SAVED BY A FOUNTAIN PEN

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2616, 25 September 1909, Page 2 (Supplement)

SAVED BY A FOUNTAIN PEN

STRANGE ESCAPE OF MAN SHOT BY WOMAN. Shot by a jealous woman while in the lift of the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, New York, Mr William Craig, a lawyer, owes his life to his fountain pen, which turned aside a bullet aimed at his heart. He was still smoking when he gave the woman into custody. She )s a beautiful young woman, giving the name or Mrs Castle. Her bullet struck a. silver fountain pen in Mr Craig’s upper coat, pocket, and was deflected, making only a slight abrasion over the man’s heart, and dropping to the floor. Mr Craig did not even remove his cigarette from his mouth until he reached the office floor, when he went to the telephone, calling his wife, and said: “Mary Castle lias shot at me. I am unhurt. Come to town to the Waldorf, and we 11 have dinner together.” Mrs Castle became hysterical. “I shot him because he was going to leave me,’’ she said. “We have known each other from childhood, and for a long time we have been sweethearts.” Mrs Castle, Avhose husband is in San Francisco, said alternately that she was glad Mr Craig was unhurt, and then that she was sorry. Later there was another seeno at the police station, when the woman arrested besought Mr Craig, not to enter a charge and appear against her. “Forgive me,” she'exclaimed, “just for the sake of old times.” Mr Craig, however. said it was a public duty to have her locked up. Mrs Craig, in an interview, said she had been very -kind to Mrs taking her into her own home, and she concluded, indignantly. “This is what one gets for trying to do another person a good turn.” Mrs Castle has since explained that she had intended to kill herself, and that the shooting of Mr Craig was a mere accident. She says all the trouble is due to Mrs Craig, her cousin, who was iealous of her. Mrs Castle comes of a well-known and highly-respected San Francisco fa-, mily, and licr brotlicr is captain in the tjnited States army. The incident created the utmost excitement in the public promenade that runs through the hotel, familiarly known as “Peacock’s Walk.”