume] (Morristown, N.J.) 1877-1915, 1905-09-19
BURGLAR SHOOTS VICTIM
Mrs. W. {. Morrell Attacked in Her
House at Greenwich, Conn.
Bullet Enters Her Jaw-Nurse knocked
ON the Head--suspocted Man
Arrested Later.

Greenwich, Gonna masked man,
probably a burglar, broke into the
house of Mrs Antoinette Morrell. the
daughter of Edmund c. Converse,
early in the morning, knocked out a
nurse maid with the butt of a pistol,
and shot Mrs. Morrell in the jaw,
disfiguring her for life.
Within an hour John Brown. a hos
tier, who has been making love to the
Morrell cook was arrested, charged
with the crime. The local police be-
gan looking for another man who was
supposed to be in on the job.
Edmund, c. Converse owns a big
country estate at Stanwich. few
miles from Greenwich. His daughter
Mrs. Morrell, who has been separated
from her husband for a year and a
half, has been living in a house on his
estate. OF late Mr.. Converse has been
altering his mansion. He closed it,
went to live in Mrs. Morrelrs house.
and rented for her the Anderson farm
house, on the Boston road. lust over
the Cos Cob line from Greenwich.
This is a large, old fashioned place.
SSb D&ANh Ii O1u lut lOfAQ anu III Rather Il
lonely situation. Mrs. Morrell lived
there with Mrs. Plaisted, a companion.
and four female servants. A gardener
and coachman lived in the barn,
little apart from the house
There were no men in the house at
night
Isabelle Burns, a family servant,
was reused by the sound of some in
her room working at the fastening of
her window, which opens on the roof
of a back piazza. Surprising some
thing was the matter with the children
she sat upright and saw man fumb-
ling 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 a revolver. She raised her
hands to defend her head, when he
struck her again, breaking one of her
fingers. Then he turned and started
Gown the hall toward the staircase.
PandemoniCm broke loose in the.
house Mrs Plaisted, who slept on the
second floor, toward the front of the
house, was the first out of her room.
AS Mrs. Plaisted, running by instinct
toward the children's room, popped her
head above the stairs she almost ran
into the burglar He fred straight at
her.
1t was complete miss, but she fell
on her face from the fright of it. Just
back Of her, and cutting off approach
from the staircase, came Mrs. Morrell
The burglar raised his gun and fired
straight into her face. He was so
close that the powder marked her
jaw. She fell, and as she fell he gave
her the butt of the pistol on the head
The burglar hurdled over her, ran
down the staircase, through the house,
and banged out of the kitchen door,
The maids, who slept in the back part
of the house, say they heard voice
saying: Quick! Beat it" and the
sound of buggy wheels.
Mrs. Morrell was lying in the dim
light of the hail. bleeding terribly.
Miss Burns, the nurse, had the fore
thought to get to the telephone and
call up Deputy Sheriff Ritch, who rep
resents the police force of Greenwich
and Cos Cob, and doctor.
Ritch, realizing that the burglar
would try to get out of the region as
quickly as he could. telephoned to Off
GERS along the line of the New York,
New Haven and Hartford for three
or four stations mp and down, telling
them to get to the railroad and arrest
any early morning passenger whose
clothes were wet. T. was raining heav-
lily at the time. He sent Jack Dreamer,
his deputy, to hold down the Green
witch station.
At 4.20 small, inoffensive and very
wet man plodded through the dark and
wet to the station and sat down on
bench, as though waiting for the early
train. Dreamer looked him over, drew
his gun and put him under arrest. He
was taken to the town jail, protesting
loudly. Thee police searched him and
found two suspicious facts. The first
was that he was drenched to the sus-
penders. He had been travelling with
out regard to the rain. The second was
that he carried on his person letter
from Kate Tierney, the Morrell cook.
1t was not an discriminating document,
simply love letter with little gossip.
but it established at once his connec-
ton with the Morrell home. He gave
his name as John Brown, hostler, and
that was the name on the love letter.