The daily gazette., 1877-01-18
THE BRYN MAwR TRAGEDY.
A BROTHER OF THE MURDERED
MAN SAYS THAT HE WAS
INSANE

Mr.. John MundeD, a very respectable
shoe and leather merchant, doing busi-
ness vt II South Fourth street, is a
brother OF David MundelI, an account
OF whose death at the hands of u con-
stables posse. at Bryn Mawr, appeared
in yesterdays Times Mr.. Mundell, who
returned last night from Bryn Mawr
and Norristown. where he had been in
vestigating the circumstances of the
tragedy gave TO Times reporter the fol-
lowing account of his hrother's life and
death: my brother served in a Penn
sylvania regiment during the war, and
was severely wounded in the head, and
since then he has bsen subject to per-
iodical fits of insanity. His particular
hallucination was that some one was af-
ter him to kill him, and that all of his
relatives had been or were about to be
killed and dissected by the doctors.
Last spring he was committed to the
House of Correction for some dlsorderly
while there, and Mr.. Cattell, the SUPER
intendent, who is a personal friend of
mine, cent for me to come out and see
him. went and concluded to have him
transferred to Kirkbride's Insane Asy-
lum. He entered the asylum June 8,
and Ilpaid $3.50 for six months board for
him. On the 18th OF Septembe he was
released the doctors thinking him suffi-
ciently restored to be trusted outside.
He went to Bryn Mawr and worked at
his trade. making shoes for merchant
in Media. | heard good accounts of him
until about Christmas, when he drove to
Media to take over his work. His little
daughter accompanied him. On the way
home he became very much excited and
| acted in an insane manner. His daugh-
| ter got frightened and left the sleigh.
| His having to go home without her made
J him much worse, and he took it into his
head that some one had killed her. He
was told that she was at Mr.. Sayem's,
employed as child s-nurse, but he would
not believe it, and insisted that she had
| been killed.
| Saturday night last David slept very
well. but got up early Sunday morning
and went to Mr.. Sayem's behaving
violently, as reported, MIR. Sayem got
alarmed, and had warrant issued for
his arrest. On Sunday Constable George
ILitZenburg went to to the house TO make
| the arrest. My sister met him and beg
ged him not to attempt the arrest, and
told him that David was insane, and
take him away. The constable showed
a pistol and said he would take him by
fair means or foul, but finally went awau
On Monday morning DAVID told my sis
| Ter anu utpueN 10 20 HOIue, anu tOlu
his wife to go out and not come back un.
til she brought the girl. Shortly after
they had gone the constablel accompan-
led by some twenty men arrived.
They broke open the door with crow
bar and five of them entered, and min
ute afterwards David was a. a.dead man.
All the balls lodged in the wall show
that the shots were fred at his head,
and the blood on the stairs shows that
he was shot nearly at the head of the
stairs. The ball whic struck him in the
leg must have brought him down, and
the shot which killed him was fred
while he was falling, as the ball entered
at the top OF his forehead, took down.
ward course and lodged near the back
of the neck. was unwilling that the
Coroner's inquest should be con, lad, d
without thorough investigation, and L
went to Norristown and employed Mr..
Boyd, II lawyer, and am going up to-
morrow, accom- panied by Colonel VIM.
b. Mann. Mr.. brother had not taken a
drop OF liquor for several months"
The murdered man once worked in
this city Phila. Times.