The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1910-08-10
DOUBLE LIFE
ENDS WITH A
DOUBLE DEATH
Infatuation Of Man For His
Sister-in-Law Was the
Cause
QUARREL ENDED IN W0MAN'S
DEATH AND MANS SUICIDE
Victim Had Deserted Her Husband to
Live With Relative While the Muir.
derer Had Fluctuated Between the
Woman and His Own Family.

derer Had Fluctuated Between the
Woman and His Own Family.
Kansas City. Aug. 10.-A woman sat
in the front door of her squalid rooms
in the Mcclure flats this morning
humming softly, in strange. foreign
accents, a tender lullaby to the baby
she held in her arms.
"The shooting next door-the kill
ing, tell me about It," a visitor re-
quested.
THE shooting, oh, heard shots" !"
she said. II don't know what 1t was
all about. l don't know whether any
body was injured or not"
And the woman took up again the
quaint lullaby.
Thus the Mcclure flats on McGee
street at Nineteenth street, where one
neighbor asks no questions Of an
other, where the only problem of life
is the living, received a tragedy this
morning-the murder of Mrs. Matte
O'Dell of 1948 McGee street by Will
liam Davis, a wealthy farmer of Bray
mer, Mo-, and then the suicide of
Davis. The slain woman was sister,
in-law of Mrs. Davis. She was the
wife of a brother of the slayer's wife.
Sacrificed All for Her.
For fifteen, years Davis had forsaken
his wife and family for this woman.
He had made homes for her; he had
followed her from one town to the
other; he had given up everything
for her-f1nally, by his own act, maxi
ing the life he had made for himself
and the women end in quarrel and
death for both of them.
Davis went to the O'Dell home in
the Mcclure fats about o'clock last
night. He had come to Kansas City
from Braymer some time yesterday.
The two quarreled. About $3.50 o'clock
this morning Davis sprang to small
dresser, seized revolver and began
to shoot the woman. Twice he fired.
Both bullets struck her as she lay IN
bed. A niece, Florence Truitt, 8
years old, who had been living with
Mrs. O'Dell, ran screaming from the
house.
Fired at the Little Girl.
The man, in a frenzy, fired two
shots at the little girl. One grazed
one of her ankles. She ran to call the
police. When they returned fifteen
minutes later the doors to the house
were locked and the windows were
open the door," the officers cried,
pounding on the rough panel.
The house was silent. Again they
pounded. There was no response.
Then they broke the door.
Davis was lying few feet from the
woman. Blood was flowing from a
bullet wound over his heart. He was
dead. The woman, her body a mass
Of bruises and wounds, was dead, too.
In the kitchen a pile of clothing lay
on the floor, saturated with coal oil.
The man, in his frenzied jealousy.
evidently had planned to burn the
house.
This is the story that Florence
Truitt, the niece, told:
A Scream and q Shot.
ut all was caused by a quarrel.
They were fussing about something
most all day. He came TO our house
early yesterday morning and then left
again. When he came back last night
they quarreled some more. The last
thing I remember before went to
sleep was hearing their voices in the
next room. They were almost shout
TT must have been about morning
when heard an awful scream and a
shot. Then heard another shot. Davis
had revolver. He was swearing aw-
fully and his eyes looked funny. I
screamed and ran out Of the back
door. He fired at me, but I was 80
scared l didn't stop. ran right up
to my other auntie's and then ran and
got the police. He hit me, but 1t didn't
hurt. It just touched my foot"
And the little girl rubbed her shoe
ever the spot where the bullet had
struck.
Dumped Hubby by the Roadside.
Davis was a wealthy, prosperous
farmer when he married Matte
O'Dell. He owned many acres Of Mis-
souri, land. He had fine home in
Braymer. Then into his life came a
second Matte O'Dell, the wife of bis
wife's brother. His dual life, IN
which his loyalty wavered between his
wife and this woman, began.
Davis became infatuated with her.
He proposed to O'Dell. his brother-in-
law, that the three take trip across
Missouri in a covered wagon. O'Dedl
agreed. The trip was uneventful the
first two days Of the Quincy. Then
Davis dumped 0Deu out Of the
wagon. And the guilty pair continued
the trip alone. O'Dell returned to
Braymer, going most of the way on
foot.
Tried to XIII Her Before.
The two continued their journey.
They drove day after day across Mis-
souri,, caring not where they went, nor
where they we're. Then quarrels stole
into their romance. Davis returned
home. He was received by his family.
The woman returned to her husband
and was forgiven.
But again the infatuation Davis had