The Spokane press. [volume] (Spokane, Wash.) 1902-1939, 1908-09-02
MYSTERY OF DOUBLE MURDER IN
VILLAGE PARLOR DEFIES POLICE
BULLET SHOTS END LIVES OF
MORRIS STEIN AND HIS
WIFE'S AUNT, WHILE HIS
WIFE AND MOTHER IN LAW
STAND WITHOUT.

What was the motive that impelled
the shooting of Miss Hester Porter.
| we'll to do woman of So, and her
nephew by marriage, Morris B.
Stein, 20, prosperous automobile
salesman of Des Moines?
That is the question that is puz-
cling the authorities here who are
trying to solve the mystery of the
tragedy. So far they have been
completely baffled. No reason has
been suggested that will stand the
test of inquiry, nor has any clew
indicating cause for the crime been
disclosed.
On Friday, Aug. IA, Stein came to
Loudonville to visit relatives of his
wife. Mrs. Stein, with her mother,
Mrs. Mary Bayard, had come from
Des Moines just one week before.
The day was the anniversary of the
STEMS marriage, and, wishing to
surprise his wife, the young man
did not notify her of his coming
Instead, he telegraphed Mrs. Emily
Myers, his aunt, whom she was
then visiting.
Stein reached Loudonville at
noon. He was taken to the Myers
home, where the anniversary din
ner was spread. Beside the visiting
sister and her niece, Mrs. Myers
had invited Miss Hester Porter. an.
other aunt of Mrs. Stein. The whole
uarty was in the happiest of spirits,
laughing, chatting and without an
appearance Of trouble of any sort.
After dinner walk was sug-
gested. Mrs. Bayard and Miss Por-
ter, arm in arm with Stein and his
wife, started out for stroll. They
brought up at the home of Miss
Porter. Still all was pleasant.
Stein, who had travelled all night
and until noon, complained of feel
ing tired. He pulled off his coat
and collar, hung them up and went
into the parlor to lie down. A few
lllillulcS ldtSl LS W Nlloo VI
ter. She answered the call.
Scarcely had she entered the
room when three shots rang out.
Milton Derr, a painter at work out
side the house, rushed to the room.
| Mrs Stein and her mother. Mrs.
| Bayard, were standing, frightened,
on the front porch. On. the floor of
! the parlor, side by side, lay the
gray haired woman and the young
man. A revolver lay at their feet,
Blood oozed from two wounds in
the back of the woman's head. The
man was dying from shot well
back on the right side of his head.
The popular verdict was murder
and suicide. This was borne out by
the hysterical story the sorrowing
women told And this was the pre-
liminary verdict of the coroner.
Then, the first excitement of the
tragedy over, the authorities began
to think. Was it, after all, murder
and suicide. or had double murder
been done?
Miss Porter was an elderly
woman, kindly, well to do, who
spent her life quietly at home,
working in her flower garden or in
ministering to the wants of the
needy of the town.
The young man bore good char
acter. He had never met the
woman whose niece he had married
till within less than two hours of
the shooting.
What cause for enmity was there
between the two?
Then, in Des Moines. came the
first break in the smOothness with
which the theory of murder and sui
eide had been accepted.
Jacob Stein, aged father of the
dead young man, secured a court
injunction to stop the burial of the
body of his son. He alleged that
the young woman claiming the
body of his son as that of her hus-
band was not the legal wife of Nor
ris Stein, but that she had married
him 13 days before the death of the
real Mrs. Stein, who had been Miss
Ethel Lempke of Des Moines.
Jacob Stein, beside wishing to Sc
cure possession of his sons body
for burial in q Jewish cemetery, de-
clared that he would clear his fam
lily name of the crime charged
against it. He declared that his son
had never shot Miss Porter, but
that he had fallen a victim with her
to the hand of a third person.
Then Loudonville authorities
woke up. A note found in the coat
of the dead man, the explanation
concerning which had at first been
accepted without question, Ger.
tainly seemed to indicate that the
first theory was incorrect. This
note, purporting to have been writ
ten by Stein after the shooting, was
addressed to his wife:
Dear Kid" it said, II am dying
Aunt Hester just shot me; why,
don't know. gave her new gun
as present for burglars. She go,
mad and turned it on me, then on