The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1925-09-17
KILLING REMAINS
UNSOLVED TODAY
Coroner's Jury Brings In
Verdict in Rapinski
Death Inquest.
CAN'T PLACE BLAME

The mystery of the death of Mrs.
Paulina Rapineki, shot in the right
shoulder on the night of July while
standing in the kitchen of their res
taurant, was today entered in the
records of the coroner of Kenosha
county as "unsclved." A coroner's
jury today brought in verdict finding
that Mrs. Paulina Rapinski came to
her death from bullet wound fired
frosn a gun in the hands of a party un-
known to the jury. The verdict came
after four witnesses had taken the
stand before Coroner Friend and the
jury to tell what they knew of the in
cidents that led up to and followed the
finding of the woman in her home.
Ever since the shooting police de-
tectives and the coroner have been
working on the case, chasing down
several clues which were picked up In
an effort to find who shot the gun
which killed the woman. Several mo-
tives were at first advanced but when
these were traced down it,wa found
that they had little basis of actual fact.
Sons On Witness Stand.
The dead woman's two sons, Joseph
and Stanley Rapinski, took the wit
ness stand and were questioned by
District Attorney Lewis Powell. Their
story told how the two had gone to
bed shortly after eight o'clock on the
night Of July 8 during the terrific
rain and electrical storm which struck
the city at that time. They had talk
ed with their mother who was clean
ing up their restaurant at TOO Strong
street, just a few minutes before re-
firing. Just as the two were ready
to crawl into bed they heard loud
shot and a piercing scream, almost
simultaneously. The two rushed back
to the kitchen and there found their
mother lying PROSTATE before the
open kitchen door, with blood stream
ing from, her right shoulder. Fright
ened they rushed back to their bed
room and Joseph grabbed his 12-gauge
shotgun and Stanley grabbed band
age cloth and the two rushed to their
mother. Joseph told the jury that he
shook his mother but she did not
speak. They saw no one else in the
room at the time. The inside kitch-
en- door was open but the scream door
facing an alley south of the build
ing was not hooked.
No Marks On Door.
The two testified that their mother
was in the habit of opening the
kitchen door and looking out occa-
sionally, and it was possible that on
this night she had opened the screen
door to look out into the storm when
she was shot.
While no evidence was presented
at the inquest to show that this was
the case, the police investigation
shortly after the accident tended to
show that Mrs. Rapinski had prob
ably been shot by a .32 bullet fired
from some one in the neighborhood
who was celebrating the Fourth of
July with firearms.
Two other witnesses testified. Leo
Rapinski, husband of the dead woman,
declared that q few minutes before
the shooting, he had gone to the
corner barber shop to see if he could
get bath. Fifteen minutes later he
returned to find his home filed with
police officers and his wife dead.
DR.. F. E. Andre testified that he and
DR. A. L. Christopherson had per-
formed an autopsy on the remains
and had located the bullet below the
middle of the collar bone. From the
path of the bullet, he said, it was i'm
possible that the wound could have
been self-inficted.