Putnam patriot., 1916-05-12
ELLIOTT DEAD
  End Came in Jail at 4.5O Tuesday Morning, Week After Crime Was Committed
Died from Self-iuflicted Bullet Wound.
 Fired Revolver into His Mouth

JOnn EillOtt, 10, oi InOmpsOni muf-
 derer of Burt Pettis and his daughter
 Sybil, died at the county jail in Brook
 lyn at 4 90 Tuesday morning. Death
 came within week, even to the hour,
 following the death Of his victims. El-
 liott made no statement before he died
 but it is now plain that he died of a
 wound self inflicted. During the
 night Dr. Burroughs pried Elliott s
 mouth open and found that the bullet,
 which it was thought had been shot into the top of his head and lodged
 under the skull, had in fact passed up
 ward through the roof of the mouth and out through the skull. Elliott had held his revolver in his mouth and fired and nearly the whole roof of the mouth was gone. This accounts for Elliott's refusing to take solid food or to open his mouth. II was his de- sire to die and with this determination he kept his injury secret as far as possible.
 The death of the murderer by his own hand carries out the threat he made to lis employer, Miss Ann Gun ningham, whom he tod that if he got into any more trouble he would take his own life. Also the threat made to Mrs. Pettis that he would blow him. self to pieces.
 It was between 1 30 and o'clock a week ago Tuesday morning that Eli ott appeared at the Pettis home and shot down Mir. Pettis and his talented daughter, teacher in the school at Grosvenordale, because the young woman swould not listen to his words Of love and proposals of marriage. For forty. eight hours armed posses secured the surrounding countryside for the murderer and it was not until o'clock Thursday morning, few hours over two days after the crime, that El- liott, driven from his hannts by hung CT, appeared at the home of Roland Mills, less than mile from the scene of the crime, and was captured.
 Soon after Elliott was arrested doc- tors examination disclosed that he was suffe ring from fractured skull and was in critical condition. He only spoke twice since he was appre- hended, once to say, "Someone got hurtn and once. when he asked if some water offered him was fit to drink, He must have suffered agonies.
 At the jail he has laid on his cot with his eyes closed. He has refused all nourishment except milk which he would sip through lips nearly closed His answers as to whether or not he wanted milk were always given by nod or shake of the head. Not word would he utter.
 The death of Elliott will save the state considerable expense. The legal aspect of the case demanded that all possible be dore to save his life that he might be tried, and, if convicted, be hung or imprisoned for life, cared for at the expense of the state. The man wanted 10 die. He had led distorted life since coming into the world an H. legitimate child of a mentally detec- tive father. Born under cloud, men tally deficient, his distorted brain con ceived and carried out an awful re- venge. He has paid the penalty al- though he has cheated the law and the gallows.
 Mrs. Pettis said over the telephone from the home of her sister, Mrs. Fred Card, Tuesday afternoon, concerning EIliott's death, "It is a great relief to me. think it is only justice that he should die. He must have suffered but he brought it on himself and 1 can not feel sorry for him after what he did"
 Asked how she was feeling Mrs. Pet tis said, "Of course am all broken up. can hardly realize it yet. My little family is gone and my home is gone. I do not know what l shall do but l can not go back there to live as l couid- n t stand it and it would be too lone- some. I have been advised not to. Yes, I am relieved that that man is dead"
 The body was claimed Tuesday af- ternoon by Mrs. Daniel Arnold of an aunt