A Dismissed Complaint, Then a Woodshed Ambush in Tacoma

TACOMA, April 14.—Special.—Another sensational murder and suicide was added today to the list of terrors of the last two weeks. Maggie Kornder, a domestic employed at South G street, was shot and mortally wounded at about 9 o'clock this morning by Mike Pfeifle, her discarded lover. The girl was preparing breakfast for the family of A. Weinberg, the brewer, and went out to the wood shed in the rear of the house to get an armful of wood. Pfeifle was lying in wait for her, and, pulling a pistol, shot her through the head without a word of warning. He then turned the pistol on himself and sent a bullet crashing through his brain.

The girl did not die immediately. At the Fannie Paddock hospital Dr. Allen trephined her skull at the posterior protuberance and removed the bullet, which had entered at the left eye and pursued a straight course through the brain, lodging against the skull at the back. She slowly sank, and died shortly after noon, without recovering consciousness.

When found the girl was lying partly covered with wood, and must have been shot while she was lifting an armful of wood to carry into the house. Pfeifle must have laid in wait for her in the shed all night, and, waiting until she was helpless, shot her. He shot twice, the second shot missing her and going through the walls of the shed. Then he turned the weapon against himself and put a bullet through his brain, holding the pistol to his right ear.

Pfeifle was dead when the tragedy was discovered. A stream of blood came from his right ear. The body was removed to an undertaker's.

In the latter part of March Pfeifle, who was a mechanic and had been employed by the Northern Pacific, was arrested at the instance of the girl on the charge of threatening to do bodily harm. He told a story of love unrequited to Justice McMurray. The girl said he had kept company with her about two years. She did not want to marry him, and lately he had become jealous of a friend of hers and had threatened to kill her. The girl said she was not much a friend of him. As the case seemed to be only a lover's quarrel, Justice McMurray continued the trial till April 10, when the girl refused to appear and prosecute, and the charge was dismissed.

Saturday night Maggie, accompanied by the young German of whom Pfeifle was jealous, went out for the evening. On their return about 10 o'clock they were accosted by Pfeifle, who upbraided the girl. He slapped her face, but further violence was prevented by her companion. Pfeifle then walked away.

Coroner Parks decided not to hold an inquest.

Mr. Weinberg, who employed the girl, said tonight: "She was the best girl we ever had, and had she allowed me to prosecute the man, as I wished, she would now be alive. But she was too soft-hearted. She did not want him punished. He has been following her like a dog and threatened that she should never marry another."

Miss Kornder was a servant in the employ of A. Weinberg and was pretty, unassuming and ladylike. She was a favorite with the German population. Pfeifle was a mechanic of little means and good address. He was a member of the San Francisco German Turner bund and a Mason.