Omaha daily bee., 1908-03-11
NAN KILLS WIFE and SELF
Double Tragedy is the Result Of Do
mestic Difficulty.
WOMAN COOK AT R. S. HALL HOME
Husband; Glen l.. Rathbun, Wants
Burial I'm the Same Conn, with
Arms Around Each
other.

| " AAN AuApoAu anu wiz anu "A Se0 NAAA
proofs our marriage certificates are In
sigournsyr Ia, at my fathers home.
Fathers name is J. J. Rathbun. Please
notify him, as he may wish TO SEND for
US. II he does not, bury us both In one
coffin with our arms around each other.
II is her wish as well a. mine. 7 have
nearly Gao. No, bought the gun out OF
that, but have some that can 60 toword
helping bury us. Also notify mrs. Ruth
drummer, Fort Des Moines, Ia, care Fort
Reany.
am a member Of the Independent order
Of odd Fellows in good standing. Have
the receipt FOR dues in my pooketboOk.
GLEN RATHBURN.
Wifs's name, Hattie RathbuFn.
have . grip and suitcase At AEillard
hotel. Please send them to J. J. Rathhurn,
sigourney, Ia. Also my wifs'a trunk and
haggage, which is ct 52eo FErnam.
tragedy of the bloodest description
was enacted in the handsome home OF r.
S. Hall, the attorney, S26O Farnam street,
when Glen L. Rathbun entered the kitchen
at a. m. Tuesday and shot and
killed his wife, Hattie Rathbun a cook
in the household, and then ended his own
| life by sending a bullet through his brain.
Mr.. Hall and his family were at break
I
| Of a shot was heard in the kitchen. Mr..
! Hall rushed through the door of the
pantry which leads to the kitchen and
beheld the awful tableau of Mrs. Rathbun
lying on her face in a pool Of blood, while
| her murderer stood with the smoking re-
] volver In his hand and looked at his
work.
Seeing the desperate man before him
| and thinking of his family in the dining
room, Mr. Hall slammed the door leading
to the kitchen upon the murderer and his
victim and hurried back to the dining
room, where he quickly took his wife and
family to safety upstairs 1t was while
they were hurrying away that another
| shot was heard and when Mr. Hall re-
! turned in a few moments Rathbun was
lying on his back in the kitchen dead with
a bullet hole through his temple. The
woman in her death struggle had crawied
through the pantry and into the dining
room. leaving a red trail along her course
She lay dead at the west end Of the big
dining room table.
Mr. Hall notified the police and Coroner
Davis took charge of the bodies
Comes from Des MoInes.
Rathbun came here Monday from Des
Moines and stopped at the Millard hotel
A letter found ON his person was addressed
to him at 26ls High street, Des Moines,
Ia. II Is believed he was printer. as
among his effects were several brass
leads used by printers and also a let
ter from the Wright County Monitor,
Clarion, Ia, which seemed to be in re-
sponse to an application for a position.
His father is ]. ]. Rathbun, agent for the
Continental Insurance company. sgour-
ney, Ia.
Mrs. Rathbun had left her husband re-
Gently. A note found on Rathbuns per
son seems to be the one in which she an
nounced her intention to leave him. 1t is
has follows:
My Dear Glen: I don't know what YOU
VIII say TO this rash action Of mine, but
am going this morning. Please forgive
ana IofBel me. cant stand II any longer.
AS ever, HATTIE.
She had assumed name upon coming to
Omaha. At the Hall home, where she was
engaged as cook Monday morning, she gave
the name of Mrs Warden.
Rathbun called at the Hall home Monday
evening while the family was at dinner
The second girl answered the bell and he
inquired whether a Mrs Rathbun was
working there. Upon learning that no such
person was there the man went around to
the kitchen door. where he saw his wife.
MIR. Hall Hears Report.
Mr.. Hall, hearing a disturbance, went
out and talked to him there and when he
learned that the woman was his wife gave
him permission to see her. They sat down
in the kitchen and talked for some time.
Later in the evening, the second girl says
they went out for walk.
Apparently they were unable to mend
their domestic difficulties. Then Rathbun
went back to his room at the MiIlard hotel
and during the night he planned the MUIR
der and suicide. bought the revolver and
wrote letters to the police, coroner, his
father and others. Tuesday morning he
put his revolver in his pocket, went to the
Hall home and fired the fatal shots.
The two shots which killed the woman
are in the back Of the head and were evi.
IDENTIFY fired as she was going from the
kitchen through the pantry to the dining
room.
; Coroner Davis probably will not hold ar
inquest, as the letter left by Rathbur
proves conclusively that the deed was en-.
tirely premeditated and planned.
Coroner Davis has received a telegram
, from J. ]. Rathbun. father Of the dead
man, stating that he will arrive in Omaha
I by the first train from sigourney