Hiram B Duryea

• American

GEN. HIRAM DURYEA SLAIN BY HIS SON

AT BAY RIDGE HOME AT 2 A.M. TODAY Famous Commander of Duryea's Zouaves Shot Seven Times in His Bed in a Sleeping Pavilion--His Son Chester Supposed to Have Gone Suddenly Insane.

While he was asleep in an outdoor pavilion in the rear of his residence at 120 Eighty-fifth Street, in the Bay Ridge Section of Brooklyn, Gen Hiram Duryea, the wealthy starch manufacturer, was shot and killed just before 2 o'clock this morning by his son Chester, a man of forty-three years.

The son sent seven bullets into his father's body, using a Colt automatic pistol and a large caliber rifle. Death was instantaneous according to Dr. Garvin of the Norwegian Hospital.

The son gave himself up to the police of the Fort Hamilton station and was taken to the Bergen Street station to be questioned by Assistant District Attorney Conway.

The son had been at the house for several hours during the day, according to the story told to the police by servants. He had been acting in an eccentric manner. He refused to talk about the crime, and the police were at a loss to supply a motive.

The elder Duryea retired shortly before midnight, it is said. There are three servants in the house and they saw the son roaming about in the library just before that time but, as far as the police could learn there had been no quarrel between the father and son.

At just 1:50 o'clock one of the servants was awakened by the report of a pistol. She rushed in the direction of the pavilion where she knew the elderly manufacturer was asleep. He was dead. Word was telephoned to the Fort Hamilton police station and a call sent for an ambulance.

The son was found at the house, it was said, by Lieut. Lake, in charge of the Fort Hamilton station. He made no effort to escape, and willingly accompanied the Lieutenant.

Chester Duryea told the police that he was in the mercantile business, but they expressed the opinion that he was a lawyer. In the library where it was said he had spent the greater part of the night were found a number of law books and papers.

The servants said that the son had taken a great interest in hunting and in guns and revolvers. None of them, however, would express an opinion that he had appeared to be demented. They simply said that they had noticed his eccentric actions. He had stamped about the house, according to one version, and had seemed excited and irritable.

The Duryea residence is one of the finest in the Bay Ridge section. It is an imposing frame building overlooking the Shore Road. The pavilion in which Mr. Duryea was sleeping had been constructed in the rear of the house over the kitchen so that it would not mar the beauty of the residence.

A dozen dectectives were hurried to the house to question the servants. The neighborhood was also thoroughly aroused by the tragedy and a number of Mr. Duryea's friends were questioned. None of them were able to give any information which would tend to show the motive for the shooting.

Chester Duryea Paid Alimony

In 1906 Chester Duryea attained some noteriety by beginning proceedings to have the amount of alimony to be paid Nina L. Duryea, who obtained a separation from him in 1904, reduced from $2,30. He said he was unable to pay that amount. Mrs. Duryea, who was the daughter of Franklin Waldo Smith of Boston, was then living in Paris with her 4-year-old son.

Duryea at that time was under contract with the United Starch Company - as a chemist not to start a starch business of his own in the United States until July 1, 1909.

He owned some of the company's bonds as well as stock in the Corn Products Co. He said he was obliged to part with some of the bonds to pay alimony and legal fees. - New York Times, 5 May 1914