The Valley Virginian

Double Suicide.
On the 19th inst., the residents in the usually quiet neighborhood of Seventeenth and Oxford streets, Philadelphia, were thrown into a state of excitement by rumors of murder having been committed in that locality. Sergeant Norberry, being notified proceeded with a squad of men to the scene, and took possession of the premises No. 1602 Bouvier street; running between Seventeenth and Eighteenth streets, near Oxford, before which a large crowd had assembled. Upon entering the house he soon discovered the cause of the excitement. On the floor of the parlor there lay two bodies side by side-one of a very fine looking man of dark complexion, the other a young and exceedingly pretty woman, the latter being in a position as if she had been lying on a sofa and had rolled off. The Sergeant, looking around the room, found a half filled two-ounce phial, marked prussic acid, upon the mantelpiece, and a seven shooter Derringer alongside the man. He then proceeded to examine the corpses, and found a hole just above the heart of the man, with the flesh marked blue, showing that the revolver must have been held very close to the body when the fatal shot was fired. Dr. J. V. Crandall, residing at No. 1613 North Eighteenth street, was present and informed the Sergeant that he had been summoned by a Mrs. Kilner to attend to a case of sickness at the above address, and that when he reached the house, much to his surprise, found the two bodies lying in the positions described. After examination of the bodies the doctor knew that his skill would be of no avail, as life had fled from both. The unfortunate couple are named Mr. and Mrs. P. Schuh. Mr. Schuh was a physician of good practice. It is said that at about 10:30 Wednesday morning the doctor rushed over to the house of Mrs. Killner, who resides opposite, and requested her to go for a physician, as his wife had taken poison. Hastening to comply with his request, Mrs. Killner, after considerable difficulty, succeeded in finding Dr. Crandall, and brought him to Bouvier street, with the result as mentioned. There is, as yet no authentic clue to the cause of this unhappy crime, the couple apparently having lived contentedly together, despite the disparity in their ages, the doctor being about fifty years old, while his wife, certainly from her appearance, could not have been over twenty, and nothing was left by either in explanation.