Seven Die In Yule Tragedy; Grief-Crazed Mother Amuck

Seven Die In Yule Tragedy; Grief-Crazed Mother Amuck
(Associated Press)

Pittsburgh, Dec. 24.

The paper bells and tinsel garlands that made Walter Dempsey’s home ready for a happy Christmas grace a house of tragedy today, for all but one of the family of six are dead, slain, police say, by a woman driven mad by the death of her own son.

In addition, the woman herself and her sister are dead in the multiple Yuletide tragedy.

Coming to the suburban home of Dempsey, her brother, Mrs. Kathryn Schoch, 37, of Dunkirk, N.Y., a trained nurse made the family merry with gifts for all, but in the night shot them with a pistol and ended her own life with poison.

Five of the Dempsey family died in the shooting yesterday. The mother alone still lives.

A pitiful note, telling how she could not have her little seven-year-old son with her to enjoy Christmas happiness, was found by police who said it held the explanation of the motive for her act.

At Mrs. Schoch’s apartment in Dunkirk, police broke in and found her sister, Mrs. Ruth Dempsey Hughes, dead of a bullet wound. They said she possibly had been slain by Mrs. Schoch before the later left for Pittsburgh.

Besides Mrs. Hughes and Mrs. Schoch, the dead are: Walter Dempsey, 42, a welfare worker; Robert, 12; Thomas eight; Walter, Jr., 10, and David, aged 15 months, all sons of Dempsey.

Mrs. Clara Dempsey, the mother, is in a hospital with a bullet wound in the head. Physicians said she has a chance for recovery.

Hamilton Daily News Journal (Hamilton, Ohio) Dec 24, 1934