Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1914-09-11
SEEK FARMLAND
IN SHOOT|NGO OF
WOMAN RECLUSE
Morris Detective Wants to
Know Hartigan's Relation to
Miss Theresa Nicholson.
special to the Evening star.

YOUNGSTOWN. Sept. 11.-County
Detective Edward Brennan is not in
clined to accept the theory that Miss
Theresa Nicholson shot herself after
her $50, 900 residence at Long Hills, in
Chatham township. WAS destroyed by
fire Wednesday afternoon.
He said today that there we're no
powder marks on her clothing, and
that. contrary to rumors, no pistol
had been found. Instead. a .22-calibre
rifle was picked up yesterday outside
the ruins of her home, and ii is be-
lieved that from this gun was fired
the shot responsible for her condition.
Placed in Straight Jacket.
Miss Nicholson recovered conscious
ness in All Souls Hospital, but she
was violently insane and had to be
placed in a strait-jacket. DR.. a. b.
Coultas, of Madison, who was sum
moned at / o'clock yesterday morn
ing and found her lying on a couch
in the road outside the ruins of her
home. does not think the wound Will
prove fatal.
County Detective Brennan is seek
ing John A. Hartigan, the former
farm hand on the Nicholson estate,
who before he left for Florida year
ago, asserted that he had married
Miss Nicholson, and was leaving be
cause they had a quarrel. He wants
Hartigan to explain why he wrote
to a friend in Summit asking him TO
mail a letter to Miss Nicholson. She
had refused to open any mail bearing
n Florida postmark, and had returned
the letters to Hartigan.
The letter which appeared In yes
terdays Evening Star is now in the
possession of Detective Brennan. 1t
stated that Hartigan intended coming
North in n few weeks and wanted
to get back in Miss Nicholson's good
graces. Brennan says Hartigan was
seen in the vicinity of Newark Few
weeks ago and he is now trying to
trace his actions since then. If 1t
eventually proves a fact that she did
shoot herself. he says, she may have
been prompted to do 1t by something
in one of these letters.
Brother Arrives from Chicago.
John j. Nicholson, vice-president
of the Murphy Varnish Company, of
Newark, arrived here from Chicago
today and went directly to All Souls
Hospital to see his sister. Then he
visited the ruins of the house at Long
Hills which he owned.
His visit to the hospital was unpro-
ductiye. She was in no condition 10
talk. and her mind was a blank re-
garding tire destruction of her house
and the shooting.
Are you married, Theresa he
asked her.
I'D rather not talk about that,
she replied
1t was rumored around yesterday
that, when her house appeared DOOM
ed, she summoned her pet dog
and shot it dead. saying she could
not bear to see ii without a home
The dog, a big st. Bernard, appeared
around the ruins this morning. 1t Is
being cared for in the barn.
As told in yesterdays Evening Star,
Miss Nicholson's home was burned
to the ground Wednesday afternoon,
and about midnight someone tele-
phoned to DR.. Coultas. He went out
in his automobile and found her lying
on a couch in the middle of the road
with two men and a woman around
her.
They told him they were relatives
of Miss Nicholson and had been sum
moned to Long Hills from Tuckahoe,
N Y. Detective Brennan wants to
know who summoned them and how
they reached Long Hills from Tucka-
hoe so quickly. He will question them.
today