Los Angeles herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1900-1911, 1909-03-29
THRICE WOUNDS
WIFE AND TURNS
GUN ON HIMSELF
TRAGEDY HORRIFIES CROWD
AT SIXTH AND MAIN
FIRES THREE TIMES MORE AT
PRosTRATE VICTIM
Jealous Husband Follows Murderous
Attack by Attempt at Suicide
and Falls Insensible in
Drug Store
TN THE presence of hundreds of
people, either passing by or wait

TN THE presence of hundreds of
people, either passing by or wait
n ing for cars, Edward G. Martin,
a cook, 2S years of age, shot his wire,
Georgietta Martin, aged q years, at
the corner of. Sixth and Main streets.
He then shot himself 1t is not be-
lieved' that either Martin or his wife
will die.
The shooting took place at $50
D. m. and was the result of jealousy
on the part of Martin. who alleged
that his wife had been with other
men. This statement she denied at
the receiving hospital.
Mrs. Martin was shot three tunes.
The first bullet struck her in the LETT
side of the neck and lodged in the
spinal vertebrae about three inches
below the base of the skull. The sec
ond bullet struck her in the back of
the neck to the right of the spinal
cord and lodged in the muscles OF the
neck. The third bullet struck her in
the back of the head, f1attened out and
ranged upward beneath the scalp,
lodging above the crown OF the Skull.
Martin shot himself directly above
the skull and lodging, it is thought,
in the brain tissue an inch from the
inner table,
Martin and his wife lived at 31S
East Eleventh street and have had
more or less trouble for months. Five
months ago Martin claims that he
caught his wife with another man IN
a room at the Del Mar lodging house.
They separated for a time, but be-
1a6
until Saturday last. Mrs. Martin then
left her home, taking their baby girl
with her, and went to the residence OF
Miss Gertrude Benyan. 242O Ocean
View avenue, with whom she remained
that night.
Yesterday the two women came
downtown in the afternoon, walked
around for an hour or two, and snort,
ly after o'clock reached Sixth ana
Main streets on their way to take a
Bimini baths car at Seventh and
Broadway for home.
Confronted by Husband
AT the corner and directly in front
of the entrance to the Central build
ing they were confronted by Martin
The two women and the man stood
talking excitedly for few minutes,
drawing the curious gaze of the nun
dreds who passed, and were attract
ed by their-excited conversation.
Suddenly Miss Benyan, with an ex-
clamation of fear. turned and ran di-
rectly across the, street toward the
Pacific Electric building. At the same
moment Martin drew a .32 caliber re-
volver from his pocket, pointed 1t at
his wife and fired. The Lullet struck
her in the side of the neck, and she
turned half around and fell face down
ward into the gutter. Martin then
stood over her and fired three more
shots at her PROSTATE form, TWO or
which took effect. He then placed the
muzzle of the weapon to the side of
his head and fired the fifth shot. He
staggered for a moment, and then
dropping the revolver on his wife's
body walked across the street to the
drug store in the Pacific Electric
building.
Staggering into the store. he called
for aid, and a. clerk gave him slim
ulant No sooner had he drank 1t
than he pitched headlong to the floor,
striking his head against door jamb
and cutting a cash in the scalp.
Patrolman e. L. Oker, who was only
a short distance away, heard the shots
fired and hurried to the scene. call
for the ambulance was sent in and
Oker ran across the street and placed
Martin under arrest.
Meantime Mrs. Martin had been
picked up and laid on the sidewalk.
She was apparently dead. giving no
signs of consciousness. When the po-
lice ambulance arrived, however, 1T
was found that she was alive, and she
was placed on the stretcher, and with
Martin sitting on the seat near her
feet hurried to the receiving hospital
Bullets All Removed
Drs. E. H. Wiley and H. H. Cham
berlain probed the woman's wounds
and removed the bullets from the back
of her neck and the top of her head
The one that struck her in the side
of the neck and either lodged in or
against the spinal cord was not dis
turbed at first, the surgeons wishing
not to attempt an operation until the
patient had recovered somewhat from
the shock but on its being found that
it had severed one of the vertebrae 1T
also was removed, and apparently
much to the sufferers relief.
DR.. Chamberlain probed the wound
in Martins head and found that the
bullet had passed through the skull
and lodged in the brain tissue. 1t was
extracted, the operation necessitating
the removal of portion of the inner
table.
Mrs. Martin complained of great
deal of pain. and she is paralyzed in
both arms and shoulders. She was
given an opiate and placed in the hos
pital ward in the matron's depart
ment. Martin was placed on a cot
and shackled to the foot of the bed.
He seemed to Wander in his mind at
times, but the surgeons are of the
opinion that he is pretending to be
crazy. When questioned as to why
he shot his wife and himself he an
sWered in an incoherent manner that
he didn't know what his questions
meant. Then he gave a clear and con-
else statement of the reason why she
ought to have been shot. accusing
her of infidelity.
Mrs. Martin appeared to be suffer-
ing too much to make a statement,
but, she said her husband shot her
because he was Jealous without cause;
that they had agreed to separate,
and that at the meeting cn the cor
ner she refused to return to him. She