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Show Three Dead, Three Orphaned After Becraft Shooting PORTLAND, Ore., Sept 7 IU.P) Raymond J. Becraft Jr., 17 died at a hospital here last night of bullet wounds inflicted by his father, who also had shot the boy's mother to death and then killed himself. Mrs- Becraft, the former Ireta Harris, was a sister of President F. S. Harris of Brig-ham Brig-ham Young university. The elder Becraft, about 50 a former professor at the University Uni-versity of Idaho and the Utah State Agricultural college, suddenly became mentally unbalanced, un-balanced, grabbed a 22 caliber rifle, and wounded his wife and son. He then locked himself in a bedroom and turned the gun on himself. Becraft and his wife died shortly after being taken to a hospital. Neighbors said Becraft had been injured in an accident about a week ago, suffering sever back injuries. They also said that he was worried about reorganza-tion reorganza-tion in the forest service here, where he had been employed for the last year. Two daughters, Marian, 16, and Helen, 10, had left for school and a third, Nancy 4 fled to a neighbor's home as the shooting shoot-ing started. Except for two years of graduate grad-uate study at the University of Chicago, Mr. Becraft spent the years from 1917 to 1935 as a member of the Utah State faculty He was student body president of the Logan school as an undergraduate. under-graduate. He went to the University Uni-versity of Idaho in 1935 and a year ago was named regional head of the division of plant ecology for the foreet service in Portland. Mrs. Becraft was born in Colonia, Dublan, Mexico in 1897, a daughter of Dennison Elmer and Eunice Stewart Harris. She lived in Mexico and Cardston, Alberta, Canda, until 1912, when she entered Brigham Young high school in Provo. She graduated from Utah State college in 1920, shortly after her marriage to Mr. Becraft She was ira nrtive in the L. D. S. church, recently being named to the Y. W. M. I. A. board. Surviving besides her daughters daugh-ters are her mother, of Provo and seven brothers, Dr. F. S. Harris of Provo; Dr. M. Hyrum Harris, secretary of the Utah Taxpayers' association; Marion L. Harris of Salt Lake City; Sterling Harris of Tooele, former Tooele high school coach; Karl Harris, of Pheonix, Arizona; Leo L. Harris of Browning, Montana; and D. E. Harris, Jr., of Portland Port-land Oregon. A half sister, Mrs. John Payne of Salt Lake City, and three half brothers J. Elmer and Ervin Harris of Boise and Barry Harris of Los Angeles, also survive her. |
