The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1907-02-06

Thaw was married to the eldest son
took place ut the brides home in Pitt
the wedding at home rather than amen
other case, dentist who maintained
an office in Fifth avenue and who had
an exclusive and remunerative pat
ronage. is a prisoner charged with
murder. AS in the great tragedy
wherein Thaw was the principal actor,
revenge was the moving spirit in these
two crimes. In one Of them it was
UNNECESSARILY more cunning than in
the Madison Square roof garden trag-
edy which set half the world afiame
with sensation; in the other it seems
UNNECESSARILY more cruel and more
pitiful. When DR.. C. W. Townsend
was struck down by an assassin's bull
let in his beautiful home at New
Brighton, Staten Island, as he lay in
bed beside his wife, the vow of sor-
row riven, broken hearted husband
which had been made exactly a year
before, had been fulfilled. 1t was the
hand of John Bell, whose only great
capacity appears to have been to love
his wife and to hate the man whom
he believed to have been responsible
for her death. The Bells had lived
on Staten Island. and when the young
wife was stricken with dangerous
illness Bell sought and obtained the
most skillful medical and surgical aid
in an attempt to preserve her life.
To the skillful hand of DR.. Townsend
fell the task of performing the oper-
alton which alone meant life or death.
1t failed and in the early morning
hours of Jan. 26, 1906 the spark of
life flickered and went out With it
went the hopes and fears of John Bell.
The surgeon had "bungled," he de-
clared, and would have vengeance.
Then he would snuff out his own life
and in the land beyond join the wo-
man who had been everything worth
living to him. Ho wcarefully, cum
ningly, cruelty he schemed to put his
awful plan into effect is only now be-
ing slowly developed. Even this
might never have been known, how.
ever, had not his nerve failed him at
the last moment. He dared not fulfill
that part of his plan which called for
self-sacrifice, and as result he now
occupies cell and will have to face
a jury and answer to the charge of
murder. In the year since his wife's
death, Bell has been a wanderer. He
has visited scores of cities but re-
turned to his home in time to carry
out the VOW which he had made over
the body>of his wife. On the evening
of Jan. Is he wrote half a score of
letters to relatives and close friends
in which they were informed that "the
time has come" Beyond this he said
nothing but to bid them farewell and
to ask their prayers that his "act be
justified" Then he took two revol-
vers which had been carefully kept
apparently for the work at hand,
crossed the bay to Staten Island, and
then waited for hours for the time to
act. And the time he chose was that
early morning hour exactly year,
almost to minute, after his wife had
died. Gaining entrance to the home
Of his enemy" more than an hour be-
fore the exact time, he roamed around
from room to room until the clock
pointed to the chosen time. Then
entering the room where the doctor
and his wife were sleeping, his re-
volver ready in his hand, he directed
his victim to arise. "Take anything
you want" said the doctor to the sup.
posed burglar, "but spare my family"
II didn't come to steal; It's you l
want" the man replied. Then, taking
careful aim he fired across the body
of the Doctors wife lying beside him
in bed. The bullet reached it mark,
but to make doubly sure another was
sent along and then the intruder
turned and fled. When the wife
sprang from bed to give the alarm
she found that the telephone wires
had been cut and It was half an hour
before help could be summoned to
the house. The wife, physician and