Evening star., 1915-02-05
WOMAN SHOT down
IN DOOR OF HOME
Mrs. Constance Meagher,
Wife of Arti|Ieryman, Dan-
qerousIy Wounded.
BULLET WAS FIRED
BY Unidentified MAJ
Tracks Lead to Edge Of Fort N.Y.
Reservation, But No One There
Absent Last Night.

| Mrs. Constance Meagher. wife Of John
". Meagher, a private in Battery D. Sd
Field Artillery, stationed at Fort Myer.
was shot and perhaps fatally wounded at
her home near Clarendon, Va, last night.
So far no clue as to the identity of the
man who fired the shot has been found,
although Crandal Mackey, common
wealth's attorney of Alexandria county;
Sheriff A. II. Barbor, Deputy Sheriff
Harry T. Palmer and a score or more
! of residents of the vicinity have searched
the neighborhood since the shooting was
reported shortly before II o'clock last
night.
Mrs. Meagher was taken in an am
| bulance from Fort Myer to Georgetown
University Hospital early this morn
| ing, where she remains unconscious
| The bullet fred by the womans un-
| known assailant entered her right
| breast, penetrated her body and re-
| mained lodged in her spine. She was
paralyZed and unconscious when her
husband reached her last night.
Meagher had retired last night ABOUT
1890 o'clock, but was not yet asleep
when the shooting occurred. Henry
| Hayes, Mrs. Meagher's twelve-year-oid
son by former marriage. had gone
| into the rear yard to lock up chicken
| house, and because he remained longer
than usual Mrs. Meagher went to the
back door to call him.
Shot Down in Door.
AS she opened the door four shots
were fired in the darkness. The last
shot struck Mrs. Meagher, inf1fct1ng
the wound which may cause her death.
without making any outcry the woman
fell into the yard just outside the door,
where she was found moment later
by her husband.
The son, known to the men about
Fort Myer as Buster, ran to Claren-
don and summoned DR.. Simpson, who
did all that was possible. Owing to the
fact that there are no accommodatlons
for woman patients at the post hospital
the wounded woman could not pe taken
there, and 1t was not until about S:So
o'clock this morning that she was re-
moved to Georgetown University HOS
pital.
Commonwealth's Att ney Mackey ac-
companied DR.. Simpson . the Meagher
home. where he was jo. sd by Snerh
Barbor and Deputy Sherif. Palmer. In
vestigation showed that {. n unknown
person had been in the rear yard OF the
Meagher home, and the pecuilariy
shaped tracks of the intruder were
traced in the snow to the porch OF
vacant house nearby. bullet hole in
the glass panel of the door of this
house and powder marks on the wood
work of the door showed that snot
had recently been fired there. From the
vacant house the tracks led to the ease
of the military reservation, where they
were lost.
Investigation showed that all Of the
men absent from the fort on leave
had returned on time ana ina. an
if any soldier or civilian at the post
wore shoes such as those worn by
the unknown person whose tracks
+Iu4 oerk1a
home failed to disclose the presence
of any such person at the fort.
Conducted a Laundry.
Mrs. Meagher. who was born in Nor
way. was widow, her former home
being in New Jersey. Her husband
enlisted in Boston, where the two were
married. Mrs. Meagher has conducted
small laundry and has employed two
or three assistants in the work, the
laundry being located at the Meagher
home.
The theory of Alexandria county Of
lcials Investigating the shooting is
that some one was in the yard last
night endeavoring to steal clothing
went into the yard. Believing himself
discovered, the officers think, the in
truder fired at the boy, failing to hit
him. wild shot inflicting the wound
that may cause MRS. Meashers oeatn.
Oficers at Fort Myer conducted a
further investigation this afternoon in
the effort to learn if any man stationed
or employed there was out over time
last night, or If any one wore shoes
such as might have made tracks similar
to those found in the Meagher yard.
Owing to the fact that the tracks stop
| ned at the edge of the reservation.
| however, 1t is not believed any one at
the fort was responsible for the shoot