Evening star., 1946-04-02
Doctors Fighting
ToSaveGir|, L,
Shooting Victim
Lay Unoided z Days;
Parents Death Held
Murder-Suicide

eQDurRl, VINO lay ulldIIellQeQ II
her home for nearly 48 hours
with a gunshot wound in he
head, continued her fight for lift
at Walter Reed Hospital today.
Hospital authorities said Mary's
condition was ''unimproved" She
was rushed to the hospital yesterday
morning in a critical condition after
police found her parents, Paul P
Stoutenburgh, As, and Mrs. Anna
Stoutenburgh, "A, dead of head
wounds in Mary's room at thei1
home, 1921 Kalmia road NV.
Coroner A. Magruder Macdonald
meanwhile, issued certificate OF
murder and suicide in the deaths OF
Mr.. and Mrs. Stoutenburgh. Accord
ing to the coroner, MI Stouten-
burgh, a former Army lieutenant
colonel and Justice Department at
torney, killed his wife. shot his child
and then turned the .25-caliber
automatic pistol on himself.
From the facts at hand-par-
ticularly the fact that the Saturday
morning newspapers were in the
house and the Saturday afternoon
and Sunday papers were still on the
porch-the coroner and police be-
lieved the triple tragedy occurred
Saturday morning.
From Saturday until about II
am. yesterday Mary lay in the room
with her dead parents. Doctors
said the fact she survived the week
end was unusual" but could hap
pen because the bullet passed
through and out of her head, Law
ing a passage for the blood to flow
and thereby preventing depression
of the brain.
Relatives believed worry over the
atomic bomb led to the murder
suicide. MI. Stoutenburgh. released
to inactive duty last November,
served in the Army and again in
civilian status as assistant to the
chief of the patent division, Office
of Scientific Research and Devel-
opment, which took part in the de-
velopment of the atomic bomb.
Feared Release of Atom Secret.
The dead mans brother-i law,
DR.. James j. Greeves, a dentist, of
1705 Hobart street NV. told re-
porters that Mr.. Stoutenburgh had
a "phobia' about the atomic bomb,
believing its secrets were getting out
DR.. Greeves said Mr.. Stoutenburgh
had been i'll with worry for several
months after his specific recon-
mendations to both the War and
Navy Departments on how to pro-
tect atomic secrets were ignored. "
Dr.. Greeves said the last time any
member of his family spoke to the
Stoutenburghs was Saturday at 7
m. when Mary called his daughter
Jean to break a date to go skating
Saturday.
Police and relatives gave this ver-
sion of the tragedy:
Mrs. Greeves, sister of the dead
woman. became alarmed yesterday
morning when repeated telephone
calls to the Stoutenburgh home fail
ed to elicit an answer.
Arranged to Meet Police.
She called police and DR.. Greeves,
with friend, Byron Stanner, 2016
Perry place NE, arranged to meet
two policemen from the sixth pre-
cinct at the home.
They found the papers on the
front porch of the substantial red
brick home where the Stouten-
burghs have lived for IL years.
Breaking in the back door. they
found the parents bodies in Mary S
second-foor bedroom. The body OF
Mr.. Stoutenburgh, garbed in pa
jamas and lounging robe, was
sprawled across Mary's bed with his
feet touching the floor and an
automatic pistol beside his right
hand. The bullet had gone through
his right temple.
The body of Mrs. Stoutenburgh,
wearing black satin housecoat, was
on the floor at one side of the bed.
The bullet had entered the back of
her skull.
Mary was found unconscious on
the floor on the other side of the
bed. Reports from the hospital said
the bullet entered the right temple
and came out behind the left ear.
Married for 20 Years.
Relatives told police that Mr..
Stoutenburgh had made an unsuc-
cessful attempt about month ago
to take his life by gas, according to
Lit. jeremiah Flaherty, head of the
homicide squad. 1t. Flaherty said
as far as he knew the attempt was
not reported.
The Stoutenburghs had been mar
ried for 20 years. Mary, who was a
student at the Cathedral School for
Girls, was their only child. Neigh
bors described her as "a real pal' OF
her father. She was often seen
helping him in the garden.
According to War and Justice De-
partment records, Mr.. Stoutenburgh
was an examiner in the Patent Of
flee in 1925, when he was transferred
to the patent division. Office of the
Judge Advocate General, Navy De-
partment.
He went from there to the Justice
Department in 1880, where he was
special assistant to the Attorney
General in the Claims Division. He
went on military leave September
IT, 1912, entering the Army. He was
assigned to headquarters, Judge Ad-
vocate Generals Office, War Depart
ment, until his assignment to the
Office of Scientific Research ano
development. He was native Of
NorWalk, Ohio, and president of the
Shepherd Park Citizens Association
Mrs. Stoutenburgh worked in the
bookkeeping department of the
American Security & Trust Co. She
had worked there intermittently
since 1920. For a time she left the
employ of the American Security to
work for the Security Savings &
Commercial Bank, Ninth and G
streets NV. Her last term of en-
ployment at American Security
started February IL.
In addition to DR.. and Mrs
Greeves, Mrs. Stoutenburg is sur
vived by her mother. Mrs Albert l.
johnson, who lives with the Greeves,