Note
Notes: Transcript of article about J.E. Norton Shaw:
“J.E. Norton Shaw, New Bedford Attorney, Kills Wife And Ends His Own Life At His Home In Mattapoisett”
“Accidental Shooting and Suicide” Says Medical Examiner, But Circumstances Arouse Suspicion That Affair Was Not Accidental—Probate Court Hearing of His Account As Executor of Russell Estate Was to Have Been Held Monday
After sending a charge of shot into the throat of his wife, Helen Macomber Shaw, causing almost instant death, J.E. Norton Shaw, prominent Harvard football star and New Bedford attorney, a life long resident of Mattapoisett, yesterday afternoon completed the most startling double tragedy in the history of that town by turning the muzzle of the shot gun on himself, ending his own life with the other barrel of the gun.
They were lying side by side, both dead, when Mrs. Katherine Sherman, a housekeeper employed by the Shaws, reached the bedroom where the tragedy occurred. Dr. Raymond H. Baxter of Marion, associate medical examiner of Plymouth county, pronounced Mrs. Shaw’s death due to accidental shooting and that of her husband to suicide.
Professional associates, as well as business acquaintances and banking officials in this city were not disposed, however, to accept the theory of the medical examiner. Ever since the start of legal proceedings against Mr. Shaw by the town of Acushnet, seeking an accounting of the Russell estate, which was due to start in the probate court in this city on Monday, Mr. Shaw has been plainly worried and distracted. His disturbed mental attitude had been observed by friends several times recently.
Mr. Shaw left his office in the Masonic building early yesterday afternoon and arrived at his home on North street some time after 3 o’clock. He went into the house, put on old clothes and took his shot gun, remarking to Mrs. Sherman that he was going out to the barn to see if he could kill a rat that had been causing considerable trouble. He was gone some time and when he finally returned, said to Mrs. Sherman, “He got away from me, I can’t get him tonight.”
Prior to going to the barn, Mr. Shaw and his wife had arranged to go for a short walk before dinner and at the time he returned Mrs. Shaw was in her room upstairs. The lawyer walked up the stairs with the shot gun in his hands and had just reached Mrs. Shaw’s room when Mrs. Sherman heard the report. Mrs. Sherman rushed to the foot of the stairs when she heard Mr. Shaw cry out:
“My God! The gun went off! I’ve shot my wife, telephone to Dr. Tilden, quick.”
Mr. Shaw was crazed with excitement. Without stopping for anything, Mrs. Sherman went to the telephone and called Dr. I. N. Tilden, who lives but a stone’s throw from the Shaw’s home. Dr. Tilden replied he would be over at once. Mrs. Sherman then hurried up the stairs to render what assistance she could, when a second report came from Mrs. Shaw’s bedroom, and as Mrs. Sherman crossed the threshold she saw Mr. Shaw lying by the side of his wife.
Mrs. Sherman rushed in terror from the house and met Dr. Tilden. Both Mr. and Mrs. Shaw were dead when the Mattapoisett physician reached the chamber. It was about 5 o’clock when Dr. Tilden arrived at the home and the shooting had taken place two or three minutes before that time.
Dr. Tilden, with other prominent Mattapoisett residents, were emphatic in advancing the theory that the shooting of Mrs. Shaw was accidental and that after requesting that a physician be called and seeing it was two late, Mr. Shaw, while crazed with grief, placed the weapon against his head, leaned down and pulled the trigger.
The Mattapoisett physician expressed the belief that when Mr. Shaw entered his wife’s room he was holding the gun by the barrel so that the muzzle was elevated and that in passing through a small toilet room adjoining the bedroom, the trigger of the gun struck the wash stand, causing it to fire.
Medical Examiner Baxter informed a Mercury reporter that the charge from the shot gun entered Mrs. Shaw’s chin and throat from a distance of more than six feet. The second charge in the gun, which the attorney apparently turned against himself, entered the throat below the angle of the jaw, death being attributed to laceration of the brain.
