Elizabeth Weber
Cincinnati Enquirer, 15 January 1884, page 2
CRAZED BY JEALOUSY
The quiet little hamlet of Alexandria, the capital of Campbell
County, Kentucky, was the scene of a terrible tragedy Sunday afternoon. The old
story of a jealous lover, urged on to madness and desperation and as usual,
without any moving cause whatever. The principal character in the bloody affair
was a youth named Edward Beier, whose home is on the Licking Pike, where his
father is a well to do farmer.
Beier was in his nineteenth year, was fairly good looking and after courting Miss Lizzie Weber, the daughter of a neighbor, became a few months ago her accepted lover. The young fellow was of a fiery, jealous disposition and hardly allowed his betrothed to preserve the amenities of life toward to hers of the opposite sex.
According to report, Miss Weber, girl like, occasionally amused herself at the expense of her lover by indulging in a little harmless coquetry, which would have been insignificant in the eyes of the ordinary person, while in Beier it produced outbreaks of jealousy fury, which at times verged on the ridiculous. On Sunday, Miss Weber was in Alexandria visiting her sister, Mrs. George White and while there met an old admirer of hers, Nicholas Biehl. He had been much attached to Miss Weber, but retired when she gave her hand to his rival.
Calling on her Sunday morning he accompanied her to mass at St Mary's Church. Beier was in town at the time and hearing of the occurrence, at once flew into a tremendous rage. Rushing to the house where she was staying, he furiously demanded that she should give up his engagement right and some little trinkets which he had given her. He reproached her with great violence for her fickleness and she endeavored to soothe him with the assurance that his jealousy was entirely groundless and that her affection was still his. He replied by jerking out a seven shooter, 22 caliber revolver and aiming at her snapped it in her face. Luckily it missed fire and screaming for help, Miss Weber ran into another room, and the inmates of the house seized Beier and put him outside.
He made several attempts to reenter the house and failing he placed the revolver to his breast and fired three times. Before he sent another bullet crashing through the right temple. The last shot did the fatal work. He fell to the floor where he was picked up and bleeding and senseless. Miss Weber swooned away when the terrible affair took place and only once did she revive and than, as the horror came to her mind, she shrieked "Oh Ed" and fell back into an insensible state. The shock to her system was very great and there were some fears that she would die, but she was still alive yesterday evening.
Dr. Orr made a post mortem examination of the unfortunate Beier's body and found that two of the balls had pierced the heart. Esquire Wagner held an inquest , the jury rendering a verdict in accordance with the facts. Beier himself had many traits that endeared him to his friends and despite his unfortunate headlong passion, was possessed of generous and kindly feelings and his death will be widely mourned.