Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-09-30
MAN SHOOTS WIFE
AND COUSIN, THEN
COMMITS SUICIDE
Refusal of Spouse for Recon-
citation InfuriateS For
mer Baker.
SON, II, WITNESSES
TRAGEDY IN HOME
Mrs. Wursts Condition Serious.
Relative Is Expected
to Recover.

Infuriated by her refusal to permit
him to return 70 her. Eustis Wurst of
Baltimore, "a. a former baker, shot
his wife Mrs. Esther Elizabeth Wurst,
49, and her cousin. Mrs. Amanda Rex
roth. So, then killed himself early last
night at the home of his wifes parents
at 514 Irving street.
The shooting, which occurred in the
living room of the home of Mrs Wurst,
was witnessed by the Wursts' 11-year-
old son Elmer and Mrs Alice jeanette
Schench, Mrs. WurSt'S mother.
AT least two bullets from the re-
volver held by the enraged husband
struck Mrs. Wurst, whose condition was
described as serious. but not critical
at Freedmen's Hospital where she was
taken, following the shooting, by Mr..
and Mrs. George M. Lucas. 5l1-Evtng
street. One of the bullets lodged in
Mrs. Rexroths iav.bore. She was
taken to Garfield Hospital where doctors
said last night that her condition was
not seFous.
: Separated After Quarrel.
According to Mrs Wurst's father,
Ludwig Schench. WuTst and his wife
had been separated since last February
when, the father said, Wurst tried to
attack his wife with a butcher knife
when they were living with her par
ents at the Irving street address Since
that time WurSt had made mis- home
with his sister. Mrs. Elizabeth Len
nings in Baltimore and had made sew
eral attempts to effect a reconciliation
with his wife
He returned to Washington yester-
day afternoon and called on her at
about o'clock. The couple had talked
several minutes on the front porch Of
her home when Wurst whipped out q
.38-caliber revolver and began firing at
his wife as she fled through the front
door into the living room and the
dining room Immediately behind. Five
bullets were fired in rapid succession
two entered Mrs. Wurst's back, one
crashed into Mrs Rexroth's jaw as she
stood in the living room and the re-
manning two were sent by the man
into his own chest.
Wurst fell near the dining room door
and died within few minutes. Mrs.
Wurst reached the dining room, where
she collapsed, although retaining con-
sciousness, and Mrs. Rexroth reeled in
the living room.
Young Son Sees Shooting.
At sound of the shots Mrs. Schench
ran from her kitchen to the front of
the house in time to see the fusilade
complete Its work in the death of her
son-in-law. Elmer, son of the Wursts,
who had been reading a newspaper at
his writing desk in the dining room,
crouched in terror behind his desk and
peered out to see his mother flee be-
fore the shooting of his father.
Just before the shooting started
Schench left his home to go to that of
neighbor to assist in repairing fur
mace, passing his daughter and her
husband in the doorway. He greeted
the son-in-law with Hello, Eustis," and
passed on hurriedly. AS he left his
front porch he heard his daughter say.
mo, Eustis, you can't stay here"
he reached the interior of the next
door house when he heard the shots.
BY the time he rushed back to his
own house, the shooting was over and
Wurst was dying in the living room.
Wife Barely Escapes Death.
One of the bullets fired by Wurst
shattered the middle finger on the right
hand OF Mrs. Wurst. Examination at
Freedman's Hospital indicated that one
of the bullets passed entirely through
her chest narrowly missing the lungs.
heart and spine. This bullet may have
been that which shattered the finger
only to pass on and lodge in the liv-
ing room wall near the dining room
door. Detectives found a bullet in the
plaster at that point. The bullet which
remained III Mrs. Wursts body was
removed from just beneath the surface
of the skin on her chest by DR.. H. H.
where 1t lodged after entering
the back
After it had been viewed by Coroner
j. Ramsey hewitt, the body of Wurst
was taken to the District morgue TO
await word from the mans sister in
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