Evening star., 1941-10-19
Photo by Rideout.

and three children and her son-in-laW,
Mr. James Y. Christmas, and his three
children. Ill-feeling which arose between
Whitneys and Christmas resulted Sat-
urday evening in a personal encounter,
in which Whitney was shot and almost
instantly killed.
"A few minutes before 5 o'clock that
evening, just after the bell had been
run for dinner and as Christmas was GAL
lantly attending Mrs DR.. Wheat, very
venerable lady, down the narrow stair
way leading from the main hall to the
basement or dining room floor, Whitney
entered the front door. 1t appears that
he at once started in pursuit of Christ
mas. The latter hurried down the steps,
and Mrs. Wheat, observing that there
was danger of a personal encounter, the
hostility Of the men being known, es
caped from the scene into the dining
room.
The next instant the report Of pistol
and the sound of a falling body were
heard When the people of the house
came to the spot they found Whitney
lying at the foot of the stairs dying
Christmas stood nearby in the passage
and stated calmly that he had been
forced to shoot Whitney in self-defense.
Whitney died within few minutes after
the shot was fired, without uttering a
word.
Christmas asked a servant to go for
a policeman, and when an officer ar
c,trrondarol l1irncp1f nd tho
revolver with which he had A'ed the
fatal shot to him. Christmas was taken
TO the fifth precinct station, where he
remained during the night. BY advice
Of his counsel, Col. w. A. Cook, he
declined to make any statement of the
affair to reporters.
whitney, who was about As years
of age and inclined to stoutnesS, was a
son of Mrs. Gaines by her first husband.
Christmas, who is about so years of age,
is a native of Warrington, N c.. and
married Mrs. Gaines daughter, Rhoda
Whitney. Mrs. Whitney died at War
rington in the autumn of 1879, and in
the following May Mrs. Gaines and her
son and son-in-law with their families.
became boarders at the Misses Harrover'S.
Frequent Outbreaks
1T appears that Mrs. Gaines fur
nished the two men with money, with
which they embarked together in the
'curled hair business. having an Office
at No. IT'S Fifteenth street. Last spring
they disagreed and the partnership was
dissolved. Mr.. Whitney continued in the
business, becoming a member of the firm
of H. A. Linger & Co. Recently Whitney
published a notice informing the public
that j. Y. Christmas is not allowed under
any circumstances to collect any bills
for the firm. One cause of bad feeling
between the two men appears to have
been jealous feeling entertained by
Whitney regarding the attention of Mrs.
Gaines to Christmas and his motherlesS
children, and it is stated that Whitney
frequently accused his brother-in-law of
attempting the defraud the lady There
were frequent outbreaks of temper on
his part, and he was so abusive that the
servants stood in great dread of him.
The Whitney family, of which Mrs.
Gaines first husband was a member,
came from the vicinity of Binghamton,
N. Y.
The Red Cross in its early days did not
have the wonderful buildings in WASH
ington it has today in which to carry on
its activities, and from 1892 to 1897 occu-
pied as its headquarters the building
still standing at the southwest corner
of Seventeenth and F streets, across the
street from the State, War and Navy
Building and on the opposite corner to
the old Winder Building, and this was
also the home of Miss Barton This
house is said to have been built in JEFF
ferson's time, and was, for a time, the
private residence of Gen. Jessup, and
subsequently, during the Civil War, was
the headquarters of Gems. Halleck and
Grant, and rooms were occupied here
by Gen. Horace Porter and bv Col. Dent.
From this old building the headquar-
ters were shifted to Glen Echo, Md,
where Miss Barton had taken up her
residence, and here the offices of the Red
Cross remained until the new building
at Seventeenth and D streets was ready
for occupancy. Miss Barton died at Glen
Echo on April 10, 1912
Prior to this, however, on June 6, 1900,
a Federal charter was obtained for the
Red Cross and under it Miss Barton was
elected president for life. But this
Office she resigned on May IA, 1904 and
this was accepted June l6, month later.