Albuquerque citizen. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1907-1909, 1907-11-07
HE SAYS HIS Wife
FIRED ALL SHOTS
Charge of Murder Against Bride
groom. Who Is Accused of Stay
Young Bride---They Had
Agreed to Die
Together.

Liberty Mo, Nov. "A murder
trial in which the defense Is the al
legged existence of a suicide pact be-
gan here today with the selection of
panel of forty men from which to
select thS jury which shall hear the
evidence against Jesse b. Webb.
Webb is accused of having killed hls
wife in a hotel in Smithville, Mo-.
October IL, 1906. His defense Is
that he and his wife agreed to die
together and that she fired the shots
which ended her life and wounded
him
The case was called yesterday, and
Webb asked for continuance. This
was refused, and the case set for
trial today. Several of the men who
were called as jurors were excused
on the ground that they had formed
attorneys are NJ. e. Lawson, w. j.
Courtney and Benjamin Reed. w.
"A. Craven, the prosecuting attorney
of Clay county. is assisted by j. w.
Stokes of Craig, Mo.
Story of the Crime.
Webb was an attendant in the hos
pital for the insane In st. Joseph. He
year and a half ago Inez Walkup,
10 years old and unusually pretty,
left the home of her father, l.. IL.
Walkup of Fairfax. Mo-, TO visit her
sister, Mrs. b. G. Robinson. i'm st.
Joseph. Webb and Miss Walknp met
each other. They were married two
weeks before the tragedy.
Webb's health was poor. Doctors
told him he had consumption and
advised him to try a change of eli
mate. The young man and his bride
decided to go to Hot Springs. Ark
They took a Grand Island train for
Kansas City, but Webb became so
i'll on the train that ii was necessary
for them to get off at Smithville.
Webb's condition was regarded as
critical. He could not leave his room
in the hotel. 1t was believed that he
could not live long. The young bride
was heart-broken at the thought OF
so sudden a termination of her hap
piness
in the loneliness of their room
with only strangers about them, they
broached the subject of death. For
several days they talked the matter
over. Death together was better
than separation was the decision OF
the young wife. Suicide was the So
luton, they decided,
Webb Too Nervous to Shoot.
Preparations were made for death
1t was decided that shooting afford
ed the surest way. A revolver was
secured Webb was to fire the IA
tai shots. Farewells were said, and
they composed themselves to die
But the shots were not fired. Ac-
cording to Webb's story, he told his
bride he was too nervous to pull
the trigger She, more composed
than he in the face of death, agreed
says Webb, to shoot him first and
then end her own life.
Everyone in the hotel heard the
shots, fired in rapid succession. Mrs
Webb was wounded four times, three
times near the heart and once II
the head. Webb had only one wound
That was in the chest
Wife Dead, Husband Unconscious
When the hotel servants and
guests rushed into the room the wife
was dead The husband was un-
conscious and apparently dying
When Webb recovered consciousness
he told the story as 1t has been Civ
mitted to die and join his bride
Physicians said he would quickly
gain his wish. Instead he slowly re-
covered.
Before he was able to be about a
warrant was served on him chargine
him with the murder of his wife
The basis for the charge was thai
he, and not Mrs. Webb, fired the
shots. Some of the physicians said
that all of Mrs. Webbs wounds could
not have been self-inflicted. The
husband was released on $500
bond signed by his brother, w l.
Webb, a merchant of Edgerton, Mo
When Webb was here last winter
condition. His appearance today was
much changed. He is thinner, and
he appears to be far from we'll