Here's a real interesting article from the NY Times dated: Wednesday, June 27, 1884. It almost reads like a romance novel... :-) HANNAH BOONE'S RASH ACT.; SHOOTING HERSELF BECAUSE HER LOVER CALLED HER A DRUNKARD. Timothy Burton, a liquor saloon-keeper at Forest Place, a rural spot situated about three-quarters of a mile from Fort Hamilton, was sweeping the walk in front of his house at 7 o'clock yesterday morning when a boy came rushing up to him breathless with excitement. "Come at once to Joe Statler's house," exclaimed the youth; "he sent me for you. Mrs. Boone has shot herself." Burton and a lad employed in the saloon crossed the strip of boggy road and made for Statler's house. It is a neat, white-painted, two-storied frame building, almost hidden by willow trees, and adjoining it is a workshop where Joseph Statler, a wheelwright and blacksmith, carries on his business. Burton and his companion entered the workshop. On the floor lay Mrs. Hannah Boone, insensible and weltering in blood. To the right of her was Joseph Statler, apparently bewildered, while William Bohngraher, an employee, stood near with a large nickel-plated, ebony-handled pistol in his hand. Burton and Statler lifted up the prostrate form of the woman and carried her the adjoining cottage, where she was placed upon a sofa. A crowd of villagers had collected outside. On account of the storm weather there was no work on hand for them, and they were eager to proffer their aid. In a short time Dr. Phalin, of Gowanus, was on hand examining his patient. The ball had entered the centre of the woman's left breast, he said, nearly passing the body, as shown by the discolored flesh on the other side. It had evidently been aimed at the heart. Dr. Phalin suggested that a priest be sent for at once, as the wound appeared to be of a moral character. He also sent a messenger to Judge Charles W. Church at Fort Hamilton, asking that gentlemen to take the woman's antemortem statement and stating that "she had been shot." Judge Church arrived, and to him Mrs. Boone, with considerable difficulty and frequent interruptions, made the statement that at 7 o'clock she shot herself. She had some misunderstanding, she said, with Joseph Statler. He had accused her of being a drunkard. "I have not been in the habit of drinking much," she said, "and was not drunk yesterday when he said I was. He said he was going to have me arrested, and I felt so badly about it that I hardly knew what to do. This morning I took a pistol and shot myself. Joseph Statler has not done it. It was my own act. He is a good man. I love him, and I do not want any harm to come to him." Joseph Statler, a burly German, is a well-known resident of Forest Place and has carried on his business as blacksmith in his present quarters for some fifteen years. About two years ago he commenced proceedings in the Kings County Supreme Court to obtain a divorce from his wife, Mary Statler. There was no defense, and at the time the proceedings were pending Statler took into his house, ostensibly as housekeeper, Hannah Boone, a good-looking Frenchwoman, apparently not more than 30 years old, but in reality over 40. The woman had just come to the village with her husband and child, and after her intimacy with Statler commenced her husband left her and went to Minnesota. Hannah Boone became greatly attached to Joseph, and substantially showed this by paying off all his debts with her little store of money in the savings bank. Statler, however, did not reciprocate in kind. He was angered when Mrs. Boone assumed his name, and violent quarrels ensued. Mrs. Boone, being a Frenchwoman was very hot tempered, though, as she declared, she "never meant it." The neighbors in all directions were aware of the infelicitous state of things in the Forest Place homestead. Matters grew worse. They reached a climax last Wednesday night. As Judge Church was engaged in the trial of some case Statler came in to him and said he would like to obtain a warrant for the arrest of a woman, whose name he did not mention. He stated that the woman was intoxicated, abusive, and disorderly. The warrant was not issued that evening. Hannah Boone, had, however, learned of Statler's intention of arresting her, and later in the evening went down herself to Judge Church's office, where, however, she did not find the Judge. The idea of being arrested preyed upon the woman's mind. All that evening she was excited and passed a restless night. She rose at an early hour yesterday morning and ran out of the house, exclaiming excitedly: "I never can stand it; I never can stand it. I am going to kill myself." She went in to Joseph Statler and informed him of her intentions, and made a similar communication to William Bohngraher, the blacksmith's employee. Both men thought nothing of her threat. She, however, went up stairs, obtained a pistol, walked into the blacksmith's shop, close up to Bohngraher, and, pointing the pistol deliberately at her heart, fired. The injured woman told Judge Church that Statler had promised to marry her. "But," said the Judge, "are you in a position to marry him?" "My lawyer had promised me a divorce from my husband in Minnesota," she said. The statement given out at Statler's house last night was that Mrs. Boone had been dusting a pistol on the mantel-piece, and that it had accidentally gone off. The woman lies in a critical condition, and there are but faint hopes of her recovery. -David Statler