BOLD BURGLARS IDENTIFIED,
UNABLE TO ACCOUNT FOR THEIR ACTION.
A FATHER'S GRIEF THAT HIS SONS, SHOULD GO ASTRAY-WERE THEY KILLED?

The bodies of the t w o burglars who were killed at White Plains on Thursday night-have been identified as those of John and Thomas Tristram, of this city. They are sons of James Tristram, a wire cloth and sieve, maker living in a tenement-house.at No. 130 1/2 Monroe st, this city. Until last Tuesday they were employed by their brothers, Richard and James Tristram, jr ., who are engaged in the manufacture of sieves on the third loft-of the building No. 195 Water-st. The family, composed of the father and mother and five brothers, is in moderate circumstances- and lives comfortably. The younger brothers, Thomas, ago nineteen; John, "age sixteen, and William, age fifteen, and the father were ostensibly in- the employ of the two elder brothers, James, Jr., and Richard and business was done under the firm name of Tristram Brothers, although it was understood by those who know that all had an interest in the profits.

Early Thursday morning Thomas, John and William left their home, giving their parents and brothers the impression that that they were going to their workshop. They wore not seen again during the day and thelr absence caused much worriment. On Thursday evening at 9:30 o'clock, William, the youngest brother, returned to his home and said that he had been to Coney Island and .that he had been sent home by his brothers, who intended to return by a later train. The parents, realizing that there was little to attract people to Coney Island at this season of the year, questioned their son closely, "but were unable to elicit any more definite information from him. Late on Friday evening Mr. Tristram read a description of the young men who had been killed at White Plains. It tallied so closely with the general appearance of his missing sons that he was impelled to send James and Richard to White Plains yesterday morning. As soon as they saw the bodies of the dead men they recognized them as their brothers.

Mr. Tristram, who is past sixty years of age, was found in the afternoon at the. loft, where he assists his sons. When a reporter entered the room he sat on a pile of boxes, swaying to and fro and sobbing like a child. He seemed to be nearly beside himself with grief and it was with difficulty he told of the disappearance of his sons.

"Tom and John," he said •”were good boys and never went around with the gangs which infest the' neighborhood in which we live. They were seldom out of the house and then only with my permission to go to the theatre, ' of which they were very fond. They worked steadily, never drank and never had any firearms in their possession. What possessed them to run away and to buy revolvers and knives I am wholly at a loss to comprehend. They could always obtain enough money to meet their wants and although they worked hard, they never seemed to be dissatisfied with their condition, if they were guilty of the murder with which they are charged the only way I can account for it is that- they were insane, and as for their shooting themselves, 1 regard that as a preposterous assertion made to cloak the deeds of those who shot them down In cold blood. They were innocent, surely innocent"

The announcement that John and Thomas Tristram were the so-called desperadoes was received -with much surprise by those who had known the young men.. In the neighborhoods where they lived and worked they were generally regarded- as being young men of exceptionally good morals and character. The loft In which they worked has been rented for the last; seven years from George L. Squires, who occupies the' ground floor and who has seen thorn almost daily for that length of time.

“I looked upon those two boys," he said, "as model young men. They were always quiet and modest in their demeanor and seemed never to have a disposition to engage in boyish amusements or pranks of any kind. Their education had been necessarily limited and they were obliged to work before they had reached their teens. This tended to make them old before their time. It is apparent from the firearms they carried that they had been .reading dime novels and witnessing blood and thunder dramas, had been imbued with, the• spirit of adventure and- were going West to fight Indians.. They knew little of the geography of the country and probably thought White Plains was the place- where Indians abounded."

Mrs. Tristram, a matronly looking woman of fifty-five or thereabouts, was found at her homo last evening in the midst of-a group of women who had come in to console her. At her side was her youngest son, William, who said that he and his brothers went from: their home Thursday direct to the Grand Central Station, where they purchased tickets to Patterson,-a station on the Harlem Railroad sixty miles from this city, and went there on the train starting at 10:30 am. Upon arriving at Patterson the three alighted and walked about the village for a time and then along the railroad track to Towner's, two mile south. Here they boarded a New York and Northern train and rode to White Plains. William was told to go home at once. John and Thomas had only 40 cents between them. William: reached his home at 9:30 p. m.

Mrs. Tristram said that her son John had been sick with intermittent fever for three weeks. "Neither of the boys was-over bright." she continued, “and they certainly must have .been crazy when they killed that poor man Mead. An uncle of theirs lives at White Plain. I never will believe that my boys would steal. Sooner than do that they would kill themselves."

The two elder; brothers, James and Richard, returned to the city last evening. Like their parents, they believe that John and Thomas wore insane with fright when they killed themselves, and. not being accustomed to the use of firearms, did not realize what they were doing when they fired at William Mead. They will go again to White Plains to-morrow to attend the inquest, which has been adjourned at the request of District- Attorney Baker.

The funeral of William Mead the murdered man, will take place at the Memorial Methodist' Church In. White Plains at 2 o'clock to-day.