Mrs. Shaw was standing in front of her dressing table, when her husband entered. When found by the physician who responded to the call, she was partially dressed for her walk before dinner. Guests from Providence, invited for the week end, arrived just after the shooting.
Shortly after the examination of the bodies by Medical Examiner Baxter early last evening, both were removed to the undertaking rooms of Peleg H. Sherman in this city, where they will be held pending funeral arrangements.
Mattapoisett townspeople were awed by the tragedy. Friends and acquaintances in New Bedford were no less shocked and from early in the evening until late at night telephones in the Mercury office were busy with incoming calls for confirmation on the shooting.
Among the first notified was James L. Sherman 2nd of 47 Willis street, this city, brother of Mrs. Shaw, who was reached by telephone by Homer W. Harvey. Mr. Sherman went immediately to Mattapoisett and was there in time to meet the Providence guests when they arrived at the Shaw home. Mr. Sherman said to a Mercury reporter last evening that it was “a regrettable accident.”
Witnesses summoned yesterday afternoon for Monday’s hearing included representatives of the Merchants National Bank, where Mr. Shaw made his deposits. It is understood that Mr. Shaw visited the bank yesterday afternoon. One witness summoned is Philip E. Ma[?]y, assistant treasurer of the New Bedford Institution for Savings, who paid $44,000, withdrawn from the George E. Russell account two days before Mr. Russell’s death. Officials of the Safe Deposit National Bank, where Mr. Russell also had an account, from which over $2000 was withdrawn eight days before his death, were also summoned.
Dr. George T. Marsden, Mr. Russell’s family physician, and a dozen other witnesses had been summoned to testify to Mr. Russell’s capacity in mind and body, for three months prior to his death.
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J.E. Norton Shaw, who was 51 years of age, was born in Mattapoisett, the son of Mr. and Mrs. Bruce F. Shaw. He was graduated from Tabor Academy, later entering Harvard. At the university, he took great interest in athletics, his principal interest in this line being football. He attained prominence as a player, holding the position of right guard on the varsity team for three years.
While in college, he wrote a number of clever stories for the various college magazines. He was a member of the institute of 1770, D.K. S., Signet and Hasty Pudding societies.
During his three years on the football team, Mr. Shaw participated in nearly every game played and those were three of Harvard’s most successful seasons. In ‘95 and ‘96 he played against Princeton, being engaged in the big contest at Springfield, which went down in history for its roughness.
In 1898, Mr. Shaw’s last year at Harvard, there was considerable rivalry between him and Haskell for the guard position. When the Yale game came, Haskell was sent into the contest. Very soon after the start of the game he was injured, and the New Bedford boy finished the contest. In the previous year, 1897, he had been chosen on Wharton’s All-American eleven.
He was graduated from Harvard University in the class of 1898, and from Harvard Law School in the class of 1901. He was admitted to the bar in the same year of his graduation from law school and has practiced in this city ever since.
For some time Mr. Shaw was prominent in social and club circles in New Bedford. He was a member of the Wamsutta and Country clubs and of the old Board of Trade.
On April 27, 1909, Mr. Shaw was married to Miss Helen Macomber Sherman, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. William Bradford Sherman, in Providence. The ceremony took place at the home of the bride’s parents. Miss Alice Spink, being the maid of honor and Miss Elizabeth H. Fuller the flower girl. William A. Robinson, Jr., of New Bedford was best man, and the ushers were James L. Sherman, 2nd, and Eliot D. Stetson of New Bedford, Louis Bacon and Theodore Hoague of Boston, C. Minot Sheafe, Jr., and Langdon T. Marvin of New York.
After his marriage, Mr. Shaw withdrew somewhat from New Bedford social life. He and Mrs. Shaw were devoted to each other, and both being interested in outdoor life they made many trips through the Maine and Canada woods, hiking expeditions and canoe trips. Mr. Shaw owned the land at the end of Angelica point in Mattapoisett, which offered a splendid field for bird study which was one of his hobbies.
