Evening star., 1937-01-13

Boarman, who praised his reputation
in the community. investigators said
only madness could account for the
Staying.
Retired about five years ago from
the American Telephone & Telegraph
Co., Boarman had been acting queer
1y'' lately, several friends declared.
He joined the A. T. & T. Co. in 1896
when he was living in Pennsylvania.
In 1903 he came to Washington where
he remained until his retirement in
1882.
Friends Puzzled.
William M. Bull, Boarman's nearest
neighbor, who said he heard no dis
turbance at the residence, declared the
elderly man had apparently been ''un-
der a nervous strain Another friend,
Webster Spates of Chevy Chase, Nd,
who said he had Known Boarman for
many years, declared that the killings
seem completely impossible to any
one acquainted with him, since he was
true family-loving man and extreme
~ proud of his children"
Other reports of Boarman's recent
strange conduct" were given by Will
liam F. Ryan ST., father Of the in
jured girls flance, who said his son
and the wounded girl had planned to
marry this year.
As reconstructed by police, the
tragedy began when Boarman attacked
his wife in the dining room. killing
her with sledge-hammer blow under
the temple and knife slash through
the jugular vein She was not shot.
The next victim apparently was his
son, found lying in a corner of the
kitchen, with two .32-caliber bullet
wounds in the head and a crushed
skull. Last to die was the daughter,
trapped in the cellar before her father
sent another missile into her brain
and slashed her with a long-bladeG
knife. She was found next to the fur
mace, her head lying on a small pile
Of firewood.
Shortly after the slayings, young
Ryan and Miss Mary Boarman drove
into the front yard. Unable to re-
member his horrifying experience in
detail, the youth told police the fol-
lowing:
AS the car drew up to the porch
entrance. Boarman, carrying a re-
volver and hammer, stepped to the
side Of the vehicle occupied by the
girl remarked that nobody is home"
and fired. The bullet pierced his
daughters arm and grazed her COM
panion's cheek and ear. Ryan leaped
from the automobile as the elderly
man began striking the girl, wrested
the revolver from his grasp and tossed
1t away as Boarman fled on foot. The
revolver, later located by police, con-
tanned five more bullets. officers said,
but poor spring caused jamming
Of the mechanism.
Two Witnesses Found.
Ryan took the young woman to the
ofice of Dr. Robert Hotel at 1922
Monroe street northeast, where first
aid was administered before Miss
Boarman was transferred to Sibley
Hospital. Ryan was not admitted to
the hospital
Only two witnesses of Boarmans
dttdCk on tne pair we're 10und by
police. S. A. McChesney, %, Hyatts-
vile Post Office employe, and his
father, E. S. McChesney, As, both of
University Park. said the girls
screams attracted their attention as
they drove by the house.
Turning into the driveway, they
saw Boarman beating his daughter
with hammer as she sank to the
ground, they declared. AS their car
approached so closely to the man
that it almost struck him. Boarman
fled. they said, after Ryan had
wrested the gun from him.
Dies Beneath Train.
Before District and county police
were summoned to the red brick two
story house, set back so feet from
Queens Chapel lane, the elderly man
apparently wandered across a field
into the District of Columbia.
About an hour after the tragedy,