Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1913-03-14
Nothing Matters Now" Says
Elton 7. Darden, Told of
C. M. Goddard's Death.
Continued From Page One.

harden related He was waiting for
rho Kirkwood car, and l knew that he
Was waiting for my wife. could stand
rre torture no longer, and left him
waiting there, went to my employers,
borrowed $40. and bought a revolver.
Then / went back.
"I saw her meet him, and saw them
90 together toward the Empire hotel.
First I thought that l would let them
eo i'm, and then follow them.
IF I had, there would have been
three souls in hell today
But the thought of their associa-
lion unnerved me, and l shouted at
them Maybe it was better that
didn't let them go inside.
They took alarm, and the man
broke and ran in one direction, my
wife in another and / lost them. |
knew that Goddard had gone in sa-
loon nearby, and 1 waited for him.
While l was waiting / thought OF
all my wrongs 1 remembered that
my eighteen-year-o son had come to
me with a statement by Goddard. who
said that l was a damned coward. and
that he could go with my wife as much
as he pleased.
And when ! saw him in the Union
station there was no mercy in my
heart. ! shot him as soon as l saw
him, and he fell to his knees.
Showed Pistol Closer.
He begged for mercy, but l showed
II 1T
and fired again"
Darden made no attempt to get away
after he fired the five shots into the
body Of Goddard, but stood vengeful-
v over him, with the smoking revolv-
or in his hand, while the crowd, which
had fed at the first shots, began slow
Iy to reassemble.
The first thought OF the crowd was
Tor the wounded man, who lay groan-
ing on the tiled floor, and several Of
the women in the station were ready
10 battle his wounds and to attempt t.
stop the flow of blood until the arrival
of the ambulance which bore him to
G ady hospital. He died there about 8
o'clock this morning.
was employed as stone cutter in the
quarries at Stone Mountain, He wa.
unmarried and the sole support of an
aged mother Mrs. Robert Goddard,
who. with her daughter, Miss Mabel
Goddard. came to Atlanta this morning
at the first news that her son had been
shot
Darden is a civil engineer. in the en-
ploy Of Mon Brothers. contractors, as
estimator He came to the South sew
craI years ago from Vermont and set
up as a quarryman near Stone Noun
tain 1t is said that he was fairly
wealthy upon coming to Georgia, but
that he dissipated his fortune.
Darden says that he is 46 years old
and claims degrees from Harvard uni
yegsity and the University of Virginia.
In Atlanta he has lived at Al Cone
street
The wife, in whose name Darden
says he shot Goddard, has not lived
with him in eight or ten months. Or
their eight children, seven live with
her at 20 East avenue.
An inquest over the body OF Goddard
probably will be held this afternoon
following which it will DE takcl to his
home in Stone Mountain for burial.
Hotel clerks at the Empire hotel, on
South Pryor street. say that Mrs. Oar
den and Goddard did not enter the no.
tel, as Darden charged. The hotel
men declared today that not only do
l1ey not recognize the names, but that
no couples. under any name, were VS.
TORS to the hotel yesterday.
Charges Base Ingratitude'
Bewildered, Mrs. Robert Goddard sat
in the Union station today, little
shrunken figure of a woman, and talk
ed plaintively of her son, who was
shot to death last night.
81 don't know what I'll do" she SAID,
he was the only boy l had left. l
guess Wen get along somehow, though
But there was a hopeless note in her
voice, and the tears came. Then she
Quieted, and charged Darden, who kill
ed her son, with the basest ingratitude.
We fed him, and helped him, back
there in Stone Mountain, when he
didn't have a bite to eat" she said. Il
save him my last dollar at one time,
and now he has killed my boy
Her daughter, Miss Mabel Goddard.
Who sat at her side, was more bitter
10 denunciation of Darden.
I'd like to see him shot" she said.