New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1893-11-17
FUSILLADE AT DELMONICO'S.
A CRANK'S WILD SHOTS.
HE CREATES PANIC AT THE rIFTH.AvE.
RESTAURANT.
DELIBERATELY DRAWING MS REVOLVER, m
FIRES THROUGH THE wINDows-MEN AND
WOMEN RUSH WILDLY TO EsCApE-THE
CRAZY MAN USES HIS LAST BULLETS
IN THE vEsTIBULE-No ONE
HURT-HE SAYS HE WANTED
10 SCARE THE
"NABoBS.n

"NABoBSn
man who was believed to be a crank ere.
ated CONSERVATION at Delmonico's yesterday af-
ternoon by shootin = through the windows on
the Fifth-ave. side the restaurant, and also
in the vestibule. He was overpowered and ar
rested promptly, and 1t was learned later that
he was stonecutter, who had been without work
for week. and had been drinking freely. He
said he wanted only to scare the rich folks"
in the restaurant. II that was his design he
certainly succeeded. His firing caused a panic
in the fashionable resort. Well-dressed men
and women sprang from the tables and fed to
the sidewalks in Broadway and Fifth-ave., while
the walters crawled under tables in fear and
trembling
1t was few minutes before p. m. when
short, chunky man, who had a cean-shaven
face and sharp features, stopped the Fifth
ave. sidewalk in front of Delmonicos and
looked into the restaurant. He seemed to be
cold and hungry as he looked through the
plate-glass windows at the tables where delicate
viands were being served to comfortably clad
men and women 1t was too early for the res
tauraLt to be crowded, but there were fifty or
more people at the tables. Suddenly the man
drew from his pocket a five-chambered revolver
Of large calibre. pointed it at the fourth window
north Of the entrance in the avenue, and fired.
The bullet made a hole through the plate
glass. and passed the heads of four per-
sons seated at table near the window. Then
the man ran swiftly to the entrance of the
restaurant, and pausing there for moment, he
fired two more shots quickly. The bullets made
holes in the window Immediately north Of the
entrance. and entered the restaurant at angles
which let them pass safely over the heads Of
the patrons and walters
THE FUSILLADE ENDED.
Before the echoes Of the shots had died away
the man with the revolver had darted through
the door into the vestibule. There he emptied
his weapon by firing two more shots, the bull
lets flying against the ceiling.
The firing had already caused tumult In the
restaurant. Women screamed, and rushed
toward the exits, minding nothing in their
haste. Men ran out hatless. Walters scurried
about bewldered, trying to hide themselves.
Some Of them crawled under the tables. The
man who had caused the commoton stood in
the vestibule and laughed, holding the smoking
revolver in his hand.
Felix J. Jewell, fireman Of Engine COM
pany No 16. into the vestibule Of the
restaurant. He seized the man after the fifth
shot was fired, and threw him down on the
Eighty-sixth-st., helped the fireman to overpower
and dsarm the crank. They were Joined q
minute later by Park Polio .man Joseph Dillon,
who arrested the man. thinking that he had
shot somebody Then he began to ask ques-
tions. and could find nobody who willing to
make a complaint against the prisoner. He de-
cided to take the man to the police station in
West Thrtieth-st., and he accompanied
there by Fireman Jewell on the way to the
station the prisoner said:
THE SHOOTER AIRS HIS IDEAS.
II didn't hurt anybody I only wanted to
scare those nabobs They don't have to work.
and they live like kings, while many poor fell
lows are going about the streets without 10
cents to buy bread with
At the police station the prisoner said he
George A. Roeth. stonecutter, twentyseven
years old. unmarried, and lived at No $50 West
Forty-sxth-st. In his pocket found a piece
of paper on which he had written
Friday. November TO- 1885,
Mr. G.. V. Baton. engineer of the Fifty-seventh-
st. dock hereby tender my resignation as a stone
cutter this Department OF Docks the same to
take effect Immediately. q. A. ROETR
why were you shooting at Delmonico'sr'
Sergeant Lane inquired, after hearing the charge
against the prisoner.
Il didn't like the way the rich people were
treating the working class" Roeth replied. and
| wanted To frghten them into changing their
ideas That why | got the revolver and
bullets. | want them to give work To poor
people | took care not TO hurt any OF them"
Roeth did not appear TO be under the i'm
nucnce Of liquor. When he was locked up upon
the charge ~ discrderly conduct he sang songs
I'm his cell and seemed To be happy Park Police
man Dillon and Fireman Jewell made the COM
plants against the prisoner. the people at
Delmonco's refusing To make any charge
Roeth lived on the top floor Of the tenement.
house No $50 West Forty-sixth-st.. with his
widowed mother and his brothers. Alfred and
Albert They Nyere surprised 10 hear OF his ar
rest last evening He had not been an assoc
ciat" ~ Anarchists, they said. and he had said
nothing To indicate that he had any III feeling
toward rich people. He had given np his work
as stonecutter week ago. and had been
drinking hard. but he was not believed to be
crazy. Albert Roeth. who Is q designer said
he had told his brother To find furnished room
II he was going To drink. the family would
not be ANNOYED by him when he was drunk
me revolver was one which had been In the
house long time and never had been used
until yesterday afternoon.