Anna Louise Bradshaw – my great aunt – was born February 19th, 1879 in Chateaugay, NY. She was the 7th of Pat and Johanna Bradshaw’s 11 children. She was right in the middle, born 10 years after their first child, Katherine, and 10 years before their last child Matthew. Like all of her sisters, she left home for New England at an early age. She moved to Providence Rhode Island around 1900.
She married Arthur Steward, a printer, originally from Illinois on July 16th, 1903. Arthur died on December 14th of the same year. The cause of his death listed in the Providence city records is “Suicide By Illuminating Gas”.
The 1905 Rhode Island state census shows Anna living with Arthur’s family.
By 1906, she was running a boarding house in at 22 Cope Street in Providence.
Sometime in the Fall of 1906, Anna returned to Chateaugay to visit her mother, Johanna who was seriously ill. She subsequently returned to Providence. The Chateaugay Record reported that she went back to Providence to dispose of her property “so as to return here and care for her mother.”
On October 26th, 1906 she was shot in the forehead with a .38 caliber revolver by an acquaintance, James Priest. She died in the hospital a few hours later. Anna’s sister, Margaret Bradshaw Shea, and Margaret’s four year old son Thomas were present at the time of the shooting.
Anna’s Brother John travelled from Malone, NY to Providence and spoke to Priest while he was being held for trial.
Priest was tried a couple of weeks later. The November 9th edition of the Providence News Democrat described the trial. Anna’s sisters Margaret and Agnes both testified. Margaret nearly fainted during her testimony, and was allowed to recover in the deputy chief’s office, where she was given a “restorative”.
According to testimony, Anna had purchased the boarding house a few months before. Priest had been a boarder there for over a month. On the morning of the shooting, Anna’s sister Margaret stopped by with her four or five year old son Thomas, and asked Anna to watch him while she went shopping. Margaret came back later to find Anna sitting in the parlor talking with James Priest. At some point the adults discovered that four year old Thomas was playing with a revolver shell, and got it away from him.
Priest then produced a .38 revolver and inserted the shell. What happened next isn’t clear, but in the process of loading the revolver and explaining what he was doing, the gun went off. The bullet struck Anna in the forehead.
Margaret testified that she was occupied helping her son put on his coat, and didn’t see the shooting.
Agnes testified that couple of nights before her death, Anna had been showing the gun. When she was finished, she put the gun under her pillow.
Priest was acquitted on November 9th, 1906. The judge stated that there was no evidence of malice or intent.
Anna was buried in St. Anne’s cemetery in Cranston Rhode Island with Arthur.
-Pause here for a deep breath-
I’m torn between feeling the weight of the tragedy that filled the last couple of years of Anna’s short life, while still being drawn to the sensational details. There are so many questions:
- What were the circumstances of Anna’s husband’s suicide?
- What was the relationship between Anna and James Priest? The Providence New-Democrat implied that they were romantically linked, but the reporting in that paper at that time was pretty sensational. However, he was living in her boarding house, and lent her his pistol.
- Why on earth would Anna borrow a pistol? The fact that she kept it under her pillow boggle the mind.
- What were the real circumstances of the shooting? Was it really an accident? It certainly seems like a sad combination of incompetence and bad judgement.
- Anna sounds like very interesting character. She endured a great personal tragedy, but soon owned and ran her own business. She wasn’t afraid to handle a revolver, and kept it under her pillow.
- It seems surprising that Priest got off scott free. I’m no lawyer, but it pointing a loaded gun in the direction of your landlady and pulling the trigger would seem to warrant some consequences, regardless of intent.
- The three sisters all lived in Providence, and apparently saw each other frequently. Agnes would have been around 18.
We have no records of the affect of Anna’s death on the family. A generation later, not much was known. My uncle John recalled that his father Pat (Anna’s younger brother) had mentioned that she had died of a gunshot wound, but that was all he said. Maybe it was too painful to discuss. Maybe people just didn’t talk about things like this then. If you don’t talk about it, then a generation later the story is gone.
Links to newspaper articles regarding Anna’s death are included below. It’s a pretty interesting read, especially the Providence News Democrat. The difference between the small town and big city newspapers is interesting.
Please feel free to leave comments. I’d love to hear what you think.
Links:
Timeline of Anna Bradshaw Steward’s Life
Chateaugay Record, November 2nd, 1906
Malone Palladium, November 1st, 1906
Providence News Democrat 10/29/1906 -Page 1
Providence News Democrat 10/29/1906 – Page 10
Awesome post. Another deep cut of Bradshaw family history. The phrase I can’t get out of my head is “Suicide By Illuminating Gas.” I assume that refers to gas used to power lights/lanterns, right?