John/Joseph Breslin was born about 1889 in New York, He was a truck driver for Simons Trucking Company in Manhattan, on Water & Market Streets. in July of 1920 he bought a 32 Caliber handgun. He lived at 266 South 4th St. with his wife Alice A. Walsh was 29 years old and his 5 years old son William who was living with his grandmother at the time a Mrs. James Brady or a Mrs. Mary Walsh (the newspapers give two different names). They were married 4 Sep 1910 in Kings, N.Y.
John came home drunk at 4am jealous and shot Alice in the back of the neck then turned the revolver onto himself, with the muzzle to his temple and shot himself. He died in the ambulance on the way to the hospital.
I found two newspaper articles; you can click the links to read them.
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-brooklyn-daily-times-alice-breslin/196845294/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/brooklyn-eagle-john-alice-breslin/197733657/
Such a tragic story!
ReplyDeleteWhat a sad case. The detail that little William was already living with his grandmother at the time makes you wonder how unstable things had been at home even before that night. You did a great job tracing what became of him. It's bittersweet to see that William made it to 2001, lived a full life, and found his way out to Colorado, but the years moving between his uncle's household and lodging situations paint a picture of someone who never quite had a settled home base after losing both parents so young. These are exactly the kinds of stories that remind me why criminal records and newspaper archives matter so much in genealogy research. Thank you for sharing this one!
ReplyDelete