Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1913-08-30
TEN INJURED AS
!. EX-W|FE BATTLES
TO RETAIN HOME
TIVE Are Shot When Storck's
Attempt to Evict Her
Fails.
Especial to the Newark star.l !

injured. Mrs. Prunett Storck re-
mained in triumphant possession of
his Hudson avenue home today.
Her defeated spouse, Frank G.
Storck aided by friends and private
detectives. had attempted to eject
her daughter from the house.
Those engaged in the fight also
included the correspondent whom
Storck had named, the three brothers
of his divorced v-is-, = city detective
who had been summoned to the house
by telephone, and several neighbors
who came in to lend helping hand.
Here is what the casualty list looks
like:
STORCK-Mrs PRUNETTA, inter-
nal injuries and body bruises.
HAYES, Mrs. FREDERICK, her
daughter; bruised about the arms
and body.
HOWARD, SAMUEL, her brother,
shot in head with revolver and
struck under the right eye with
hammer.
HOWARD, HAROLD, her brother,
face laid open.
HOWARD, ERNEST. her brother,
shot in the neck.
KNECHT, OTTO, correspondent in
the divorce suit; struck in the neck
with club.
STORCK, FRANK c., the husband,
badly beaten.
DAVIS, VERNON T.. manager of
Storck's Long Branch piano store;
face laid open, knocked unconscious
and shot; may die.
SMITH. THOMAS D., a private de-
tectiye; painfully bruised and ankle
SUSPON. JOSEPH, a private detec-
tive, painfully bruised and ankle
broken.
Couple Had Separated.
Some time ago Mr.. and Mrs. Storck
separated, Mrs Storck continuing to
make her home in the Hudson avenue
house. Mr.. Storck, wealthy piano
dealer, with stores at Red Bank, Long
Branch and Freehold sued his wife
for divorce, naming Otto Knecht as
correspondent, and a few months ago
the courts handed down a decree in
his favor Ever since then E-r. Storck
has been trying to get his divorced
wife out of his home, but she had
steadily refused to leave it.
Several days ago County Prose-
cutor John A. Applegate jr., repre-
senting Storck, drew up a disposses-
Sion notice, ordering Mrs. Storck to
vacate the house by July 81, but as
the order did not come from the vice.
| chancellors court 1t did not hold
good, and the wife ignored it when
served with the paper.
Mr.. Storck decided to go up to the
house to argue with his wife in per-
son and try to induce her to leave
peaceably last night. He took with
him Mr.. Davis, the manager of his
Long Branch store; Percy Houghton,
another friend; c. l.. Silver and Jo-
seph Suspon, private detectives, and
two other private detectives, whose
names had not been learned last
night.
1t was shortly after o'clock when
Storck's party arrived at the house,
and about that time Mrs. Storck's
married daughter, Mrs. Fred c.
Hayes, left the house to go to the
barn, and on returning was intercept
ed by Houghton, the rest of the party
having entered the house by the back
door left open by Mrs. Hayes.
Says Houghton Struck Her.
Mrs. Hayes alleges that Houghton
grabbed her and then insulted her, |
and that he repeatedly struck her. !
She broke away from him and tried
to get back into the house by the back
door, but Houghton, she says, barred
her out, locking the door in her face.
She then tried to enter by climbing in
side window, but when partly
through she asserts, Houghton again
seized her and threw her bodily out
of the window. She ran to the near
est telephone and asked police head
quarters for help.
In response to her appeal Detective
William Chandler was sent to the
house. Meanwhile Mrs. Storck's
brothers. the Howards, had got wind
II f,.1 4.
Onto Knecht,. the erstwhile co-respon-
dent, joined the detective and marched
upon the house, but before they
reached it Mrs. Storck had been
thrown out through side window,
landing on the tagging eight feet be-
low, where she lay for some time in a
semi-conscious condition. Mrs. fStorck,
who asserts that 1t was her divorced
husband who threw her through the
window, is now under the care of a
physician, suffering from bruises and
shock.
When Detective Chandler accompa-
MED by Mrs. Storck's brothers and the
correspondent, reached the house he
rang the bell. On being refused ad-
mittance, he proceeded to batter in
the front door with a stout club. AS
Chandler and his supporters forced |
their way into the house, 1t is said |
that Houghton opened fire with re-
volver, but the latter denies this. A |
battle royal was quickly in progress |
Starting in the front hall, the fight |
ragged hotly in the dining-room, then |
in the parlor and reception room, |
while minor engagements were fought
on the stairway and in the bedrooms
upstairs. The combatants snatehed |
up chairs with which to club each
other, while table legs. hammers, |
pieces of bric-a-brac and other con-
venient household articles were used
as clubs and missiles Several re- |
volver shots were heard in the thick |
of the fray. One whose head was
grazed by bullet, asserts that Storch
pulled gun and shot at them.
The fight lasted for more than half |
an hour, and the whole neighborhood |
was thrown into panic by the sound |
of firing and the uproar of the com
bat. A crowd of several hundred |
persons gathered outside of the house, |
while a few of the more courageous |
neighbors went inside, and were
quickly drawn into the conflict. Mrs. |
G. l.. White, a woman living in the |
neighborhood, heard that her hus-
band had been shot in the fight, and
she tainted.
Exhaustion stops Fight.
The fight stopped apparently be-
cause of sheer exhaustion on the part
of the combatants The interiors Of
the dining-room. living-room and re-
ception-room were wrecked. The fur
niture was overturned and much of 1t
reduced to kindling, several windows
were smashed and much bric-a-brac
broken, while the rugs were drenched
with blood.
Detective Chandler arrested Storck
and Houghton and took them before