PROBABLE MURDER

Indianapolis Sentinel
March 8, 1876

A Gosport Furniture Dealer Killed By His Wife

The woman's statement-- A doubtful story--
The evidence of a showhammer--
The murderess held to await the action of the Grand Jury


If ever the course of true love did run smooth, it should have been
in the case of Mr. and Mrs. Givens, a well-to-do married couple of
Gosport, in this state. Twice had each of them tasted the sweets of
matrimonial felicity and in making their third choice it would seem
as if experiece should have so guided them as to enable them to enter
a perfect paradise of wedded bliss. But they had not profited  by the 
lessons of the past, and the grandest mistake oftheir three ventures
was the third one. About a month ago, they were married, and their
honeymoon was not over before their peace and happiness was destroyed
by the lurking demon of suspicion and distrust. That each of them was 
blessed with a pledge of the affection of a former life partner in the
end only led to greater difficulty. Shortly after their marriage
commenced.
Paying visits to a female who, to say the least, was not what Caesar's
wife should have been, above suspicion and to this the husband warmly
objected. His remonstrances, though somewhat warmly expressed, instead
of having the desired effect, only led to scenes of crimination and
recrimination. She now charges that he was in the habit of abusing her,
but the statement is seriously doubted, since Mr. Givens was well-
known as a Christian gentleman and kind hearted. Yesterday morning, Mrs.
Givens was making a fire in the cook stove preparatory to getting 
breakfast, when, so her story runs, her husband come in and recommenced
a quarrel about her visits to her friend. At last he said to her that if 
she did not do better he would take his child and go to a hotel. To this
she replied that he might do so, and welcome; and she would take her child
and go somewhere to. This, she says so angered him that he stooped to pick
up a stick of wood to hit her with.
She snatched a stick from the top of the stove and struck him in self
defense. He remained unconscious all day, and late in the afternoon he
died. Added to the other circumstances which throws a suspicious doubt on
her story is that fact that a dent in the dead man's skull exactly 
corresponds to the size and shape of a shoe-hammer which was found in the 
kitchen. Very little, if any credence attaches to her statements. She has
been arrested and will be helf to await the action of the grand jury.


Submitted by Kathy Bargerhuff