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  Adelaide Piquette Lathwell, her husband William, and Mrs.Alice Toomey
A terrible tragedy was enacted at Niagara Falls last Monday in which people well known here were the participants. Wm. Lathwell, in a moment of insane rage, shot and fatally wounded his wife and a woman named Mrs. Toomey, who was his paramour, and himself. Mrs. Lathwell is dead, and her body will reach the Soo today for burial. She was a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Antoine Piquette, old residents of the Soo, and has three sisters and two brothers in the city. The ill-fated woman married Lathwell two years ago this winter, when he was the proprietor of a barbershop at the Canadian Soo. The following summer Lathwell worked in a barber shop under Condlon's shoe store and is remembered by many here.
The shooting occurred in Lathwell's living apartment over his barbershop, just after the inmates of the house had arisen at 9 o'clock, Tuesday morning. Fire shots were fired. Two of them struck Mrs. Toomey, one in the neck, severing the gullet, and the other in the left breast. Mrs. Lathwell was shot in the left breast, near the heart and in the back on the left side. Lathwell was wounded in the breast, the ball entering just above the heart, passing through his body and lodging in his back just beneath the skin. The three wounded persons were taken to a hospital. Mrs. Lathwell died about 11 hours afterward. Both Mrs. Toomey and Lathwell will die if death has not already come to them. At her request Mrs. Toomey's mother, Mrs. Alexander McLaughlin, of Oconto Wisc. was sent for. Lathwell's parents reside at Orangeville Ont. Jealousy was the cause of the trouble. When Lathwell and his wife arose they began quarreling about the Toomey women and Lathwell, becoming enraged, drew a revolver and began firing. The women sought safety in flight, but were overtaken by the flying bullets. It appeared that Lathwell left the Soo in December 1896 leaving his wife here and went to Pembine, Wis. where he lived until about Jan 13 1898. About that time Lathwell skipped out with Mrs. Alice Toomey, wife of a Pembine bartender, came to the Soo for a day or so then went to his old home at Orangeville, Ont. which he had not visited since his marriage, and palmed the Toomey woman off as his wife.
Mrs. Lathwell followed her recent husband to Orangeville, from the Soo about the middle of January, having heard of her husband's escapade, only to find that he had flown with his paramour to Niagara Falls, where they were living as man and wife, when Mrs. Lathwell arrived on the scene a few days later, strange to say, there was no trouble. The matter was patched up and the two women, Mrs. Toomey and Mrs. Lathwell agreed to live together with Lathwell. All went well under these arrangements for a few days, but when Miss Toomey appeared with a gold watch and chain one day Mrs. Lathwell was angry and demanded an explanation. Her husband could not answer her question to her satisfaction and the two women got together and agreed to leave Lathwell. Without notifying him they left for Buffalo. He entered a complaint and charged Mrs. Toomey with stealing the gold watch. The two women were apprehended and they told a story confirming the above statement. Mrs. Toomey said that Lathwell had given her the watch, but that he denied it. After the trail of their case they returned to Niagara Falls. The breath between Lathwell and the two women was bridged and they lived together again until the deed of blood was enacted by Lathwell, probably in a spirit of revenge.
Contributed by Jerry at Find-a-grave / Sault Ste Marie (MI) Evening News
Orangeville Sun - 10-Feb-1898
A GAY YOUNG MAN ---- Mrs. Bill Lathwell Pursues Her Hubby to wn. ----- But He and Another Man's Wife Strike Out For Buffalo - Poor Addie's Tale of Woe.
Two weeks ago Billy Lathwell, a former gay young man of this town, paid a visit to his parents here. He was accompanied by a woman whom he palmed off as his wife, and this goes to show that Bill is just as gay as ever and a little more so. A year ago last April Bill got married at the Canadian Soo and this being his first visit to the town of his nativity many old friends congratulated him for choosing such a handsome wife.
Last Thursday evening's train brought into town a pretty looking French-Canadian woman who was in search of her husband, and this hubby proved to be none other than the gay young Bill. But Bill and his other wife had left for Buffalo the day before, so the poor woman's trip to town was without result.
Speaking to a representative of THE SUN Mrs. Lathwell, with a pleasing French accent, said that her name before being married to Bill was Addie Piquette and that her father was a fisherman at the Soo. Her husband has been bartending at a place in Michigan called Pembine while she was living at home and it was their intention to remove to Orangeville, where Bill was going to buy out a barber shop. Lately, Addie informed us, he has not been writing very regularly to her, but she did not think for a moment that he was false to her.
The other day Addie was strolling down street in the Soo and a couple of friends asked her if she had seen her husband in town, but she thought they made a mistake and continued her walk. Another acquaintance met her and said, "Addie, I saw your husband go through here today with a peach of a girl," and this satisfied Addie that something was wrong, hence her visit to Orangeville.
Addie also told THE SUN that the aforesaid "peach" was a married woman, who deserted a husband and a one-year old child to fly with Bill. She was a handsome blonde and her name is Mrs. Alice Toomey. Pat Toomey, her husband, remains in Pembine and is quite willing to let his wife's sins find her out, but Addie is determined to meet her husband face to face and make him answer for his perfidy. With this ideas firmly fixed in her mind she left for Buffalo on Friday evening. Up to the minute of going to press no tidings of Addie's success or failure have reached us from the Bison City.
