The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1909-02-25
STATE of Pennsylvania
KILLS WOMAN AND SELF.
Youthful Telephone Inspector Shoots
1S-Year-Old Companion.

Reading. - While speeding along
in a taxicab here Stella Rocktashel.
Is years old. was shot and killed.
and her companion, George E..
. Knaut, 20 years old, after directing
the chauffeur to hurry to hospital.
turned the revolver that killed the
girl upon himself and ssnt a bullet
into his heart, dying almost instantly.
Whether there had been a quarrel,
or the two had agreed to die to-
gether, has not been determined.
Lewis Becker, the chauffeur, is una
BILE to throw any light on the affair,
but the police believe, however, that
1t was case of deliberate murder
and suicide.
Started For Girls Home.
The couple engaged the taxicab
In the business section of the town
shortly before 2 O'clock A, NJ, the
young man telling the chauffeur to
drlVe to the girls home at 617 North
front Street. When the vicinity of
tne young woman's home was reach
ed the chauffeur was startled by
revolver shot inside the cab. Stimuli
taneously with the report the front
window of the cab was shattered and
the driver heard the whiz of bullet
over his shoulder.
A moment later Becker declares
the man in the cab yelled excitedly,
Drive to the hospital!"
Recognizing that something seri-
Gus had occurred, Becker rushed the
machine to the Reading Hospital
Just as he entered the hospital
grounds there was a second shot in
side the cab. Hating at the hospital
door Becker summoned the night
nurse. and she in turn called the in
ternes.
Dead On Reaching Hospital.
The young woman was found in
heap on the seat of the cab. Her face
was covered with blood. There was
no pulse, and it was found that she
was dead A bullet wound in the
right side of the head, together with
powder burns on the flesh, told how
she had met her end. Fired at close
range, the bullet had passed through
her head.
A hurried examination of tho man
revealed that he, too, was dead, hav.
ing shot himself through the heart.
There was nothing the hospital
physicians could do, and they imme-
diately notified the police, who took
charge of the bodies.
Knaut was a telephone inspector.
Inquiry into the case developed that
Knaut had asked several persons to
lend him revolver, saying he want
ed to go to a masquerade ball. AS
thprp rIth1ia hol
the authorities are of the opinion
that the case was one of murder End
suicide.
Miss Rocktashel was a progresses
ing young woman of lively dsposi-
tion. She and Knaut had been
friends for several years. Her faith
er is George Rocktashel, a Reading
Railroad engineer, and one of the
best known railroad men in this Sec
ton.
Supposed They Were Engaged.
Her mother said:
why this thing occurred / cam
not explain. Knaut and my daugh-
ter had always been good friends,
and / understood that they were en-
gagged to be married. | thought him
a fine young man. Where they were
| do not know, but know that they
were at no place where they should
not have been"
From another source it was learn
ed that Knaut and the girl were at
a social gathering in the evening and
that later they we're in a saloon. 1t
was from there that they went to a
nearby street corner, where the taxi
cab was engaged to take them to her
home.