Waterbury evening Democrat., 1908-05-20

- ory-Nlurdered Man Was Millionaire Drug E'ealer. New York, May 20.- Desperate be-
 cause he could not dissuade his father from marrying a woman thirty years I his junior, George E. Sterry, Jr., shot | the old man while the latter was sit. l ting at h's desk in 79 Pine street and l then sent bullet into his own brain. 1 So true was the aim of the younger l Sterry that both men died in their l chairs almost instantly George +. | Sterry, Sr., was president of Weaver X Sterfy, Limited, large drug import l ing company, and was rated by mer-
 chants at S2,000,00O. He was director | of several other corporations, was q I member of the American Tract society l and director of the Princeton Theo- l logical seminary. The son who did the
 shooting was secretary of his fathers
 company and occupied offices with him ! on the second floor of the Pine street
 building. It is believed that he was i mentally unsound.
 1 No one was in the elder Sterry's Of ! flee when he was murdered, but a half
 dozen members of the firm and en- | ployees heard the two shots. All were terrified and did not dare to approach ] the door, of the office for several mo-
 ments. When finally an employee peep oI 1ob ha erIa ha fo { ther and son motionless in their chairs three feet apart.
 Withstood Sons Objections. The woman who came into the old
 mans life and innocently caused the tragedy was Miss Rachel E. Blaikie, schoolteacher, of East Orange, N. J.,
 Despite the opposition of his four sons
 the elder Blaikie paid court to the teacher, and finally the. wedding was announced to take place on June 3 in the home of MT. and Mrs. Cameron Blaikie, parents of the bride to be, in ! Englewood.
 The story of the tragedy is told in two papers, one found in the coat pock- ct of the murdered man and the other in the pocket of his son. The first was an advance marriage notice, which had evidently been prepared for insertion in the newspapers. It read as follows:
 "Married-Sterry Blaikie at Engle- wood, N. J., June 3, 1908, at the resi- dence of Mir. and Mrs. Cameron Blai- kie by the Rev. D. Eddy of East
 Orange, Rachel Blaikie and George Edwar> Sterry."
 The other paper took the form of an open letter and ran thus: ''To whom it may concern, the coro-
 ner first, presume:
 'T took solemn oath to myself that my father should never disgrace the memory of my sainted mother. There is not taint of selfishness in me. Had my father engaged himself to lady of mature age I would not and cer- tainly none of my brothers would bid him more than good luck and trust that he would live forever.
 Calls Father His "old Man."
 II have certainly always desired a long and happy life for my old man. a term which frequently affection ately use toward him. This is now II o'clock, May 19, 1908. Now, no one is in my confidence, but my brothers may draw conclusion from my dou- ble murder.
 "There is point which struck me as particularly interesting. While I was riding down on the Ninth avenue elevated I cast casual glances on those around me. as they doubtless did on me. The thought which l desire to convey is this-how many thousands would have stared me out of counte- nance had they known the prominent captions my double crime would war rant tomorrow.
 There is a comical and Imaginable end to this. would willingly give $500 to Rachel E. Blaikie to hear the beautiful and touching prayers for the salvation of my soul she will offer up. of course am under a violent strain. Many of my sentences may not be grammatical and many sentences may be crude
 Says God Ordered Deed.
 "It seems to me that God has called to do what propose doing. prayed to God no less than twenty times Gay :: chow me some other way out et .h.s tre-ble. and I truthfully be- hsrs he has shown me the proper way to ssve my family from disgrace.
 "Another point desire 10 mention. | Two seconds after my father starts I ! will follow, as the poor old man needs ! guide and a guardian. Should we ever run across some of that bunch I from East Orange we will glide up A 1 side street"
 II Is declared that the younger Ster- { ry regarded Miss BlaikIe as attracted \ by his fathers fortune and was deter ] mined he would prevent her from get l ting the property. The father was sev- enty-two years old. and the son was more than forty. They had had several i tIlts about the proposed wedding. but I nothing could shake the old mans at- i tachment to the schooIteacher. IL was reported after the shooting that Sterry I was t0 have a new will drawn. making i his fiancee his chief beneficiary. but that could not be verified