The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1913-09-25
SHOOTING AT MT. AYR.
DR.. r. W. w. Little, Dope Fiend,
Shot His Wife and Mrs. Sheldon.

DR.. r. w. w. Little of Gretna
Nebraska, formerly located at Ting
ley, this county, shot and severely
wounded his wife and Mrs. F. e
Sheldon at the Mt. Ayr House short
ly after 7 o'clock Monday morning.
The Littles have been separated
for about year and Mrs. Little
through her attorney, l.. w. Laugh
lin, of Mt. Ayr, is bringing suit fol
divorce, charging non-support, adul'
terry, cruel and inhuman treatment
and claiming that Dr.. Little is addict.
ed to the drug habit, and the case is
to be tried at this term of court.
About week ago DR.. Little arriv'
ed here and tried to persuade Mrs
Little to drop her suit for divo"ce
which she refused to do. Early Mon
day morning he found Mrs. Little
who is making her home with her
mother, Mrs. Anna Bresee and her
brother, Alvin, at the Mt. Ayr House,
at the head of the stairs and forced
her into an adjoining bed room
where he pushed her over a bed and
began choking her and started to
draw his revolver which she manag-
ed to knock out of his hand. Mrs.
Bresee heard her daughters call for
assistance and went to her aid as
also did her other daughter, Miss
Gertie They succeeded in getting
out into the hallway when Mr.. and
Mrs. Sheldon, who are stopping at
the Mt Ayr House until their new
home is completed, and other guests
arrived on the scene. Little, who
had also come into the hallway, pull
ed a .32 calibre revolver from his
pocket and fired at his wife. The
bullet struck her in the side of the
cheek and passed out the back of her
neck, making an ugly wound, and
struck Mrs. Sheldon in the lower part
of the abdomen and passed on and
lodged in her thigh. Mr.. Sheldon at
once grabbed Little's arm and trav-
cling man who stood close by struck
him a lick with his fist that nearly
ttoored him and before Little could
recover himself Mr.. Sheldon and the
travelling man had grabbed him, pre-
venting him from shooting again
uty sheriff D. D. Beard was called
and took Little to the county Jail
where he was placed in cell and
SudIu pldCcu over Hill " prevent
him from doing himself harm.
Mrs. Sheldon was unaware at the
time that she had been shot and did
not discover it until some time after.
Late reports are to the effect that
both ladies are getting along nicely
and it is thought that nothing SER
ious will result from the wounds.
A letter was found in his baggage
at the hotel, written upon Mt. Ayr
House letterhead which read as fol-
lows:
Nearer My God to Thee. God
forgive me, forgive all my sins and
take me home with Thee to dwell. l
would rather die than give up my
wife,. or the disgrace of a divorce.
God be with you till we meet again.
Good bye
On another sheet of paper he left
the addresses of brothers and sisters
as follows: ~ b.
John w. Little, Kingsley, Iowa;
Geo. w. Little, LaClaire, Iowa; Mrs.
F. w. Duncan, Rock Island, Illinois;
Mrs. Fannie Dittmer, Long Grove,
Iowa.
Report has been circulated that
Little was insane, but this is believed
by the officials to be untrue. Sheriff
Terrill telegraphed his brothers
Tuesday morning but up to the time
of going to press no word has been
received from any of his relatives.
The revolver used by Little was
.32 calibre Harrington & Richard
son and was purchased in Omaha
Wednesday of last week.-Mt. Ayr
Independent
Two indictments were returned
yesterday afternoon against DR.. T.
Mt. Ayr House Monday morning and
the bullet from whose gun also
struck Mrs. F. E. Sheldon. One in
dictment charges him with assault
with intent to commit murder and
the other with assault with felonious
intent. DR.. Little was arraigned be-
fore the court yesterday afternoon.
Haggard and worn in appearance
and breathing hard as if about to
faint he was brought into the court
room by Sheriff Terrill. Through
his attorney, H. A. Fuller, he waived
examination and this morning plea
of mot guilty" was entered and in
default of bonds, fixed at IS 900 un
der one indictment and $4,000 under
the other, Little was returned to the,
county jail. ~:
Both of the patients who were shot
at the Mt. Ayr House Monday morn
ing by DR.. T. w. w. Little are doing
nicely. DR.. F. C. Smith reports that
Mrs Little, who was hit in the side
of the face, the ball passing through
her cheek, striking the jaw bone and
passing through her neck, is rapidly
recovering. The wound is healing
nicely and danger from infection is
about past. DR.. William Horne,
father of Mrs. Sheldon, who was
struck by the same bullet, reported
this morning that he considered the
danger period about past. Mrs.
Sheldon exhibited an unusual amount
of nerve. She did not tell until after
the excitement was about over that
she had been struck by the ball,
helped Mrs. Little downstairs, and
assisted in other ways. She then told
Mr.. Sheldon to get the car and they
would go to her fathers home. When
they reached the Horne home DR..