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Show POLICE COURTROOM IS DELUGED BY LIFE BLOOD OF WILLIAM J. CARROLL of blood from the prisoners' bench, the press tables and chairs, and the floor, William J. Carroll was about 35 years old, and until a few months ago was known as one of the best truck and warehouse men in the city. He and his wife did not get along well together, and she secured a divorce. Carroll frequently went to .see her and asked many times that he be taken ta-ken back to live with her, but Mrs. Carroll, fearing him, refused. Carroll frequently threatened to kill her and their four children, or to commit suicide. sui-cide. Last Sunday Carroll called again on his wife, and asked her to make a chamois bag in which to keep his razor., ra-zor., This she did. and he carried the razor suspended inside his shirt, by a string around his neck. The following day he again called on his wife, and abused her so shamefully that she caused his arrest. The arrest was made by Patrolman Charles Sperry, who carefully searched him and booked him. Sperry was particularly par-ticularly careful in his search of the prisoner, as Carroll said on his way to the station that he intended to kill himself. It la thought that Carroll concealed the razor in his cell and when about to be taken to the courtroom hid the weapon wea-pon In the folds of his bicycle cap. Carroll ' had been arrested several times. He was tried In Police court In June and twice since that time on charges of abusing his former, wife, and about two years ago was arrested on a charge of alleged complicity in the theft of 900 pounds of sugar from a wholesale house where he was employed. em-ployed. He was not convicted on this charge. It is not thought that an Inquest will be held. Coroner Clark Is not In the city. At the office of the County Attorney At-torney It Is stated that there Is no doubt as to how Carroll came to his death, and that so far as Is known there Is no statute that Would authorize author-ize an investigation to determine how Carroll came Into possession of the weapon while in the custody of the Police department. ; With a curse upon his lips and with .' a threatening gesture directed toward - his divorced wife who had been testifying testi-fying against him in the Police court, William J. Carroll, who had been tried on a charge of using abusive language 1 toward fiis wife, cut his throat in a horrible manner. In the presence of ' nearly a hundred horror stricken spectators spec-tators in the Police court Thursday afternoon af-ternoon at 2:45 o'clock, dying a few minutes later. Carroll was arrested Monday last on complaint' of his former- wife,, who charged him with using abusive language. lan-guage. He was arraigned Tuesday and asked If his wife were present In the courtroom,- before entering his plea of not guilty. He learned that she was not present, and asked that the case be set later in the week and that the .complainant be ordered to b present. ' The case was set for Thursday and a subpoena was issued for her. When. the case was called Thursday ' ' afternoon Mrs. Carroll, accompanied by a woman friend, entered the courtroom. court-room. Mrs. Carroll, the accused, and one or two policemen were sworn. Mrs. Carroll then took the stand and ' swore that1 Carroll and she had been divorced last May, because of desertion. deser-tion. She said that he had called at the house where she and her four little children lived, and that he was abusive. abus-ive. She said that on Monday last Car-'. Car-'. roll had called at the house again and that they had had some words, after which Carroll called her a vile name. Carroll was asked if he desired to ask the witness any questions. He was sullen and morose, and a peculiar Ilsrht burned In his eyes as he glared at her and said: "No, If that woman wants to testify . to that, let it go at that." Jumping to his feet the infuriated man's left fist shot out suddenly as though threatening the woman who was. once his wife, he took a step to- . ward her, and before any one of the hundred spectators could realize what the man was doing, he cried, with a foul curse: "I told you what I'd do." His right hand had been seen to be nervously working in the folds of a brown cloth bicycle cap which lay In his lap. . Then the right hand shot out and back, once, twice, and Carroll gasped and gurgled as his hand again tried to strike at his throat, and the keen edged razor fell from his nerveless grasp, as a torrent of blood shot five feet from the severed veins and arteries. A cry of horror went up from the throats of the Judge, the policemen and the spectators, who crowded around the man where he lay writhing In the last struggles of death. "Every one but policemen get out of the courtroom Instantly." shouted Judge Diehl, and then to a policeman, he said: "Call a surgeon." The woman who had Just testified against the dying man screamed as Carroll's blood spurted at her feet In a crimson torrent, and fainted In the arms of her friend. She was carried to Judge Diehl's private office. Car- - roll was dead before Dr. Root arrived. The row of prisoners,' much larger than usual, was paralyzed. Not one had the presence of mind, in the excitement ex-citement of the moment, to make his escape. Soon the room was cleared and an examination of Carroll's wounds was made.. It was quickly seen with what dead-y dead-y ly strength and accuracy he had de livered the death wounds. The carotid artery, the Jugular vein and the trachea, tra-chea, or windpipe, were severed, and ; death, the surgeon said, could not have ' been avoided. The body was removed to the morgue as quickly as possible, and then a gang of trusties, armed with wet sawdust, brooms and pans, obliterated the stains , . .1 |