Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1908-09-08
Gun IS THE MISSING LINN
Break In Chain Officers Weave
Around Suicide Theory.
DOCTOR sA--5 RUsT1N KILLED SELF
Asserts He SkiIIfuIIy Planned HI,
eIf-DesuructiOn-Ma at the
Stricken Home Tells what
He said to Her.

witnesses who will be called before the
coroner's Jury In the DR.. Frederick Rustin
inquest. which will be held at o'clock
this morning. believe there will be one miss
ing lirk tn the case, now considered of
minor Importance. but the case as a whole
will be settled by the inquest.
Chief Of Police Donahue said:
I'VE have not found the weapon from
which the shot was fired which caused the
death OF DR.. Rustin What is more, We
may not be able to find il. There will be
missing link perhaps, but il must be OF
minor Importance. believe the testimony
at the inquest today win show that Dr.
Rustin had been planning self-destruction
for some time-planning we'll that the
gun used may not be found-at least not
for a long time"
Late last evening the chief had a talk
with Anna Dineen. the maid in the Rustin
home who assisted Mrs. Rustin in bringing
the wounded and dying physician in from
the porch last Wednesday morning. With
apparent frankness, Miss Dineen retold the
story she recited when first questioned.
She gave no new information. except that
she familiar with almost every part
OF the Rustin home, did work in all parts
OF the house and never saw firearms Of
any kind in the home or in the hands OF
DR.. or Mrs. Rustin. She stated positively
that she did not see a revolver on the
porch or in the hands of anyone last
Wednesday morning when called to assist
Mrs. Rustin. All rumors that the maid
would give sensational testimony at the in
quest were squelched by the chief when he
talked with the maid last night.
Told Her n Man shot Him.
Miss Dineen says che will be able to tes-
tfy at the inquest today that DR.. Rustin
told her before he died that a man shot
him. She told this to Chief Donahue, say
ing that while she was assisting Mrs. Rus
tin to bring the physician in from the
porch she did not know what was the mat
ter. She bent over him while Mrs. Rustln
was at the telephone. She will swear that
DR.. Rustin told her in reply to her ques-
! tion as to what was the matter, "A man
! shot me-" precisely the same words which
Mrs. Rustin will say her husband told her
but few minutes before.
An intimate friend Of the Rustin family
said:
II am satisfied that Mrs. Rustin told the
officers Wednesday when they first talked
| with her everything she knows. ] went to
her when some atteflpted to discredit the
suicide theory and told her that IL she
knew a single fact which would go further
| to make suicide certain it would be for the
best and spare needless notoriety IL she
would tell the officers everything Her re-
| ply was that she had told every single
thing"
| At least one Of the physicians who at
/ tended DIR. Rustin is convinced that the
man carefully planned to take his own
! life by a pistol wound, which he knew
would not cause instant death, but would
! be fatal only after he had disposed OF the
I gun and walked to the porch or dragged
himself into his home like a wounded man
shot in the street by robbers.
! Knew How TO Plan 1t.
"Not only is It possible for DIR. Rustin
to have inflicted the wound which caused
his death and disposed OF the gun, but he
| was a man OF such briliancy and cunning
that II he made up his mind to deceive the
world as to the manner of his death he
could and would have prevented powder
| from entering the wound by some means
so as to make it appear the shot was
| fired at a considerable distance" says
! this physician. That man had nerve. He
knew to half an inch where a shot should
be fired 20 prove fatal after a short time,
| perhaps a few hours of even a few days
! The bullet entered parts of the body where
gangrene usually follows and the wound
was almost sure to cause death"