Tragic affair in Boston.
a young lady shot by her Lover.
a young lady shot by her Lover.
A tragic affair occurred in Boston on Tuesday, the chief actor being
Jos. G. Hernandez, recently of Savannah, Ga., but for some time a
storekeeper in Boston, and the victim was Miss Fanny May, a young lady
of seventeen, whom he had met by appointment at a shoe store in Hanover
street. The Herald says:
Miss May was the first to arrive at the store, and she was sitting at a desk in the rear part of the store, looking over some papers and doing some figuring. Hernandez entered the store and was observed by one of the parties in the store to be talking with Miss May, and the next thing that was noticed was the report of a pistol, and Miss May was heard to scream and then to stagger back and fall to the floor. After regarding her for a moment, Hernandez started to leave, but after taking a few steps he took a paper from his vest pocket, and swallowing the contents, threw the paper into the stove. He then again cocked his pistol, which he had all along held in his hand, and placing the muzzle to his left side, just under the breast, he fired and fell. At this time the young man in the store had in a measure recovered from the fright and agitation into which the shocking tragedy had thrown him, and he called lustily for assistance, which was soon at hand.
The scene in the store at the time was most tragic. The attendant was imploring assistance with horrified eagerness, while on the floor, weltering in their blood, lay the bodies of the apparently murdered woman and her murderer. Miss May was lifted into a chair, and it soon appeared that her hurts were not so serious as were feared. The ball had struck on her forehead, and, glancing off, had made but a flesh wound, from which she will recover. She was taken to the home of her relatives in a carriage.
Mr. Hernandez, when raised, was bleeding very freely, and was taken to his residence at No. 32 Leverett street, where the doctors expect he will soon breathe his last. The wound made by the pistol ball is in the lower part of the abdomen, on the left side, and it is not believed that this alone will prove fatal. The physicians fear, however, that the poison may have a fatal effect.
It has been ascertained that he took a dose of poison, and that the
drug was arsenic.--After taking a small quantity, he threw the
remainder, with the paper, into the stove.
A portion of this has been saved.
Mr. Hernandez states himself that he took the arsenic, and that he
purchased it in Fall River.
It appears that four shots were fired, the first of which was directed
to Miss May. He fired two across the room in rather a promiscuous
manner, and the fourth he discharged with suicidal intentions.
Miss May is a second cousin of the wife of Mr. Hernandez, and for some years past has been befriended by her, and it was by her instigation that Fanny was employed by her husband to aid and assist him in his business. For the term of two years past, Mrs. Hernandez states that she has been well aware of an improper intimacy existing between Miss May and her husband, and though as a wife she has felt justly indignant and hurt at this state of facts, still she contented herself with earnestly remonstrating with her husband, and discharging Fanny from his employ, which discharge she paid no heed to, nor did Mr. Hernandez insist on the discharge. Thus matters have continued along until very recently, when Miss Fanny received the addresses of a young man in Lawrence, and became desirous of breaking her connection with her former employer, after having, as Mrs. Hernandez says, been the means of almost ruining him in a financial point of view.
The result of all this has been the terrible attempt at life which we have already detailed. Its cause is most immediately explained in his own language just before the attempted commission of the dreadful tragedy. It is stated in the following:
Miss May was the first to arrive at the store, and she was sitting at a desk in the rear part of the store, looking over some papers and doing some figuring. Hernandez entered the store and was observed by one of the parties in the store to be talking with Miss May, and the next thing that was noticed was the report of a pistol, and Miss May was heard to scream and then to stagger back and fall to the floor. After regarding her for a moment, Hernandez started to leave, but after taking a few steps he took a paper from his vest pocket, and swallowing the contents, threw the paper into the stove. He then again cocked his pistol, which he had all along held in his hand, and placing the muzzle to his left side, just under the breast, he fired and fell. At this time the young man in the store had in a measure recovered from the fright and agitation into which the shocking tragedy had thrown him, and he called lustily for assistance, which was soon at hand.
The scene in the store at the time was most tragic. The attendant was imploring assistance with horrified eagerness, while on the floor, weltering in their blood, lay the bodies of the apparently murdered woman and her murderer. Miss May was lifted into a chair, and it soon appeared that her hurts were not so serious as were feared. The ball had struck on her forehead, and, glancing off, had made but a flesh wound, from which she will recover. She was taken to the home of her relatives in a carriage.
Mr. Hernandez, when raised, was bleeding very freely, and was taken to his residence at No. 32 Leverett street, where the doctors expect he will soon breathe his last. The wound made by the pistol ball is in the lower part of the abdomen, on the left side, and it is not believed that this alone will prove fatal. The physicians fear, however, that the poison may have a fatal effect.
It has been ascertained that he took a dose of poison, and that the
drug was arsenic.--After taking a small quantity, he threw the
remainder, with the paper, into the stove.
A portion of this has been saved.
Mr. Hernandez states himself that he took the arsenic, and that he
purchased it in Fall River.
It appears that four shots were fired, the first of which was directed
to Miss May. He fired two across the room in rather a promiscuous
manner, and the fourth he discharged with suicidal intentions.Miss May is a second cousin of the wife of Mr. Hernandez, and for some years past has been befriended by her, and it was by her instigation that Fanny was employed by her husband to aid and assist him in his business. For the term of two years past, Mrs. Hernandez states that she has been well aware of an improper intimacy existing between Miss May and her husband, and though as a wife she has felt justly indignant and hurt at this state of facts, still she contented herself with earnestly remonstrating with her husband, and discharging Fanny from his employ, which discharge she paid no heed to, nor did Mr. Hernandez insist on the discharge. Thus matters have continued along until very recently, when Miss Fanny received the addresses of a young man in Lawrence, and became desirous of breaking her connection with her former employer, after having, as Mrs. Hernandez says, been the means of almost ruining him in a financial point of view.
The result of all this has been the terrible attempt at life which we have already detailed. Its cause is most immediately explained in his own language just before the attempted commission of the dreadful tragedy. It is stated in the following:
Dear Wife:
--Forgive me for what I do.--Live for your children.
I have been as man and wife for two years with Fanny May. She has been the cause of this.
If Mr. Hall had not interfered this would not have happened.
May God bless you, my poor children.
I cannot live long.
I have been ruined in business by Fanny May. You will find some friends left when I am gone.
You need not be ashamed of what I have done.
Those who have ruined me will have to go with me.
Good bye,
Joseph.
Boston,Oct. 30th, 1860.
He was a middle-aged man, of a dark complexion, and was well known on Hanover st., as a dealer in fancy goods, and an active man. He had just concluded a purchase of a bill of goods, at a fancy goods house a few doors above the scene of the tragedy, and we do not learn that at this time he showed any signs of excitement or insanity, or that he appeared any other way than in his usual manner.
Source: Richmond Daily Dispatch, November 2, 1860
He was a middle-aged man, of a dark complexion, and was well known on Hanover st., as a dealer in fancy goods, and an active man. He had just concluded a purchase of a bill of goods, at a fancy goods house a few doors above the scene of the tragedy, and we do not learn that at this time he showed any signs of excitement or insanity, or that he appeared any other way than in his usual manner.
Source: Richmond Daily Dispatch, November 2, 1860
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