The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1934-12-24
ONLY ONE
OF HOUSEHOLD TO
SURVIVE TRAGEDY
Grief-Crazed Woman and Her
Sister Also Dead in Multi.
pie YuIe Sayings
NOTE EXPLAINS MOTIVE
Death Makes Frequent Intru-
sions on Holiday Scene;
II Disasters Listed

Pittsburgh, Dec. 24.-tP,-The pa.
per bells and tinsel garlands thct
made Walter Dempsey,s home ready
for a happy Christmas grace q house
Of tragedy Monday. for all but one
OF the family Of six are dead: slain,
police say. by q woman driven mad
by the death Of her own son.
In addition, the woman herself ana
her sister are dead in the multiple
Yuletide tragedy.
Death made frequent intrusions on
the holiday scene Monday as report.
Of airplane disasters were added to
list Of accidents and trae-
edies. Besides the Pittsburgh tragedy,
the stories Of death were:
Death Toll I. Heavy
Elko, Nev.-A pilot and his
passengers, two girls and a boy,
were sought after their plane
disappeared In fog and snow.
Rescue parties faced frozen drifts
and icy winds In their search.
Wilmington. Calif.-Lost in q
heavy fog, Elmer r. Hunt, 70,
drove his car off q pier, his wife
and two children drowning.
Lincoln, Neb.-An automobile,
crashing into q truck. brought
death to four.
Pittsburgh-Four persons died
when a bus. carrying travellers
home for Christmas, was In .
collision with IN automobile.
Delaware, O.-Two fast trains.
bearing Christmas passengers and
mail, crashed, killing three men,
bers of the locomotive crews.
st. Louis A student pilots
Christmas present to his room
mate, his first airplane ride, end
ed in death for both when the
ship crashed.
Sunbright, Tenn.-Au air mail
pilot, Russell Riggs. was found
dead in the burned wreck Of hts
plane atop Big Pilot mountain.
Mazatlan. Mexico-Hope was
abandoned for seven persons
aboard a plane which fell into
the Gulf of California.
Carlsbad. N. M.-Firc which
destroyed the Carlsbad Inn
brought death to four persons.
Nairport, GA fishing tug,
wrecked by an explosion, burned
to its water line. Coast guards
men said they believed the two
men aboard were blown over
board and killed.
Five Dempseys Die
Coming to the suburban home of
Dempsey, her brother, Mrs. Kathryn
81, Of Dunkirk, N. Y, a
trained nurse, made the family merry
with gifts for all, but in the night shot
them with pistol and ended her own
life with poison.
Five Of the Dempsey family died in
the shootings Sunday. The mother
alone still lives.
A pitiful note, telling how she could
not have her little Seven-year-old son
with her to enjoy Christmas happi-
ness, was found by police who said it
held the explanation Of the motive for
Mrs. Schoch's act.
It read in part:
% dear God, It's hard to do all this
but l just cannot 60 on any longer.
Not to feel my darling boys arms
around me nor hear his precious voice
makes living unbearable."
Sister Also Victim
At Mrs. Schools apartment in Dun
kirk, police broke In and found her
sister, Mrs. Ruth Dempsey Hughes.
dead Of p bullet wound. They said she
possibly had been slain by Mrs. Schoch
before the latter left for Pittsburgh.
Besides Mrs. Hughes and Mrs
the dead are:
Walter Dempsey, ~, a welfare
worker.
Robert. II: Thomas, 8; Walter Jr.
10: and David, aged Is months, all
sons of Dempsey.
Mrs. Clara Dempsey, the mother. is
in 3 hospital with bullet wound in
the head. Physicians said she has
chance for recovery.
The father and three Of the sons
we're killed as they slept. Walter Jr.
died in hospital several hours later.
The baby. David, was shot while he
slept in his crib by his parents side.
demonstrating the tragic affair
from notes left by Mrs. Schoch and
statement from Mrs. Dempsey, police
arrived at the theory that grief over
the death q month ago Of her son
Continued on Page