Evening journal., 1921-11-09
ASKSFREEDOM
FOR HUSBAND
Who Shot Her


general, the court and the grand
jury every effort to save her hus-
band who had fired the bullet which
almost killed her and who subse-
quently had shot himself dangerously
but not mortally.
Finally. the scarf pad which she
had at her back slipped out of place.
one Of the passengers, who noticed
her distress, asked her IL he might
not readiust it. With a warm sort of
smile she accepted the courtesy, say
ing:
you know, I'm the girl who was
shot"
shot" he exclaimed, while the
other passengers in the bus be-
came intensely interested.
when and where were you
shot?"
I'm a store in Wilmington, by my
husband. It was on Columbus Day.
What 1 am afraid of now is a hem
morhage, because the bullet went
clear through me and It will be sew
eral weeks before the wound will be
healed. You know, that bullet which
entered my right breast and came
out of my back, passed entirely
through my left lung.
Il have been doing my utmost to
save my husband from going to Jail.
He must have suffered terribly in
mind between the time he left me
and ! applied for a divorce and the
time he shot me and then shot him
self. 1 have pleaded with about six
ty persons all told, in my effort to
save him, but l am afraid that my
efforts have not done much good"
The passenger was Mrs. Mary
Myrtle Burke, wife Of James e.
Burke, of Philadelphia, formerly Of
this city She said she was on her
way to Newark to spend part Of her
/ period of convalescence with her sis
ter, a Mrs. Reed. who resides in
South Chapel street, that town.
What is the sensation of having
a bullet go clean through your"
she was asked.
There Is absolutely no sensa-
ton about it." she replied. There
is not even the slightest pain. AS
soon as my husband had shot me,
fell to the floor and played that ]
was dead, fearing that he might
shoot me again. It was not until my
lungs began to fill with blood that ]
felt any pain and then my suffering
was intense. You see. l used to live
in Marshallton. We moved from
there to Lewes. From Lewes 1 came
to Wilmington to accept a position
1t was in Wilmington that / met
Mr.. Burke. He was a Westing-
house Air-brake expert on the
Pennsylvania Railroad. We fell in
love and were married. Everything
, went well until about a year or Sc
ago when he quit working ant
! forced me, once more, to take a po'
Z sition in order that I might supper
b him and myself About three month";
: before the shooting he left me en-
tirely. Why he did 1t, I do no
F. know
There was no other woman II
the case and there was no othe
man in the case. He did not drink
and, so far as I know. he had NJ
,, evil habit except the habit of idle
ness. When he failed to come back
/ applied for a divorce. was fl
the store at work on Columbus Da.
! when he came to see me. He askel
me IL I would not drop the divorc
! proceedings and live with him ono
more. I replied that I would not
, that no man could walk away an
leave me the way he had done an
y then come back when it suited hi
r pleasure to do so. There was n
quarrel about it. That was abou
S all that was said before he whippe
out the pistol and shot me. I hav
been compelled to remain in Wi
d mington until after the grand jur
j. had acted, but now that that is owe
y and 1 am almost at the end of m
resources 1 am going to my siste
" But / don't want Mr.. Burke to 20 {
:, jail. because 1 realize that he mui
= have suffered greatly in his min
q during the period of our separatio
IL he could be brought TO a poiI
where he was ready to kill me an
d then kill himself There has bee
g. no reconciliation between us, b.
e cause no man on earth can leave IT
" the way he did and then come baC
70 when it suits him to do so; but. wit
e all that. do not want to be a par
?. to sending him to jail"
,r AS soon as the driver Of the bl
IN learned who his suffering passeng
te was, he considerably slowed dow
the vehicle at all rough places.
the end that young Mrs. Burke su
ID ceeded in reaching Newark witho
pr having the hemorrhage which 81
ie feared