Quadriplegic Accused as Killer
- HOUSTON, Sept. 9— A quadriplegic has been charged here with murdering his wife of two weeks by using his mouth to yank a string that was attached to the trigger of a handgun. Witnesses told the police that his wife had placed the string in his mouth just moments before. The 37-year-old victim, Bertha Mae Burns, was slain Monday night at a bar where she and her wheelchair-bound husband, James B. Burns, 40, had been talking. The police described the weapon that killed her as a 9-millimeter pistol mounted on a small board that Mr. Burns had across his lap. A string ran around two small screws in the board, they said, with one end of the string running to the trigger. A shoebox that had covered the entire apparatus was removed before the shooting. Mr. Burns was upset because his wife was planning to live in California and also because he suspected her of infidelity, the police said. ''According to witnesses, they were sitting there talking in quiet tones,'' said a police detective, A. J. Toepel. ''She then got up and put a string in his mouth, and he jerked his head back once and the gun went off.'' 'Talked Me Into Killing Her' A police sergeant, J C. Mosier, said Mrs. Burns must have placed the string in her husband's mouth, ''because he couldn't have done it.'' Sergeant Mosier said Mr. Burns, who was left a quadriplegic when shot several years ago by a previous wife, had told the police that he had wanted his wife to kill him but that ''she talked me into killing her.'' However, the sergeant said, Mr. Burns also told the police that he had jerked his head back only by accident. And in an interview Tuesday with The Houston Chronicle, Mr. Burns said: ''Somehow the string got pulled. Somehow she pushed my head back.'' In the interview, Mr. Burns could not explain why three bullets had hit his wife. The police have filed a murder charge against Mr. Burns but have not taken him into custody. Instead, he has been allowed to remain home pending a review of the case by a judge and is expected to appear in court Thursday. Ron
