Cameron County press. [volume] (Emporium, Cameron County, Pa.) 1866-1922, 1906-02-08
BY CAPTAIN PATRICK D. TYRRELL

lCopyriRht. 1905, by Marion G. Scheitlin.l
Her death was followed by a season
of physical and mental suffering on the
part of BOthamley, and this fact was
one of the strongest arguments pro-
duced by the advocates of the suicide
theory 1t was entirely reasonable to
suppose that man of Bothamleys
evident refinement, after deserting his
family under stress of a mad infatua-
ton for the wife of another man,
should suffer a mental wrench at the
death of his inamorata that might un-
balance his mind and drive him to
suicide in the solitude of a frontier
trail This was an easily spun theory,
and one that appealed strongly to the
sentimentaliSts.
Personally. ! did not believe that the
Englishman had sent bullet through
his own brain. l believe the records
of crime will bear me out in tbs gen.
eral conclusiOn--that the man who
fings moral. legal and social obligations
to the winds, as Bothamley had done
when he eloped with Mrs. Miller, is
seldom nodded of such delicate clay
as to blow out his brains when his
companion in sin dies. To follow the
course that B1thamley had followed
in England a man must be essentially
selfish; and selfishaess of this kind
does not bcget self-destruction To my
mind it was more probable that Both
amley had formed another liaisOn than
that he had destroyed himself on ac-
count Of the tragic ending Of the first
Suicide under these circumstances
would have been the natural refuge
Of a woman-nOt of a man.
In additional support of my belief
that Bothamley had been murdered
there were several corrOborative phys
ical circumstances. One of the most
convincing of these was the fact, we'll
established by science that the human
animal instinctively shuns the point
ing of a pistol to the eye when about
to take its own life The bullet had
entered BOthamley's face just under
the right eye Scientists assert that
thcre is not a single record of suicide
by shooting in which the weapon has
been aimed at the eye and they go so
far as to claim that such a course
would be impossible. To press the
muZzle of the weapon against the
forehead or the temple, thus hiding it
from the vision, in common; to point
tho weapon at the eye is unheard Of
Another circumstance going to dis
prove the suicide theory was the find
ing Of the pistol, self-acting Colts
Of 45 caliber, by the side of the body
in such a position that it seemed i'm
possible for it to have fallen there had
the shot been fired by Bothamley him
self. And, further there were no
powder marks, according to Votter and
Dodson, on the mans face when
found.
But the murder. if il was such,
could never be established, and the
guilt Of the murderer proved. with
theories. The case vas under the gen.
eral supervision of United States Dis
trict Attorney j r. Hallowen but the
local authorities had done about all
that lay in their power Col Hallowell
left me to my own devices in the work
that followed merely saying that the
department Of justice very much de-
sired to have the murderer punished.
I hill A'4ll lptl9 MT 10 StN llldl saw
but one promising path to travel. and
that was an investigation of the career
Of the woman whom Bothamley had
introduced as his sister. and with
whom he was making the journey TO
Texas when he met mis- death. From
all / was able 10 learn of the dead
Englishman he was a man who was
more likely to meet his death through
ENHANCEMENT with a woman than az
the hands Of Indians or desperadoes.
hal studied the probabilities Of muir
der at the hands of the last two
agencies aal found them weak There
was no evidence that an averaging
hand had reached across the Atlantic
10 punish Hothamley for the ruin of
two homes. In a laisuu In force AZ
the time Of his death therefore I ex-
pccted 20 find The evidence desired.
At Skeleton ranch there was a post
ONCE presided over by woman From
this source Z vas learned that some