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- Is this the same Julius Turner?:
KILLS WIFE.
Shoots Son and Turns Weapon on Himself,
SON WILL RECOVER
Slayer Glad Son Will Recover, but Has no Regrets for Killing Wife.
Julius Turner, 69 years old, a Civil War veteran and wealthy farmer of Clay City, shot his wife to death from ambush,
seriously wounded his 15 year old son and attempted to commit suicide near Saylor Springs, Ill., on Saturday night.
He is under arrest and refuses to partake of food, declaring he will starve himself to death.
Turner and his wife had been separated four years. She was 20 years his junior and he was insanely jealous of her.
The tragedy was caused by his mistaking his own son for another man.
When he saw the youth, who is large for his age, join his mother outside a church where an entertainment was in
progress, his jealous frenzy overmastered him, and he opened fire on the pair from his ambush.
About 9:30 p.m. Mrs. Turner stepped from the church for a breath of air and as she did so her son, Glenn, arrived
from the farm, where he was working. He stepped forward to greet his mother in the shadow, and they stood conversing
there a few seconds.
Turner, from his position in the ambush of the grove, had a distinct look at his wife as she left the church door but
the face of his son was hidden as the boy approached from the roadway.
He saw only vaguely the form of a man standing close to his wife, in earnest conversation, and all the jealous rage
within him rose up and fired his mind.
Drawing a 38 -caliber revolver, he glided to within a few feet of the couple and opened fire on them. The first
bullet struck Mrs. Turner in the back. As she started to run another bullett struck her in the head. She died within
fiifteen minutes.
Then the weapon was turned on her companion, and two more shots rang out. One of the bulletts struck the son in the
groin and he fell unconscious beside the bleeding form of his mother.
The shots attracted the merrymakers in the church, and the farmers hurried to the scene. Turner was standing over the
bodies of his victims, with the revolver in his hand, Glen, the wounded son, had fallen face upward. As Turner
stooped down to look at the face of the man whom he suspected to be his wifes admirer, he recognized his son. With a
cry of anguish he straightened up and staggered back. Then, placing the muzzle of the revolver against his temple he
pulled the trigger and dropped across the body of his son.
The boys injury, although serious, not regarded as necessarily fatal. Turners wound is not a serious one. His hand shook when he fired the bullet into his temple and it glanced downward, emerging from his cheek.
Young Turner denounced his father for the shooting, and the latter freely admitted having fired the shots. When told
his wife was dead he said he had no regret for the act. He reproached himself for having injured his son, and said he
had no suspicion of his identity when he shot him. He begged the boys forgiveness and inquired anxiously of the
doctors if Glenn would recover. As for himself, he declared he had no further desire to live, and regretted that he
had not killed himself instantly.
Mrs. Mary Turner was a most estimable woman, and enjoyed the highest respect of her neighbors. She had been a
hard-working, industrious wife and mother before the separation, and there had never been the breath of scandal to
attach to her conduct.
Since his arrest he has refused to partake of nourishment. He declares his purpose to starve himself to death. He is
being closely watched to see that he does himself no serious injury.
Prosecuting Attorney R. S. C. Reaugh was called to the scene on Sunday, but Turners condition was such as to cause a postponement of the preliminary examination to a later date, and the prisoner was lodge in the jail at Louisville.
Source: Southern Illinois Record (3 July 1908). Transcribed by Angelia Carpenter.
Source: http://genealogytrails.com/ill/clay/news_crime.html
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