Jealousy and Rage – December 1930

While going through some old newspapers on microfilm the other day, I came across the story of a Murder-Sucide from December 5, 1930.

1141 Drouillard Road became 1641 when the whole city was renumbered in 1937.

This is how the location of the tragedy looks today.

12/05/1930 – Picture #1 is the death kitchen, #2 is the Yarmolovich Home, #3 is Mrs Elizabeth Yarmolovich, 43, #4 Mr. Yarmolovich, #5 Miss Katie Nahorney, #6 Mrs. Sonia Belluz.

Reproduced below is the text of the article that ran in the Windsor Star, December 5, 1930 on page 3.

HUSBAND MURDERS WIFE, TAKES OWN LIFE

Jealousy Blamed for Dual Killing In East Windsor

Straton Yarmolovich uses gun to end long series of domestic disputes in little home on Drouillard Road.

Differences Led to Separation

Woman vainly tries to shield self behind girl roomer, who is eye-witness of tragedy; both deaths instantaneous.

Crazed with jealousy for a wife whom he believed untrue, Straton Yarmolovich, 48-year-old Russian, 1141 Drouillard Rd. East Windsor, burst into the kitchen of his little home at 8:50 o’clock last night, shot and instantly killed his wife, Elizabeth, 42, whit a bullet from a .32 caliber automatic, and then blew out his own brains.

Katie Nahorney, 25, a roomer in the Yarmolovich home was a witness to the shooting.

DRINK SUSPECTED

Yarmolovich, who had left his home following a separation from his wife a month ago, is believed to have been drinking.

“You know what I am here to do” he said, as he leveled the gun at the woman.

Mrs. Yarmolovich, who was ironing attempted to rush out a side door, and falling, seized Miss Nahorney and sought to hide behind her.

“Stand aside” shouted the infuriated man, as he dragged the girl from in front of his wife. Then he fired at three-foot range. The bullet pierced her head from ear to ear, and shattered the glass of a cabinet behind her.

Turning the gun on himself, he sent a bullet through his head, dying instantly. The missile pierced the pane in the kitchen door and went through the wall of the storm house outside.

FIND DEATH NOTE

In the pocket of the slayer’s coat, the East Windsor police found a death note written in Russian. It stated that he was going to kill his wife because she had “cheated” and had “fooled him”. At the time of the separation hearing about six weeks ago, it was brought out in court that he was very jealous of a fellow Russian who was rooming with them.

The shooting occurred about 20 minutes after Mrs. Yarmolovich was returned home following a conference with her lawyer, Bruce Williams, mayor-elect of East Windsor, at his office, 57 Edna Street.

She left the law office at 8:30, after asking Mr. Williams to request her husband to give her a copy of his citizenship papers so she might go to Detroit to visit a sister. Mr. Williams promised to see Yarmolovich this morning.

For the last ten days, neighbors state the man has been threatening to kill the woman. In July, following an exceptionally heated quarrel in which the wife is alleged to have hurled a bowl of soup at him, she had him arrested for threatening her life.

FINALLY PARTED

Yarmolovich was in jail all night. He was released the next day when the two agreed to settle their differences by separating. They lived together until a month ago, when the magistrate granted the separation. He moved to a rooming house at the corner of Drouillard Road and Metcalf Street.

Although he was seen around the former home several times at night since he left, last evening was the first time he had entered the house.

He was considered a steady, reliable citizen in the neighborhood in which he lived, and a man who had accumulated some little wealth. It was said he seldom drank until after the separation. Since then, he had been drinking heavily, It is stated. He owned his home, a well-kept cozily furnished cottage. Only recently he completed payment, upon a automobile, he had purchased for his wife.

He was an employee of the Ford Motor Company of Canada, where he had worked steadily for at least 10 to 12 years.

Neighbors state that the two had been quarreling periodically since they built the home on Drouillard Road eight years ago. Some of the quarrels were so violent that it was necessary for the police to intervene.

GOOD REPUTATION

Mrs. Yarmolovich was well though of in the neighborhood, except in the mind of her husband. It is said her reputation as a house wife was beyond reproach, although she is said to have possed a quick temper and often chided Yarmolovich for things that sometimes seemed trivial to friends. This might have been responsible for their frequent arguments it is said.

Following the shooting Miss Nahorney who was frightened speechless, rushed into the home of Mr. & Mrs. Ignatz Zuysky, who live next door. It was 20 minutes before she was able to tell them what had happened. She had been a roomer in the Yarmolovich home just two days.

John Yarkosky and his daughter, Mrs. Sonia Belluz, 1129 Drouillard Road, close friends of the slain couple, called the police, and were among the first at the scene of the slaying.

Sergeant Mahoney and Constables Tellier and Renaud responded. Dr. A. M. Blakley and Dr. Paul Poisson, M.L.A. coroner, were also called.

BODIES HUDDLED

The bodies lay on opposite sides of the blood-spattered little kitchen.

The dead woman had a large hole above the left ear and another just about the right. There was also a hole through her left wrist. She had attempted to shield herself with it from the death bullet.

The bullet that killed Yarmolovich had entered above the right ear and came out behind the left.

Dr. Poisson has called an inquest to be held Wednesday night, December 10 at 7 at the East Windsor City Hall. He impaneled an eight-man jry which last night inspected the premises and viewed the remains.

The jurymen are:

E.G. Overbolt, 1085 Drouillard Rd
Peter Mulligan, 1170 Hickory St
Oride Forget, 1100 Drouillard Rd
James Ellis, 1143 Hickory St
David Bianchi, 1143 Hickory St
Edore Ferland, 1100 Drouillard Rd
Patrick McGowan, 296 Alice St

BANK ACCOUNT

A bank book found in the dead man’s pockets showed a balance of $352.62 in the Walkerville branch of the Bank of Montreal. There was $15 in cash on him. He is survived by a sister residing in Detroit. The couple had no children.

Since the separation Mrs. Yarmolovich had been supporting herself as a tailoress, and was considered exceptionally competent. She was enjoying fair success in her venture.

They were married 25 years ago in Russia. They came to Canada 20 years ago, and lived for a time in Montreal. About 15 years ago they moved to East Windsor and Mr. Yarmolovich obtained employment at the Ford Motor Company shortly afterward.
They were hard working and thrifty. The home was exceptionally well furnished and comfortable. Yarmolovich was very proud of it and spent most of his leisure hours there. He often told the neighbors he would be a happy man if he only knew how to get along with his wife.

He was of a peaceful disposition, neighbors state, and made an honest effort to avoid disputes. He was considered a good provider. Mrs. Yarmolovich in later years, it is said, sought many things, which her husband thought extravagant, and this divergence of opinion aggravated the gathering domestic clouds which culminated in last night’s double tragedy.

The murder and suicide is the first premeditated slaying to occur in East Windsor in a great many years. Except for the killing of her four children by an insane mother two years ago, the last slaying occurred in 1923, when a man named Bennett was slain by a club in the hands of a man named Benito, who is now doing 15 years in Kingston on a manslaughter charge.

The bodies were taken to the J.H. Sutton morgue where an effort to get in touch with relatives of both the dead man and his wife was underway today.

An autopsy on the bodies of the slain couple was conducted by Dr. J.P. Parent this morning. Death in both cases he found was due to fractured skulls caused by bullets which had passed completely through the heads of both as well as through the woman’s left wrist.

Just another forgotten story in Windsor’s history.