Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1918-11-25
LATE NEWS OF CUMBERLAND. VALLEY
CHARGED WITH
KILLING WIFE
Russell Potter Under Arrest
at Waynesboro Following
Young Woman's Death

Wayncsboro, Pa, Nov. 25.-That
Mary Thelma Potter, the young wife
of Russell Potter, whose dead body
was found on the floor of her home
i'm Tritle avenue, Saturday,afternoon.
with bullet hole through her heart,
came to her death from the effects
of a pistol shot wound inflicted by
her husband, was the verdict of the
jury called by the coroner to make
an inquest into the tragedy. The jury
was unanimous in fixing the guilt
upon the husband and reached its
verdict promptly upon the conclu-
sion of the hearing. AS result the
murderer is now in the county jail
TIE inquest was held in the city
hall last night between the hours of
and .. The county coroner DR.. j.
NJ. Kinter, presided. District Attor
ney Charles II. Clippinger, Green
castle, conducted the hearing. The
following jury was impanelled: JUS
tce of the Peace John A. Potter,
President of the Board of Health
William. II. Morrison, Registration
Assessor l.. S. Kepner. Constable
George r. Byers, John II. Neal and
Harvey S. Thompson.
The accused husband was brought
into the inquest-or rather dragged
in by the chief of police, as he af-
fected not to be able to scarcely put
one foot before the other. He was q
pitiable and ghastly sight as he
dropped in a heap on the witness
chair, with his long bushy raven
locks, cut football fashion, his old
shabby overcoat, his palid and death
ly countenance, contorted by agony,
and his body writhing and quaking
as though in an epileptic fit.
Though cautioned by the District
Attorney, that under the circum-
stances, he being the only other per-
son in the house at the time, the law
would presume him guilty of the
murder of his wife and that he
would not be required to answer any
questions put to him, the accused
man waived all his rights OF legal
protection and at once dropped into
a recital of the entire bloody episode,
as he had prepared his story in the
few hours that had elapsed.
He protested his innocence and
told a circumstantial story of how
his wife had gotten the revolver
from a nail where they kept it hang
ing, and began brandishing it in
cowboy style, saying, IN going to
shoot you" He at first supposed she
was only jesting, but-soon she level
ed the pistol at nim. lie stopped
quickly and that minute the shot
rang out and his wife rushed into
the parlor and fell over. He could
mot explain how the pistol got into
the pantry where it was found later
by neighbor, or how his wife had
made her way into the parlor, thir-
ty-five feet away, before she fell over
dead. Neither could he explain the
absence of any bloodstains on the
floor of the kitchen or the dining
room through which his wife had to
pass to reach the parlor where her
dead body was found in pool of
blood. Other glaring discrepancies
in his story, coupled with his actions
Immediately following the shooting
and the conditions found in the
wound and clothing of the dead
woman, made his story unworthy of
credence.
DR.. Croft, who made the autopsy,
was the main witness. He told of the
conditions found at the house when
he reached there at 2 o'clock, shortly
after the shooting. The young wom-
an was lying on her side and her
clothing was saturated with blood,
in a pool of which she lay. The bull
let had penetrated Immediately over
her heart and passed through the
same, lodging in the muscles of the
back, from which he extracted it
later in making the autopsy at the
undertaking establishment, where
the body was ordered removed by
the coroner. Her clothing about the
wound was charred and discolored
by the fire and smoke of the pistol
In the palm of her left hand-and
this was the deadly, discriminating
evidence of murder-was an elong-
ated wound showing the path of the
bullet as she grabbed the, end of the
barrel to defect the shot.
The 22-caliber revolver was
shown in evidence, with one cham
ber empty. Also the extracted bullet
which corresponded with those re-
manning in the revolver.
r.. f.. Galbraith, a neighbor, was
the first to reach the Potter home.
Potter came running over for him,
saying that his wife had shot herself
and had threatened to shoot him. He
told him that his wife had held the
point of the revolver at her heart
and said size was going to shoot her
self. He said, mo, dearie, don't do it,
but she did it just the same" Wit.
ness and DIR. Croft found the revolv-
er in the pantry.
Potter is a son of o. ]. G. Potter,
and is only 20 years old. He has al
ways been a wayward youth and
hard to manage. Degeneracy is
stamped on his every feature. He has
been employed at a local factory.
That he provided poorly for his wife
is shown by the squalid conditions
about tile house. His wife was only
fifteen years old when married to
Potter seven months ago. Her father
is dead and her mother lives at Pond
Bank, near Mont Alto. She was a
comely young woman and the pic
ture of health.
SHOT WILD TURKEYS