A Mysterious Tragedy.

Dr. Henry Clark of Boston was summoned to 11 Hamilton Place at around 7:00 the morning of December 30, 1879. A woman had been shot and needed urgent care. When he got there, she was nearly gone, and there was nothing he could do. 

A policeman and a medical examiner arrived soon after and determined that the woman, Mrs. Helen J. Ward, had been shot twice in the head. One shot entered her temple and went through her head, the other fractured her skull without entering. 

Her 18-year-old daughter, also named Helen, did her best to explain what happened. Mother and daughter shared a bed. They worried about burglars, so they kept a revolver on a chair beside the bed. Miss Ward believed she had been in a somnambulant state and fired at a moving object that she thought was a burglar. Alternatively, she thought the gun may have discharged accidentally. This took place around 4:00 am, raising the question of why she didn’t contact someone sooner. Miss Ward was considered cold and unfeeling because she did not seem overly affected by her mother’s death.

“I cannot cry,” she moaned. “I only wish I could.”

The police suspected foul play and arrested young Helen Ward for murder.

Mother and daughter lived together in a two-room apartment. Mrs. Ward divorced her husband 12 years earlier because he had been intimate with another girl out west and was forced to marry her. Mrs. Ward and her daughter both had good reputations and were on good terms with each other. However, they were seen as somewhat eccentric, having late suppers extending far into the night. Mrs. Ward would sometimes shut herself up in her room for days at a time, though in perfect health.

The night of December 29, they had been entertaining young Helen’s fiancé, Charles Parker, night clerk at the Parker House hotel and nephew of the owner. The conversation turned to crime, and both women expressed fear of burglars invading their home. They had previously told Parker their fears, and he had loaned them his revolver for protection. He left around midnight, and they took the revolver with them when they went to bed.

The inquest was a private hearing before Judge Churchill held on January 6. Witnesses were prevented from hearing each other’s testimony. Miss Ward’s story of the killing had become more specific and much more detailed. She said they had both been frightened of burglars when they went to bed, and she put the pistol under her pillow. 

Her mother had been nervous that night to the point of illness. Helen messaged her and gave her cider, then brandy to help her sleep. Despite that, Mrs. Ward woke up twice during the night and asked her daughter to go into the sitting room and make sure no one was there. Laughingly, young Helen reached for the pistol and brandished it in a mock-heroic style, saying, “If anyone comes, I will shoot him."

She woke up around 3:00 and found the pistol under her in the bed. She replaced it under the pillow and then went back to sleep. Contrary to her original statement, she said she was aroused again at around 7:00 by a loud pistol report and awoke to find the revolver clutched tightly in her hand. She said she had been dreaming of burglars and, in her dream, had fired at one at the foot of her bed. When she saw that her mother had been shot, she got up and dressed, then sent for the doctor.

Outside of court, many believed Helen Ward was guilty of premeditated murder. Both women were considered attractive and were often taken for sisters. Perhaps young Helen was jealous of her mother's close relationship with her fiancé Charles Parker. Killing her would end any rivalry. 

Inside the courtroom, however, no evidence was presented to contradict Helen Ward’s story. Though she had shot her mother, the judge found no evidence that it had been willful murder. Helen Ward was released.

After the ruling, some accused the police of being too hasty in charging Miss Ward with murder. A legislative committee was convened to study the matter, but they concluded that, given the circumstances, the police had acted correctly.

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Sources: 

“The Autopsy,” The Boston Globe, January 3, 1880.
“A Boston Tragedy,” Columbus Evening Dispatch, December 30, 1879.
“The Death of Mrs. Ward,” Boston Evening Journal, January 6, 1880.
“The Hamilton Place Mystery,” Boston Evening Journal, January 10, 1880.
“The Hamilton Place Tragedy,” Boston Evening Transcript, December 31, 1879.
“The Helen J. Ward Case,” The Boston Globe, January 20, 1880.
“A Hub Horror,” Illustrated Police News, January 10, 1880.
“Mrs. Helen J. Ward the Victim of the Boston Shooting Mystery,” Illustrated Police News, January 17, 1880.
“The Mysterious Boston Murder,” The New York Times, January 1, 1880.
“Shocking Affair in Boston,” The Daily Item, December 30, 1879.
“A Tragedy in Hamilton Place,” Boston Evening Transcript, December 30, 1879.
“The Ward Matricide Inquest,” Boston Globe, January 6, 1880.