Orangeville Sun, 17-Mar-1898
Details of a terrible tragedy reached here Tuesday morning from Niagara Falls, N.Y., in which a young man of this town figured as the principle character. Albert Lathwell, son of Joseph Lathwell, the well known drayman, shot his wife, another woman and then turned the gun on himself, and the three of them are lying at the point of death, no hopes of their recovery being entertained. Lathwell's father left on Tuesday night for Niagara Falls.
THE SUN of February 10 had a write-up of Lathwell and a woman named Mrs. Alice Toomey, the wife of Pat Toomey, a hotelkeeper of Pembine, Mich. Lathwell was married to a young French girl named Addie Piquette of Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., tow years ago, but he deserted her and went away with the Toomey woman.
They came to Orangeville about the 1st of last month and visited the former's parents, who, of course, thought the woman was his wife, but a few days later Lathwell's real wife came along, but Albert and the other woman had gone to Buffalo. Mrs. Lathwell followed them and nothing more was heard of them until the awful tragedy occurred. She apparently found and forgave them and they all lived together.
Lathwell was running a barber shop on Ferry Ave, at the Falls and they lived over the shop. On Tuesday morning the trio arose about 9 o'clock and young Lathwell and his wife commenced quarrelling over Mrs. Toomey and things got so hot that Lathwell picked up a big revolver and commenced shooting. The women tried to get downstairs as quickly as possible, but before they could reach the door each of them had been shot twice. The first bullet lodged in the lower part of Mrs. Lathwell's left breast and the next shot lodged in her back, the bullet taking a downward course. Mrs. Toomey got shot in the neck, the bullet passing through and severing the gullet. The other ball entered the left side and passed very near the heart. Lathwell fired into his own breast and the bullet passed through his body, but just missed puncturing his heart by a margin. Dr. Guillimont, who is attending the victims, says that it is impossible for any of them to recover.
The room where the shooting occurred presented a sickening appearance. There was every appearance of a terrific struggle and the furniture was all overturned. The walls and bedclothes were spattered with blood and the victims were stretched out on the floor in little pools of gore.
Young Lathwell was undoubtedly jealous of the Toomey woman. His wife and Mrs. Toomey ran away to Buffalo and Lathwell followed them. He accused Mrs. Toomey of stealing a watch from him and had her up in the police court in that city. She denied the charge and claimed Lathwell had given her the watch at Niagara Falls before the arrival of Mrs. Lathwell. She announced her willingness to be arrested, and to have the ownership of the timepiece decided in the police court, and was accordingly taken into custody. Lathwell and his wife were detained by the officers as witnesses. Monday morning in the police court Mrs. Toomey repeated her story as to how she became the owner of the watch. Lathwell contradicted her and declared he had merely loaned her the timepiece. Acting Judge Welch believed the woman's story, and discharged her, after instructing the police to give her the watch. After she was discharged she and Lathwell left the court room together, apparently on good terms.
Albert Lathwell was born and raised in Orangeville and lived here until three or four years ago. He was what might be called a swift young man. He quite going to school at an early age and rapidly developed into a high flyer, but for all that there were many worse than he. When he was in town with the Toomey woman last month he palmed her off as his wife and misled all his old chums with the single exception of one, who happened to have seen his real wife at the Soo. It was the general opinion that poor Lathwell would wind up suddenly some day, but no one was prepared for such a tragic end. A great deal of sympathy is expressed for his parents and relatives.
Mrs. Lathwell, it will be remembered by those who read THE SUN of Feb. 10, was a pretty little French girl named Addie Piquette, 24 years of age, who was married to Albert nearly two years ago. She told THE SUN, when she was in Orangeville a month ago, the history of her brief married life and gave us to understand that she would find her husband and make him answer for his perfidy. But she evidently forgot all about it when she found him for the three of them lived together.
Mrs. Toomey, the other woman in the case, is young and good-looking. She eloped with Lathwell from Pembine, Mich., where she left a husband and a one year old child. Pat Toomey, her husband, when told of his wife's unfaithfulness, said that he would not follow her but would let her sins find her out. And they have found her out sooner than any person expected. Mrs. Toomey's mother lives at Oconto, Wis, and she has been notified.
A dispatch from Niagara Falls last night says: It develops that Albert Lathwell, who shot his wife and Alice Toomey yesterday morning, first tried to poison them by pouring laudanum in a pail of beer which he purchased and gave to them. Failing in this attempt to take their lives, he resorted to surer means and used his revolver with terrible effect. Coroner Slocum took the ante mortem statement of Lathwell and his two victims yesterday. Lathwell's father, Jos. Lathwell of Orangeville is now here with his son. Alice Toomey one of Lathwell's victims, was born in Kingston, Ont.,
Mrs. Addie Lathwell, one of the victims of Tuesday's tragedy, died yesterday. She was thought to be the least injured of the three, but she was the first to succumb. There is no change in the condition of the other two and they may die at any moment.
Apparently Albert Edwin Lathwell did not die of his wounds. He died 9 June 1950 and is buried at Battle Creek, Calhoun Co MI.
He was born 13 Aug 1873 in Orangeville, Wellington Co. Ontario Canada the son of Joseph Roberts and Priscella (Keetch) Lathwell
Albert and Adelaide were married 13 Apr 1896 in Sault Ste Marie, Algoma District, ON, CANADA
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