Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-04-21
THEY DIED TOGETHER
Tragic Ending of Young Couple in
anew York Hotel.
THEY TURN GAsIN THEIR MOUTHS
From the Burners in the Room by Means
-. =. of Rubber Tubes.
BOTH DRANK A GeeD- DEAL OF BEER
ESPECIAL TEL EexAM TO THE DrspArcH.i

ESPECIAL TEL EGkAM TO THE DIsPArcH.i
NEW YORK, April 20.-About 10 clock
on Sunday morning : blonde young Ger
istered at the Grand Union Hotel as P.
Behrend and wife, New York. The young
man had pleasant face and a small, light
mustache. He appeared to be about 25
years old. The young woman was dark and
did not seem over %. She wore spring
suit of gray woelen cloth and aspiring bon
net to match. They had o small satchel.
They were assigned to room on the third
floor, facing on Forty-second.
The man paid So in advance for one day.
Yesterday the young man did not visit the
Office, and the superintendent told Peter
Z Duncan, the head hallman,. to stop at the
room ON hls rounds at $50 o'clock tonight
and find out whether the couple intended to
retain the room. The door was locked on
the inside. Duncan thought he smelled
gas, and he put up stepladder and peered
through the transom, which admitted a lit
tie light from the hall.
He saw that the bed had been drawn into
the middle of the room, directly under the
central gas fixture. There were two figures
upon 1t.
Dead in Their Bedroom.
Duncan openedthe transom, climbed into
the room and unlocked the door. The young
man and woman were dead upon the bed in
their night-dresses, wrapped in each others
arms. The windows had been closed tight
and the bed so placed that the gas jets were
directly over the pillows. Both jets were
turned on full. Over each jet the end of a
length OF plain rubber gas tube was fast
II .oLt1 h. I'll ,oh
tube was eight ieet long and fell to the pill
low below. The free ends of these tubes
were in the mouths of the dead couple.
Death must have been swift and nearly
painless. - a. kl'....+ e.. .-
the pair lay in mass of white bed
clothes. Pillows had been heaped high
under their heads and bulged out on either
side. The sheet and couuterpane had been
drawn up nearly to their waists. The girls
right arm was under the young mans neck,
and his head was upon her shoulder. Her
lett hand rested upon his shoulder. Between
them lay bunch of white roses. Upon
the table were letter and an envelope
containing a key, both addressed to Mrs.
Thomas Miller, 30 East Ninth street, letter
addressed to Fritz Behrend, South William
street, and a note for the Coroner. The
satchel contained nothing but a few toilet
articles aad there were no papers in the
clothing. No money was found. Near the
letters was half emptied two ounce vial of
laudanum, bought at the Oriental Phar-
macy, One Hundred and Twenty-frst street
and Pleasant avenue, and an empty pill
box.
The Bodies Removed.
Superintendent Fitch sent for Mrs. Mil
Ter, who refused to come. He notified the
police and the Coroner. About midnight
a representative % Patterson, Beyins &
Plowright, undertakers. came with two
plain coffins and permit of removal. signed
by Coroner Hanlv, and removed the bodies.
The letters and clothing were taken to the
police sub-station under the Grand Central
Station. Youhg Behrend was pianist of
moderate ability.
He came here from Germany less than