A MOTHER'S MAD DEED.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XIX, Issue 6578, 16 December 1882, Page 2 (Supplement)

A MOTHER'S MAD DEED.

TERRIBLE TRAGEDY IX NEW YORK. THKEE CHILDREN MURDERED. A tkkk'lJl.e tragedy was committed in New York on Uctober 31. A woman in the early maturity of her life, gentle, lovely, aud cultured, the idol of a husband who was but s few years her elder, blessed in her maternitw in her social position, and in the relineintriit i.f her home, destroyed first t'aose ■» ho were dearest to her and tiien herself, leaving behind no shadow of a clue to a rational motive for the deed. Her name was Mrs. .Margaret Seguin, the wife of Dr. Edward C. Segiiin, whose residence is at Xo. 41, N\ e=t Twentieth-street. Ho is eminent in his profession, and is wiot-iy known both in this country auJ in Europe. Thirty-two years of age.'s-he was the mother of three chil.ln-n, allot a tender ami sweet and in tiii-ir i::noeei.ee. Kdw; id C, the elu.st, -wa.-< six year.- ol.i ; John Van Duy:: was live, aud Jeaunette, the youngest, was four. These were her victims. Tile manner in which she accomplished her maniacal inspiration. !.'i- such i: wiil probably be found to have 1.-ii. is mo-: remarkable. Mrs. Sequin -was a charming lady, ot sii-ht iigure, .:arK ia:r and intellectual feature.-. Her domesticlife, a.- far as our.v.-.rd circ'i'.sist-.nces could make :", h:id beeii a must happy one. There ■was in it that cc-ulii justify a hick of con'.eiit:i;ent or repining. Vet. strange to sav, iier friends for a kog time had noted in her a variable melancholy, which ca.ne and ■went in a maui.ei- unaecouuiable, but which. ne\erihe!css, was deep seated in iti source. (Jue of those who chk-ily re marked it was Dr. Koyal W. Amidon," her brother, who resides at No. SS, West Tweuty-tirst-street. only a block distant from her house, and ■who has i eenin the constant habit of making himself almost as familiar in it as in his own. Another who noted it was Dr. Ball, who had for many years been her friendly physician, and was an intimate acquaintance of her husband. None of them, however, seemed ever to have the k-ast suspicion that it was a. symptom of insanity. They attempted to dispel it, and usually succeeded. But during the past few days the strange cloud has hung over her spirits mote persistently than ever before, aud at times it seemed wholly to obscure her natural sunniiiess of disposition. On the evening of the crime she visited her brother at his office, aud on her leaving it an impressiou remained in his mind that in the afternoon she was going for a. promenade. She returned home aud busied herself with her usual occupations, giving orders to her servants for tiie preparation of the dinner, to which Dr. William H. Draper had been invited. A strange fact is that she sent him in the afternoon a request not to come in the evening, but what reason she gave him is not yet known. Her husband departed early to attend to his professional duties, affectionately bidding her good-by. Among his last words was an allusion to a projected visit to Niagara and their journey tnither, which was to begin early this morning. Dr. Amidon called about noon, and stayed at luncheon with her. After he hid gone Mrs. Seguin, about three o'clock, disappeared from the view of the servants, and the childreu who were accustomed to amuse themselves in various parts of the house, with gaiety an 1 clatter peculiar to their became suddenly peculiarly quiet. Their absence in the lower rooms was remarked by Dr. Scguin"s man-servant, and when Dr. Amidon, about six o'clock, rang the bell again, he informed him of the fact. "Where is Mrs. Seguin ?"' asked the latter. " 1 i!o not know," lie replied. "I hiv'n't seen her or the children since early in the afternoon. It is time lor the children to have their dinner, and it never happened before that they were so late." "Have you do idea where they are ? Did your mistress return from her wilk ':'' " 1 don't know. The children may be on the top iloor. The spare room is locked, and the key of the door is missing/' Dr. Amnion, as if moved by a presentiment, did not wait for another •word, but ran up the stairs. The room referred to by the servant is the front one in the fourtu story, large anil square, and seldom use-1 excepting when the family had guesw. He tried the doo.-, and, finding that it would not move, immediately burst it opea with his foot. The sight which was revealed when it gave way was such as had been suggested by his misgivings, but fir «xceeiie«i~thein in "its horror. The mother's body lay in front of 'a smill closet near the centre of the room : the elder boy wss near her, and within the closet were the two other children. Blood was oozing from their wounds, and all were apparently dead. The hands of the children were tied with whipcord, and their eyes were blindfolded. They had been shot through the head. Dr. Amidou stayed only to satisfy himself that this was so, and then despatched a message for the police. Patrolman John Sweeney, ■who was on duty iu Sixth Avenue, responded to the summons, and after viewing the scene he hastened at once to the 'J-hirtieth-atreet station. He entered it a few moments after six o'clock, just as the third relief patrol was leaving it. After he had stammered out the fearful information which he brought, Sergeant Westervclt and three policemen were immediately detailed to go to the house and take charge of it aud its contents, until relieved by Captain Williams or bv the coroner. About seven o'clock the bus "and aud father, whom the awful tidings of the fate of his home awaited, entered. "When it was told him he at first refused absolutely to give it credence. As a glimpse of the reality began to dawn upon him, however, he fell into a chair, aud seemed for a time as if paralyzed in mind and body alike. He sat with his hands lying motionless on his knees, gazing fixedly before him, in a sort of semi-stupor, like a man who had just received a mortal wound which has shocked his every nerve. To those who spoke to him he gave no reply. In this condition he was found by Coroner Brady at eight o'clock. Captain Williams had already arrived. Everything shows that the killing of all three was contemplated from the first, as the two youngest—John Duyn and the little golden-haired Jeanuette—were put iu the closet so that they might not raise an alarm •when she shot Eddy, the eldest. Eddy was shot in the side of the head, the captain said, with a large target pistol. The bullet made a considerable fracture of the skull, and, glancing oil', lodged in the ceiling. The captain exhibited a flattened piece of lead ■which he said he dug out of the platter. The maniac evidently was in a hurry to finish her frightful pHan, for the youngest children were killed iu the closet, and there •was not a sign that they had made a struggle or were aware of the doom in store for them even at the last moment. The large pistol contained only one bullet, and the two youngest childreu were shot with a mediumsized Remington revolver. After killing her little ones the mother shot herself in the head, evidently without turning away, as her body was found face downward with the head toward the closet and the revolver on the Iloor about a foot from her right hand, where it bad fallen. There was little blood on the Iloor, aud the captain said that nothing appeared to be disturbed. The faces of the children when the bandages were removed ■wore happy, peaceful expressions. Little Jeannette was a particularly moving sight. Her head was drawn back in a playful way, the lips parted smilingly, and the soft eye.-* •were half open. The pose of her body, with the little, white fingers locked in a natural, childish manner, would indicate that she suspected her mother's presence and tried to avoid being caught whim she was killed. Her dress was hardly soiled, and her ringlets hung about her head profusely. Even Captain Williams, used as he is to scenes of bloodshed, was almost ali'ectcd to tears. lie said that when I'olicemau Sweeney arrived at the house he lifted the youngest boy from the closet aud placed him on the bed, .suspecting th.it life, might not be entirely lied. The large pistol, according to the captain, was found on the bed, and the two other weapons "were on the Iloor.