Mr. Shaw was the official bird reporter for this section of Massachusetts, appointed by State Ornithologist Edwin H. Forbush, and for 10 years he and Mrs. Shaw took the annual bird census in Mattapoisett on Christmas Day. They were in an especially favored locality for the study of ornithology, as in 1925 Ram Island, off Mattapoisett Neck, was purchased by the New England Federation of Bird clubs and presented to the Commonwealth as a bird sanctuary for all time.
Another of Mr. Shaw’s hobbies was boxing and Mrs. Shaw shared in this interest. They frequently occupied ringside seats at the boxing shows held in the Elm rink at a time when very few women attended.
Mr. Shaw is survived by his mother, Mrs. Eliza A. Shaw; a sister, Mrs. Elizabeth Ritter of Brookline; a niece, Mrs. Homer W. Hervey of this city and a nephew, John C. Shaw of Boston. Mrs. Shaw leaves a mother, Mrs. William B. Sherman and a brother, James L. Sherman, 2nd, who is employed in the office of the Morse Twist Drill & Machine company.
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Of late, it has been observed that Mr. Shaw appeared to be troubled in mind, and worry over a Probate Court matter involving the disposition of the estate of the late George T. Russell is believed to have been the chief cause of his anxiety.
Mr. Russell, who died in Acushnet about five years ago, left an estate of $105,000 and the bequests by will amounted to about $100,000. Now the town of Acushnet and other beneficiaries are objecting to the allowance of the account.
At the time the will was made, there were sufficient funds in the estate to meet all the bequests. Mr. Russell died shortly after making the will. Two days prior to his death there was withdrawn from the New Bedford Institution for savings more than $42,000. This was paid upon orders signed by Mr. Russell, the major share of the amount withdrawn going to Mrs. Rebecca C. Holmes, it is alleged, and a smaller amount to J.E. Norton Shaw. Mrs. Holmes and Mr. Shaw were named as executors in the will, and it is their account that is being contested by the beneficiaries.
At the time of the filing of the will Mr. Shaw stated that, as one of the beneficiaries, he was aware that the estate had been so depleted by the withdrawal of approximately $40,000 given to Mrs. Holmes that it would be impossible to meet the bequests in full.
It was stated at that time that Mrs. Holmes had been an old sweetheart of Mr. Russell, and that several times he had asked her to marry him, prior to her later marriage to Wallace M. Holmes. In this connection it was stated that Mr. Russell had made this gift to Mrs. Holmes out of his continued regard for her.
Among the bequests to the town there was one of $35,000 for the erection of a public library in the town, $30,000 to be used in the construction of the building, and the balance of $5000 to be used as a trust fund with the provision that the income was to be used for the proper maintenance of the library. Another trust fund of $7500 was established for the benefit of the town, the income to be used for the purchase of books for use in the public schools of the town. The Acushnet Cemetery corporation was given a trust fund of $7500, the same cemetery corporation was given an additional $8000 for the erection of a granite archway, another trust fund of $3000 was established for the benefit of the cemetery back of the First Congregational church in Acushnet. A further trust fund of $2500 was established, the income to be used for the worthy Protestant poor of the town. The town received another direct bequest of $10,000, this amount to be used in erecting a monument for the soldiers of the army and navy during the Civil war.
For the further care and maintenance of the town house and the public library, the will established a trust fund of $3000, the income to be used for the purpose set forth by Mr. Russell in his will.
The will left a bequest of $200 to Mrs. Rebecca C. Holmes, given in appreciation of the care extended to Mr. Russell during the last of his life.
Mr. Russell lived at the home of Mrs. Holmes for a short while prior to his death.
Last night rumors were current among New Bedford lawyers as to other estates of which Mr. Shaw had had charge and of which it was said there had been difficulty in obtaining an accounting.
It is also rumored that Mr. Shaw was heavily involved in real estate transactions in this vicinity.
A prominent attorney in this city who saw Mr. Shaw frequently last week and every day since, stated last evening that Mr. Shaw had been acting as if he was in a daze, and that something was worrying him greatly. He said that he was much surprised when he found Mr. Shaw appearing in the Superior Court as defendant counsel in a case, something which Mr. Shaw has not done for a long time.
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