Staunton spectator and vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1896-1916, 1911-10-13
Timer Employed by Well
Known Local Concern Fig
ures in Roanoke Shooting
HE SURRtNDERS After DEED
Husband Had Suspected Women
and Later Found Incrim-
mating Letters

ployee of his force were sorry to
learn from a Dispatch-News report
er Saturday afternoon of the un-
fortunate plight of E. L. McCarter,
of Staunton, who on Friday morn
ing shot and perhaps fatally wound
ed J. w. Simmons in Roanoke at the
plant of the Stone Printing and En-
craving Company. McCarter has
been in Mr.. Tanners employ since
July "a, was sober, Industrious and
attentive to his work. He left here
for Roanoke only last Thursday
morning to bring back his wife who
had gone to the Magic City during
the week of the Roanoke Fair. Fri
day morning, perhaps an hour before
the shooting occurred and a power
full argument in support of the
theory that his act was unpremedi-
tated, McCarter sent Mr.. Tanner a
telegram saying he would be back
in StaUntOn ready for work Satur-
day morning. So impressed was his
former employer with the unvarying g
habit of keeping his word, possessed
by the timer, that McCarter's ar
rival was momentarily expected and
not until the newspaper mans visit
did he know that anything had gone
wrong.
Domestic Difficulty Blamed
According to dispatches from
Roanoke, McCarter's wife seems to
have been the cause of the trouble
which resulted in his firing five shots
into Simmons at the Stone plant
where the latter was employed as a
pressman. Since Mrs. McCarter has
been in Roanoke, her husband l.
seems has been sending her money
regularly. Her failure to return at
the expected time and at his urgent
request, it is believed led him to
resort to the ruse of getting her word
that he was sick. A few days before
he left, Mrs. McCarter in a telegram
asked Mr.. Tanner to wire her hus-
bands state of health which request
he promptly complied with stating
that McCarter was we'll and at work.
On Thursday morning McCarter left
for Roanoke.
To a Roanoke newspaper T.l@n
after the shooting McCarter told of
having heard rumors of improper re-
lations between his wife and Sim
mons, some time before, and since
reaching Roanoke had found letters
written to Mrs. McCarter by Simmons
tending to confirm the rumors. He
asked his wife about the matter
but she gave no satisfaction. He
went to the Stone plant Thursday
night and talked to Simmons telling
him that he did not want to go away
the next day with the thing on his
mind and that he wished to know the
truth before going.
Shoots Wrecker of His Home
Simmons, he says, gave him no
satisfaction and refused to go with
him to confront Mrs. McCarter. Nc
Carter insisted on this, saying that
all three would talk the matter over
Simmons refused to accede to this
request and finally went home.
On Friday morning McCarter re-
turned to the plant where he held
a long conversation with Simmons
whom he finally told must go with
him to see Mrs. McCarter. Accord
ing to the Staunton mans story, Sim
mons raised a heavy bar and started
toward him whereupon McCarter
drew his revolver and fired five shots
which took effect in his face, in the
shoulder, in one leg and twice in the
body. Through the Office and out
into the street McCarter passed un-
challenged down Jefferson street and
surrendered to Policemen Reynolds,
the first officer he met, near Van
Lear's drug store. In the meantime,
police headquarters had been tele-
phoned from the Stone plant and
two more officers met them on the
way to the station.
McCarter Man of Integrity
McCarter came to Staunton from
Roanoke on July % in answer to an
advertisement for timers placed in
the papers by Mr.. Tanner, for whom
he went to work the next morning.
His wife followed some five or six
weeks later, up to which time Nc
Carter lived at Mrs Alexander's
boarding house on the corner of
Frederick and Augusta streets. With
her arrival, the couple went in for
housekeeping in Mr.. E. L. Huff's
house on North New street. They
purchased bill Of furniture on the
1nStallment plan from a well known
furniture house and stove and
cooking utensils from Mr.. Tanner.
Payments were made with regularity
and a small balance due Mr.. Tanner
was paid up in full before McCarter's
departure for Roanoke.
Mr.. Tanner describes McCarter as
man of about 38 years, six feet tall
and who would weigh about It's
pounds. He considers him a good
workman and from what he has seen
of him quiet, peaceable, not given to
drinking or excesses of any kind. He
says McCarter told him he was a