Two Women Slain At Beach

DWARFED ITALIAN, ACCUSED BY POLICE, FOUND UNCONSCIOUS

Murder and Attempted Suicide Seen By Officials As Possible Explanation

RECENT QUARREL BLAMED

One of Victims Had Worked As Housekeeper For Alleged Assailant

Beach, N.D., May 9—Believed to have attempted suicide after brutally slaying two women, a mother and her daughter, "Dago Frank" Genino, 60-year-old Italian, was in a hospital here Tuesday afternoon unconscious from a bullet wound in his head.

After posses during the forenoon had combed the Badlands in this area in search of Genino, he was found behind his home shortly after noon with a wound in his head and a gun at his side.

Bodies of the two women, their heads battered with some blunt instrument, were found shortly before 9 'clock Tuesday morning at the home of Mrs. Rosalia Dodge, one of the victims, one mile west of Beach.

Mrs. Dodge was about 85 years old and her daughter, Mrs. Mattie Steger, the other victim, was about 65. Both were widows.

The fact that they were fully dressed led police to believe that they were slain late Monday night.

The bodies were found by Charles Jant, who came to their house to milk their cows. Mrs. Dodge operated a 15-acre farm.

Mrs. Steiger, until recently, had been housekeeper for Genino, a dwarfed man about four feet six inches tall. Following a quarrel, she had left his employ and moved her belonings to her mother's home.

Suspicion pointed to Genino as the slayer when he could not be found and a note, written in Italian, was found on a table in his home by police officials when they began their investigation. They were unable to translate the note, however.

Genino was arrested Monday morning on a charge of stealing grain from a Beach elevator and it is understood Mrs. Steiger was the informant in the case. This angered Genino who, it is reported, had threatened Mrs. Steger's life several times before.

Genino, who has lived in Beach for many years, resided in a Northern Pacific Railway section huose and earned his living through odd jobs about the city.

Mrs. Dodge and Mrs. Steger had lived here for many years also.

At the hospital here, it was said Genino had a chance to recover should no complications set in. The bullet lodged in the right side of his head. He was semi-conscious Tuesday afternoon.

Bismarck Tribune, 5/9/1933