The Athena press. [volume] (Athena, Umatilla County, Or.) 18??-1942, 1922-10-20
Shoots Girl and
Then Kills Self

ton boy, shot Helen Stackhouse, hi.
sweetheart at her home in Portland
Sunday afternoon, and turning the
weapon on himself, fired and killet
himself instantly.
Young Read was well known i,
Athena, and in company with hi.
brother Ralph Of Portland, was il
Athena during Roundup week. The
Oregonian recounts the tragedy al
follows:
A. T. Read, 23-year-old craftsman
and ex-Oregon Agricultural college
student. shot and killed himself yes
terday after seriously woundine
Helen Stackhouse, 18, to whom he
had been engaged for eight months
The shooting took place in the base.
ment of the girls home, after the
girl refused to reconsider her deci.
sion to break off the engagement
The girl broke the engagement
Thursday because Of his frequen,
exhibitions of bad temper.
Calling at her home to plead with
her as he had each day since he,
decision, he asked her to 60 to the
back porch with him, where they
would be out of hearing of her par.
ents, Mr.. and Mrs. s. T. Stackhouse
Once on the back porch he sug-
gested the basement. Reluctantly
but unafraid because of his evident
calmness, the girl did as he requested,
For Is minutes he argued with her,
she said last night in the Good Sa-
maritan hospital, where opiates had
been administered to allay the pain
of the gunshot wound an inch below
and to the left of her heart.
The mother upstairs once even
heard the girl laugh; not the least
evidence was there of scene. And
then, evidently feeling that his ar
guments were useless, the youth
pulled out two letters which he read
to the girl. Then she became afraid,
for a wildness crept into his tone,
and his letters, one to her mother
and one to his brothers and sisters,
asked forgiveness for what he was
about to do"
"This is for your mother" he told
her, pointing to the one letter, ac-
cording to her story. "This," he
went on. sis for my brothers and
sisters, and this" pulling out pis-
tol, "is for you"
Thirty seconds of pleading, even
tears, helped not the least. II ran
for the basement door," she said,
"He followed me and then--he shot
me-and all the time not word did
he say"
Alarmed by her daughters voice,
raised in appeal, the mother reached
the top of the stairs from the back
porch in time % see Reed shoot and
then turn the weapon on himself.
The bullet went directly through
his heart, bringing death at once
Fearfully frightened and half wild
with pain, the girl ran to neigh
bor's for help, found no one home
and then raced, blood all the while
spreading out upon her dress, block
and half to Ingrams store at Goth
and Glisan streets. The police were
called from there and by the mother
from her own home.
His own justification, as he had
formulated 1t, appeared in Reeds
letters to the girls parents and to his
own relatives.
Il loved her madly; I couldn't live
without her" ran like a refrain
through them both.
You've hurt me and now I'm 90
ing to- hurt you,' Helen said he told
her after he had read that letter to
her. At the time he wrote the letter
ne did not have her death in mind,
the girl thinks.
Reed was craftsman in the en-.
ploy of the Pacific Telephone G
Telegraph company. He is survived
by eight brothers and two sisters as
follows: W. o. Reed, Athena; ]. T.
Reed, Pomeroy, Wash; Harvey and
George, Vancouver, Wash; Joseph
and Ralph, Portland; Leo and Ray,
Enterprise; Mrs. A. O. Wood, Mount
ain Home, Idaho, and Mrs. M. f.
Schurte, arlington.
He was a very lovable boy,' said
Mrs. Marion Cafferty, with whom
Reed had lived. She showed bitter
ness when the girls name was mem