The Worthington advance., 1879-01-30
MRS. NATHAN's DEATH.
a AArders Whose Musferu uas
Not -ReeA- -Fath0,ned.
NeR Ynrlc Rnn |

New YORK Sun.
1sh society was panied yesterday by
To- hs1nounoement of the death of Mrs
IN G. Nathan, the widow of Benjamin
IL the rich! banker. She died. on
Fhl day night at her home, 683 Fifth
ays after brief illness. Mrs. Nathan
neac ed!to the Hendricks family, one of
the s4est and most respected Jewish fam
ihesl New York. She was greatly esteem
[9di her charities, which she frequently ex-
ten outside of her own faith.
Nathan was related by blood or mar
r149e most of tue conspicuous Jewish
famises in the city. Her father, Harmon
i4o oks, favored the patriots in the war for
md ndence, and literally supported their
oeue&1th his money and influence. Her
huss Dc grand maternal ancestor was also
knQe efor her good deeds in the revolu
y priod,a
s Nathan's death recalls the tragic
eudtl Qf the life of her husband, BENJAMIN
Na1 Mhich startled New York more than
ut years. i aasslannds IL
his bed chamber in the second story of his
brown-stone residence, at No. IL West Twen-
ty-third street, ON the morning of July 20,
1870. He had come to the city on the pre-
vious day from his country seat at Norris
town, N. j., to commemorate by appropriate
religious ceremonies the anniversary of the
death of his mother, an ancestral usage that
lie had practiced for more than third of
century. The anniversary occurred on the
3Oth Of July, and Mr.. Nathan desired to be
present early. He reached his city home at
10 O'Clock in the evening, and at about 2:3O
O'Clock his son Frederick came in, and going
to his bedroom asked: "Has Wash (the
elder brother) como in?''
Mr.. Nathan answered in the negative, and
his son then passed up to his own room.
Between that time and O'Clock his brother
Washington entered the house, and on his
way up stairs to his bedroom looked into
his fathers room and found that he was
asleep. Besides Mr.. Nathan and his two
sons, the other inmates of the house on that
night were Ann Kelly, the housekeeper, who
slept in rear room on the same story with
Mr.. Nathan, and her son, Daniel Kelly,
whose room was on the upper story.
At o'clock in the morning Washington
Nathan went to his fathers apartment to
rouse him, and on opening the door dis
covered his dead body lying on the floor in
pool of blood. His skull was crushed, and
his face and body terribly mangled. The
room and the library which adjoined bore
evidence of hard struggle. The safe was
rlted, and there was every appearance that
robbery had been the motive for the crime.
The stock exchange offered $4,000 and
the mayor added a reward of $4,000 for the
detection of the assassin or assassins. There
were many theories al to the murder, but it
has remained one of the mysteries of the
metropolis. In his effort to fathom it Police
superintendent Jourdan was so worried that
he died in a short time afterward. An iron
dog, large implement used by mechanics,
was found in Mr.. Nathan's room, and it was
supposed to have been the instrument with
which his life vas taken.
Mr.. Nathan was the descendant of an o.d
Portuguese family who fled to this country
to escape the terrors Of the inquisition. He
was related by marriage to ex-Judge Cardozo
and the late DIR. Lyons, the rabbi of the syn
agogue at Fifth avenue and Nineteenth
street.
Mr.. and Mrs. Nathan were married when
very young. She was admired for her gen.
tie disposition as well as her beauty. The
intelligence of her husbands tragic death
reached her at Morristown, where she was
sojourning for the summer, and since then
she has led secluded life, never mingling
with others than immediate members of her
household.
Mrs. Nathan was born in February, 1876
Eight children--four sons and four daugh-
ters-survive her. Three of the sons are
single, and lived with her. The eldest is
married. Her daughters are all married.
One of them Is the wife of Julius Wolff, the
importer. Mrs. Nathan bequeathed for
tune to her children.
The house in which the Nathan tragedy.
occurred has been reconstructed, and the
lower stories are used by express companies.
The Upper stories are let into apartments to
bachelors. The house was without tenant
for years previous to its alteration. It is
directly opposite the Fifth Avenue Hotel.