Evening star., 1922-10-29
TRIED TO KILL Me-
WIDOW TELLS JURY
''0ther Woman" Shot Rector
and Committed Suicide,
She Declares.

HAVRE, Mont, October 2S.-Official
investigation by a coroner's jury into
the deaths of the Rev. Leonard Lacob
Christler and Mrs. Margaret Carleton
lasted until late tonight. no wit
nesses being examined until the night
session. The public was excluded
from the inquest.
According to authorities, there We're
no developments tending to disprove
the story of Mrs. Christler. to the
effect that she heard the shots in the
body of her husband on the floor and
saw Mrs. Carleton shoot herself
The inquest was called in response
to public demand.
That Mrs. Carleton threatened her
life after having shot her husband
was the statement accredited to Mrs.
Christler today by the Great Falls
Leader.
Mrs. Christler told her story in the
church her husband had builded.
After telling what had happened the
early part of the evening, when serv-
ices were held in her husbands s
church, followed by church supper
Mrs. Christler said:
Rev Christler had gone to accom-
pany Rev. Chapman of Butte to the
sleeping car at the depot about 1880.
1 walked home slowly and saw the
house lighted I called Attorney o. {.
Hauge, a neighbor, who was passing
to stand on the porch while l went in.
/ found Mrs. Carleton tearing photo
graphs of Mr.. Christler up and also
papers and burning them on the floor.
l persuaded her to go out, and we
went out together. meeting Mr..
Christler returning home. and we
three walked back together and went
into the parlor and sat down. There
are two doors to the parlor, and Mr..
Christler stepped through one of
them. closing the door behind him.
Mrs. Carleton rushed to the other and
passed through, and Immediately l
heard a shot and sprang to the door
my husband had passed through. Mrs.
Carleton stood with gun in her
hand and seemed crazed.
Tried to shoot Wife.
"She raised the gun and pointed it
at me, but either did not pull the
trigger or the cartridge failed to ex-
plode, as the gun wavered second
in her hand and she turned it against
her left breast and fired without a
word"
|. The bullet from the revolver en-
tered the right side Of the minister,
very low, and came out the left
shoulder, severing the aorta and
causing instant death, while Mrs.
Carleton was shot through the heart,
the bullet emerging behind her left
shoulder.
Mrs. Carleton was still wearing her
hat, and a fur cape was about her
neck. DR.. j. Mckenzie of Havre, first
to arrive at the Christler home, told
the authorities a revolver was clasped
in her right hand as she lay dead.
Mrs. ChristIer declined to say what
conversation passed preceding the
shooting, further than to intimate
that only ordinary affairs were spoken
of, and that the visit of Mrs. Carleton
at o'clock in the morning was sup
posed to be friendly call.
The funeral of Mrs. Carleton will
be held in Helena. probably Monday.
While DR.. Christler was best known
in northern Montana, his activities
had taken him to other parts of the
state and he was widely known in
Butte and Helena.
When he came to Montana the
saloon was ali established institution
and gambling was common. The rec
tor seemed to accept these things
as part of the west and he often was
found in barrooms with friends at
all times Of the night.
His friends said he felt that he was
needed in such places and he exerted
his influence for good without at
tempting any ordinary exhortations.
As q missionary. DR.. Christler took
a pride in his work. His territory.
embraced an area Of about 500 miles
long and 800 miles wide. In it were
the Little Rockies, the Bear Paw
mountains and other regions notor1-
Gus for the desperadoes they had
produced. He knew these remote
camps we'll and visited them as often
m his dutios- Vould permit.