New Britain herald., 1923-08-27
WOMAN STRANGELY
 KILLED AT PICNIC
Careless Hunter Sought in Somer-
 Yille, N. J., Fatality

somerville. N. J.. Aug. 27--Bowl'
 ing merrily along a road in the out
 skirts of Bound Brook. a few miles
 from here, watching for a place to
 picnic yesterday, Mrs Mary Gehlen.
 without cry, slipped from the front
 seat of her husbands automobile to
 the floor of the car. A tiny hole in
 the side of her head showed where 3
 small calibre bullet had entered.
 Whence it came no one in the party
 could tell and after investigation it
 remained last night as great mys- ,tery to the county police.
 It was a merry company of four ythat started out yesterday morning
 from 376 Park avenue, East Orange,
 the home of Mir. and Mrs. Henry Gehlen. With these two were their
 daughter and son-in-law. Mir and Mrs. John Kramer. They had no particular program except to drive through the prettiest country they could find. They took lunch with them, and intended to stop at some suitable spot when they got hungry.
 Shortly after noon they approached Bound Brook and were beginning to look for their picnic grounds. Some distance from the town they crossed a bridge over Green Brook, tribu- tary of the Raritan river. Between the bridge and the first buildings of Bound Brook the road stretches along low meadowIands on one side and along ground used as q munich pal dump on the other. Finding nothing suitable in that neighborhood, the party hastened along to get ] through the town. .... ]! Killed In Seat
 As the car sped through this stretch there was a sharp report that might have been a blowout. But al- i most at the same instant a glass panel ] in the sedan was shattered and Mrs Gehlen fell. Her husband damned the brakes, and as the car stopped he lifted her from the floor. She was unconscious.
 Mrs. Gehlen was lifted to the back seat and, while her daughter and son. in-Iaw made frantic efforts to re- vive her, MT. Gehlen raced his motoi four miles to Somerset hospital here. Physicians took her to the operating table but she died within an hour without regaining consciousness. An autopsy perforced by Dr. William Fl, Long, county physician, showed that death was caused by a .22 calibre bullet, which had entered her brain. The body was taken to the local un- dertaking establishment of John Max well, whence it was sent tonight to the East Orange home.
 County Prosecutor A. M. Beekman and County Detective George Totten started an investigation as soon as | they got report of the shooting. A possible explanation they thought at | first was that the bullet had come | from the rife of some person hunting { along Green Brook or in the marshy | meadow land. This seemed likely as | it is known that boys often go there to shoot muskrats and swamp birds. But search of the vicinity failed to disclose a youth who might have fired the shot.
 Another Clue Found.
 Another clue was found in the dumping ground. The authorities re- membered that an ammunition store burned down some time ago and that much Of the debris was carried there. They thought it possible that the ex- plosion of discarded cartridge had caused the death. This theory gained support when visit to the dumping ground late in the afternoon showed that it was on fire in several places.
 Firearm experts, however, de- clared they did not believe a loose discharged in such a man. ner, would have the force to pene- trate glass window and kill anyone. But it was conceivable, they said, that } loaded revolver had been thrown away among other things. It could be discharged by fire, they declared, < with enough force to kill. It was too late yesterday afternoon } 10 search for such weapon, but the ( police said they would make a sys- V .ematic hunt for it today. Tn the c meantime they did not give up the T .heory that q careless hunters rife a vas responsible, and were securing t he countryside for him last night. c