Los Angeles herald., 1907-04-21
Feels Certain Shot Was
Not Fired by
Daughter
Young Woman Had ouarreIed with
Mother and Was Earning Her
Own LIving-Despondent
During Morning


of her forehead and a big bullet lodged
at the base of her brain, the uncon-
scious body of zena Quinn, the pretty
1s-year-old daughter of George W.
Quinn, a merchant. was found lying
on the bed in the front room of flat
at 739 Towne avenue at 4:30 o'clock
yesterday afternoon. Beside the bed on
the floor was a .40-caliber bulldog re-
volver from which the bullet had evil
IDENTIFY been fired. That it is a case
of attempted suicide is probable; that
1t may be an attempt at murder is
possible.
While every indication points to the
suicide theory, the father of the girl
maintains that some hand other than
that of his daughter fired the shot, and
Deputy Constable George Thornberg,
who was the first officer to arrive on
the scene after the discovery of the
inanimate body of the young woman,
is inclined to doubt $he suicide theory
from observation which he made when
he first entered the room.
Girl Was Desperate
Clinging to the suicide theory, it
seems probable that the young woman,
driven desperate first by a slight es-
arrangement with her mother and final
ly by the apparent desertion of her low
er, fired the bullet into her brain.
Six months ago Zena Quinn left the
home of her parents at 4303 Horticul-
tural avenue and went to live with the
family of F. e. White, who then lived
on Tennessee street, near Tenth street
She secured a position as clerk with
the ]. r. Newberry company, grocers
The place was secured for her, 1t is
said by John Grand, the shipping clerk
of the firm, and who is said to have
been her lover and on account of whom
the slight estrangement with her moth
er was brought about.
Miss Quinn remained with the New
berry company until about three
months ago, when she went to work
as clerk in the grocery store of j. P.
Apple, 61S West Tenth street. She
was employed there up to yesterday,
when the rash act was committed On
April the White family moved from
their Tennessee street home to a fiat
at 739 Towne avenue. There was not
room there to accommodate Miss
Quinn and at her request Mr. Apple
found a home for her in his family.
Had Despondent Fits
Until quite recently, according to Mr..
Apple, the young woman was always
bright and cheerful except at rare in
tervals and during the slight fits of
the blues had but little to say. About
two weeks ago, however, in one of
her fits of dependency she told Mrs.
Apple that the reason she left home
was because her mother scolded her
constantly about something which she
thought she had no right to. What
this something was she did not state,
and Mrs. Apple did not press the mat
ter upon her. That there was any seri-
Gus disagreement between the mother
and daughter is denied by the members
of the Quinn family.
Friday night Miss Quinn, who had
been respondent for nearly two days,
left the Apple residence Immediately
after the store was closed at about
dusk. She refused to eat any supper
and she did not come back to the house
until nearly o'clock yesterday morn
ing. She gave no explanation of her
al sence during the night and refused
to eat any breakfast saying that she
did not feel we'll and had a headache.
Brooded During Morning
The girl worked in the store during
the entire morning, waiting on CUSTOM
ers and performing her customary
duties. While engaged in waiting on
customers Miss Quinn laughed and
chatted with them on the ordinary top
at leisure she lapsed into silence and
seemed brooding over some trouble.
She remained in the store alone at
the noon hour while Mr.. and Mrs APP
ple went to their dinner. Shortly be-
fore / o'clock Mr.. Apple returned to
the store and told the girl to go to
her dinner. She stated that she did
not want any dinner; that she had a
severe headache and believed she
would go to a drug store and get some
tablets to relieve her. That was the
last seen of the young woman by her
employer and he did not know what
had become of her until Herald re-
porter informed him of the shooting.
At 2:30 O'Clock, or about one and a
half hours after Miss Quinn left the
Apple store on West Tenth street, Mrs.
H. A. Wyatt, who occupies the upper
fiat at 739 Towne avenue, Immediately
over the fiat occupied by the White
family, heard the sound of a pistol
shot. At the time she did not recognize
the report as that of pistol, nor did
she think ii came from the White fiat
as she knew Mrs White had gone out
for the afternoon. AT 4;3O o'clock Irs.
White returned from a shopping trip
and when she entered her bedroom
found the insensible body of the young
girl stretched on her bed. The face was
blackened and burned and a small pool
of blood had formed on the pillow and
(COntinued on Page FOur)