Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-01-18
WIPES OUT HIS FAMILY
Seattle Lawyer Kills Wife,
Daughter and Himself.
GIRL S SUIT0R FINDS THEM
With Head Submerged in Bathtub
Their Bodies Are Discovered.
BOTH WOMEN'S HEADS BROKEN
Father Drowned Himself-Recent
$1,000 Inheritance Disappears.
In Financial Straits.

SEATTLE. Wash, January 1S-Latest
developments in the Seeley tragedy
wherein the bodies Of W. L. Seeley. aged
fifty-six; his wife, aged about fifty, and
his twenty-two-year-old daughter were
found with their heads submerged in a
bathtub in their home in a fashionable
residence district, are taken as strength
ening the theory that the man killed the
two women by striking them with some
blunt weapon and then committed suicide
by drowning.
Seeley recently received, 1t is believed.
5000 as his share Of his fathers estate.
Within the past few days he had bor-
rowed money to pay his last month S
house rent. indicating that he was In
financial straits. What has become of the
money has not yet been learned.
Before Seeley killed himself he sent a
telegram to his brother, Charles Seeley,
at Pomeroy. Come at once; urgent.
was the text of the message. The an
Office of W. W. Wiltshire. in the New York
block, where Seeley had desk room, Fri
day afternoon. The answer was: Cant
come: not very we'll. Explain" 1t was
signed Charles seeiey.
The dead mans telegram appears to
have been filed here Friday and reached
Spokane at 8:22 am. that day, indicating
that Seeley must have killed his wife
and daughter Thursday and killed HIM
self early the following day.
Saw Light Burning.
The only clue to the actual time of the
murders was furnished by City Detective
H. c. Adams. Adams was one of the
officers sent to investigate report of
burglary in the neighborhood, and says
he saw light burning in an upper win
dow of the Seeley home at midnight.
The bottle which contained the chloro-
form, found in the house, was obtained
from a nearby pharmacy. No record of
the purchase of such a drug for the past
few months could be found there. The
label was old and almost illegible. Chic
reform had been sold to a family named
who formerly lived in the house.
torney. and of his wife and daughter.
Miss Rene, were found yesterday by E.
w. Zibbell and Guy Nj. Smelzer. Smelzer
was engaged to marry Miss Seeley. lib
bell was friend Of the family.
Mrs. Seeley and her daughter had been
murdered with blows inflicted with some
blunt instrument, believed to have been a
hammer; Seeley had been drowned, &C
cording to Coroner Snyder.
Seeley and his family came here more
than a year ago from st. Joseph, Mo.
Previous to that time they lived in Of
United States marshal and bank eX-
aminer.
He was an uncle of NJ F. Gose of Pom
eroy, recently appointed by the governor
to the Washington supreme court bench.
He has a brother, Charles Seeley, at
Pomeroy, Wash. and another, Frank
Seeley, at Hood River.
Charles Seeley knows no motive for the
crime, and thinks the man must have
been insane.
Climb Over Transom.
Yesterday morning Smelzer and Zibbell,
who discovered the bodies, went to the
Seeley home determined to find out what
was the matter. They tried doors and
windows and finally climbed over tram
som of the back door and got into the
house.
In the front bedroom, which was that
occupied by Mrs. Seeley, great blood
stain was found on the bed. Another big
blood stain was on the bed in Miss See
ley's room. Smelzer and Zibbell did not
see this.
Going into the bathroom, they found the
three bodies. The head OF each was in
the bathtub. which was filled with water.
Over the corpses of Seeley and his wife
was a steamer trunk. The trunk did not
touch. the body Of Miss Seeley, but was
a few inches above 1t.
An empty chloroform bottle was on the
stand in the bathroom. Clutched In one
hand Of Seeley. which was beneath the
water. was a pocket handkerchief which,
soaked in water, still carried a
faint trace Of the odor of chloroform.
There were three wounds on the head
Of Mrs Seeley. One was above the left
eye and the other two were on the for
ward part Of the head The blow that
evidently killed Miss Seeley was dealt
over the left eye. There were no marks
on the man.