Elizabeth Stewart

Elizabeth's Story

Garnett Review
The Garnett Review and Journal-Plaindealer
Garnett, Kansas, Thursday, December 9, 1915

DIED FROM PISTOL SHOT
Mrs. Elizabeth Haggard Marshall Killed by Her Husband, it is Charged

Little did the friends of Mrs. Elizabeth Haggard Marshall think, when the news of her death reached Garnett, that a tragedy was connected with her death; yet such was the case, Dr. Herbert D. Marshall, her husband is charged with the crime of killing her.
Mrs. Marshall died Sunday, November 28th, 1915, at a hotel in Salt Lake City. She died as a result of a bullet wound, thought at the time to be self-inflicted, either accidentally or with suicidal intent.
The following is reported from the Salt Lake Tribune newspaper:
Death was instantaneous. Her husband discovered her body immediately after the shot was fired, according to his statement at the time of his wife’s death. Dr. Marshall declared that his wife had been in ill health, but she had no reason for committing suicide. He said he believed the shooting was accidental, and urged that a coroners inquest be held.
In his statement to the police, Dr. Marshall said he was preparing to go with his wife to call on her physician, and he stepped out of the room for a moment, when the fatal shot was fired. The bullet struck Mrs. Marshall in the back of the head. It was pointed out that there was no powder burn on the hat, clothing or hair, as would have undoubtedly been the case if the woman herself had fired the shot. Dr. Marshall contended that it was probable that she was preparing to put the gun away when it slipped from her hand, and was discharged, the bullet fatally wounding the woman.
In his statement to the police, Marshall said that he made an appointment with Dr. Van Cott by telephone shortly before the shooting; that he had returned to the room and had gone out again when he heard the shot.

Phoned After The Shooting

Evidence against Dr. Marshall is the statement of Roy Goldberg, who is a resident in the hotel. Goldberg said he heard the shot fired about ten minutes before noon. He said he heard Marshall walk along the hall and go to the telephone. He says he heard Marshall make an appointment with to see Van Cott. Then, he says, the Doctor went back down the hall to the lavatory. In a moment or two, Marshall and Goldberg went to the rooms occupied by Mr. and Mrs. Marshall. They found Mrs. Marshall lying on the floor, a bullet wound in the back of her head and a pistol lying on the floor beside a short distance away.
Another feature of the disclosures by investigators is that the pistol was extremely difficult to fire. Police officers are of the opinion that a woman weakened by ill health, would have difficultly in discharging the gun at all, and that it would have been unlikely that she could have discharged it while holding it at the back of her head.
One other bits of evidence gathered thus far is a letter that officers found written by Mrs. Marshall on the night before her death. The letter was written to a close friend Miss Flora Belle Hedges, Garnett, Kansas.
This letter hints at domestic trouble. In one place in the letter, Mrs. Marshall suggests that she may return home to live with her mother in Kansas.

Theory Of Officers

The motive for the alleged murder is that the husband might secure the wife’s money. In the letter, she refers to $2000 saying that she wasn’t going to do anything more about it. ‘That’s up to Herbert’, the letter said.
Officers are trying to ascertain whether or not Mrs. Marshall’s life was insured. They say there are indications that Mrs. Marshall was a woman of considerable means, and that Marshall had very little money of his own.
Dr. Marshall was a general practitioner as well as an osteopath. He lived in Nashville, Tennessee as a young man and later moved to Kansas City. He practiced in Kansas City for three years. In June 1914 he was married and soon afterward he and his bride came west. After traveling for some time, they located in Greenriver, where he was the local surgeon for the Denver and Rio Grande.

Mrs. Marshall was the widow of Louis L. Haggard, who for many years, was a well-known proprietor of a hotel at Garnett, Kansas. Mr. Haggard left his widow some life insurance and a snug fortune. Elizabeth Haggard moved to Kansas City after her husband’s death. She was an accomplished pianist and a prominent instructor in music. She was known as a cultured woman of refined tastes.
Mrs. Marshall’s health was not good in Kansas, and the trip to the west was in hope that the change might benefit her. About a year ago, Dr. and Mrs. Marshall consulted Dr. Ernest Van Cott about Mrs. Marshall’s condition. Dr. Van Cott recommended an operation. After the operation, Mrs. Marshall’s condition seemed to improve. She complained, however, of frequent muscular pains in her arms. During a portion of last summer, the Marshall’s lived in Emigration canyon.

Opinion Of The Doctor Dr. Van Cott had not seen Mrs. Marshall several weeks prior to her death. About 11:30 Sunday forenoon, he said he received a telephone message from Dr. Marshall, making an appointment for the Doctor to see Mrs. Marshall at this office at noon. Twenty minutes later, Dr. again called Dr. Van Cott, telling the Doctor that Mrs. Marshall had shot herself. Dr. Van Cott hurried over to the hotel and found Mrs. Marshall dying. Efforts made to restore respiration proved fruitless. Elizabeth died within thirty minutes without regaining consciousness. It is the opinion that Mrs. Marshall might have fired the fatal shot, but he thinks it its improbable that she did so. He said that it would have been extremely difficult for her to have twisted her arm around to the back of her head, and highly improbable that the bullet could have entered the skull at such a close range without leaving a marked powder burn. The Doctor was not able to state whether or not the dropping of the gun would have accidentally discharged it. He said to him, it appeared to be a very hard working pistol. He suggested that in falling, the gun might have struck the trunk and then discharged accidentally. In such an event, however, it would have been necessary for the woman to be stooping over to the level of the gun, as the bullet went straight into the brain.

Dr. Marshall brought the body back to Kansas, to her former home in Sabetha. He was arrested last Thursday, at the request of the Chief of Police of Salt Lake City. Marshall protested innocence and said he would return to Salt Lake without extradition.

Marshall Shots Himself

Last Saturday, Dr. Marshall shot himself in the back of the head, at the base of the brain. He used the Sheriff’s pistol, having seen him put the pistol away in the adjoining room. The Doctors who took charge of him after the shooting said he probably would not die of the wound.
A Sabetha dispatch of Tuesday the 7th, says:
At midnight last night, Chief Lyon and Police Surgeon Harville, of the Salt Lake police department, spirited their prisoner away. He was conveyed in an automobile to another town. The plan was to go to Seneca. There the party boarded the night mail train went on the Grand Island for connection with the Union Pacific at Grand Island, Nebraska.
Reluctantly, Dr. Sam Murdock consented to the removal of his prisoner because Dr. Marshall is by no means out of danger. Not only the Utah Officers guarded the prisoner, but also by Under Sheriff Judy, who has the prisoner in his personal charge until they were safely away.
This afternoon, the remains of Elizabeth Haggard Marshall, will be buried in the Sabetha cemetery by the side of her former husband and her father. The services, under the charge of Rev. Paul, will be from the Methodist Church.

*Note- This article has been edited, i.e. grammer and run-on sentences changed.

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