Evening star., 1953-10-01
Man Stays His Wife
And Self; Daughter, 9,
Finds Their Bodies

"A man killed his wife with
five shots from a As pistol and
then fired a bullet through his
head yesterday in their Silver
Spring tMd.) apartment.
Their 9-year-old daughter
found them dead when she came
home from school.
DR.. Frank j. Broschart, Mont
gomery County medical exam
iner who ruled it murder-sui-
eide, identified the victims as:
Emma Matilda League, "a, and
Louie Furman League, 80, of
S717 Piney Branch road.
Motive Undetermined.
County police couldn't say
what the husbands motive was.
No farewell notes were found.
It'll probably always be a
mystery" said Captain Carroll
v. Miller.
Each victim had a policeman
brother. The husbands brother,
Pvt. Harry League, clerk of the
harbor' precinct, said his brother
was hot-tempered. But the Dis
trict officer said he didn't know
what could have stirred his
brother to slay his wife and then
kill himself.
Mrs. Leagues youngest daugh-
ter, Joyce, a fourth-grader at
Rolling Terrace Elementary
School, noticed nothing unusual
when she came home for lunch,
Capt. Miller said.
The captain said the girl said
her father wasn't home Hnen.
Police said the shooting oc-
CURED sometime between 12:45
pm, when Joyce returned to
school, and 3:15 pm, when Joyce
got home again.
Girl HySterical.
The couples other child. Ger
aldine, II, didn't have lunch at
home. She arrived home abyut
an hour after her younger sister
had found their parents. Police
prevented the hysterical girl
from entering her home.
Mrs P. C. Shenk, who lives
above the Leagues second-story
place in the Long Branch Apart
ments, said she heard noise
like an explosion about 1 pm.
(the medical examiner said that
probably was around the time
the Leagues were killed. but
thought nothing of it.
Mrs. Shenk said she heard
Joyce League come home from
school and begin screaming.
Then the child raced upstairs
shouting for help, Mrs. Shenk
said.
The neighbor said she. ran
downstairs with Joyce and found
Mrs. Leagues body between the
living room and dining area.
Mr. Leagues body, the gun
alongside, was few feet away
in the hall leading to the bed.
rooms, Mrs. Shenk said.
Telephones Police.
Mrs. Shenk said she ran up
stairs and phoned police.
DR.. Broschart said four of
Mrs. Leagues five wounds were
in the chest and abdomen. She
apparently had flung her right
arm in front of her. The arm
was fractured and had bullet !
hole through it. The fifth shot
hit her in the thigh, he said.
The weapon was an automatic
pistol. 1 Pvt League said he
didn't Know his brother owned |
any gun except a shotgun.
For the last 10 years Mr..
League was head of the mailing
department at Civic Education
Service, Inc, 1888 K street NV,
which complies material for
civic classes in schools across
the Nation and overseas. He
came to Washington about 7 16 !
years ago.
His wife worked in the Colo 1
RADIO Pastry Shop at Piney
Branch road and Flower avenue,
near her home.
Besides the harbor policeman,
Mr. League is survived by three
other brothers. Thomas, of
3441, third street Sc;
HerSchel, of Greenville, S. c.,
and Army M/Sergt. Branford
League, i'll Korea. His parents
live on a farm in Greenville
County, S. c.
Mrs. League was native of
this area, relatives said. Her sur
vivors include the policeman
brother, Charles E. Schaefer, a
private on the Prince Georges
County force.