After the lapse of six days only
since the killing of the woman
Mary Burns by her husband, the
Eastern District again furnishes
another equally sensational
affair. Dissipation and its
accompanying effects was at the
bottom of the Burns affair and
was likewise the indirect cause
of this latter tragedy. The
scene of the latter as in the
former is laid in a tenement at
No. 29 Ash street, Greenpoint,
where, with other crowded and
pent up families, dwelt that of
one Thomas Mitchell, a laboring
man, given to the reprehensible
practice of strong drink. What
little is known of the fatal
affray between Mitchell and his
wife, or that can be gleaned
from his co-tenants, is entirely
of a general character, and
quite in keeping with the
details of family scrimmages
frequently occurring in such
instances.
Last night, as was by no means
unusual with the man, Mitchell,
the alleged murderer of his
wife, arrived home late in the
evening and unquestionably
drunk. Exactly what transpired
between him and his wife, none
of their numerous neighbors
profess to know anything of a
definite nature, and as in the
Burns affair, they seemed to
have cared very little. It is
not at all unusual to find this
class of people abounding in
sympathetic utterances and the
like, after one or more of them,
as the case may be, have been
severely injured or killed
outright, they, from habit as
much as anything else, perhaps,
seeming to take such things for
granted and as a matter of
course.
Consequent upon his going home
beastly drunk, his faculties
deadened to all impulses of a
manly or generous nature,
Mitchell is believed to have
first quarreled with his wife,
or she with him, and the upshot
was a blow of his fist which
knocked her prostrate to the
floor insensible. All the people
in the house who pretend to know
anything concerning the habits
of the man and his state upon
entering the house agree in the
statement that Mitchell had
often flogged his wife according
to old country style, but never
before apparently had injured
her to any extent. No outcries
on the part of the woman were
heard in the house and only one
of the tenants had a suspicion
even that she had fallen to the
floor in consequence of a blow.
In fact, subsequently to a brief
time after Mitchell entered his
apartments, nothing whatever was
heard of either the man or his
wife and it was supposed that
they had retired for the night
in peace and quiet. An entirely
different state of affairs was
revealed this morning, however,
such as to set the occupants of
the house in a commotion of
excitement. Finding Mrs.
Mitchell did not make her
appearance as usual, an
inquisitive neighbor took a look
into the room, upon the floor of
which the poor woman lay
immovable and, for all the
observer knew, dead. The
discovery was quickly
communicated to others, and in a
very few moments the entire
house was in arms and an officer
summoned to arrest the supposed
wife murderer. A hasty
examination showed, beyond a
question of doubt, that Mrs.
Mitchell was, in truth, dead
past all recovery, while close
inquiry disclosed the fact that
she had probably DIED FROM
VIOLENCE, at the hands, as
suspected, of her husband.
The latter, who had been
awakened by the entrance of the
people into his room, yet
scarcely in the full possession
of his senses, was secured by
Officer Battersley, who conveyed
him to the Seventh Precinct
Station, followed by a crowd of
women and children, many of whom
would seemingly have lent a hand
in stringing the miserable
wretch up to any convenient lamp
post.
Pending an investigation by
Coroner Whitehill and a jury,
which will be commenced this
evening probably, the accused is
held a close prisoner.
