The herald., 1895-02-20
70 KNOW THE UNKNOWN
Marco Hellman Attempts Suicide
by Shooting
FINALE OF A WILD CAREER
The Ex-BasebaII Manager Reaches the
Home Base
The Shot Fired In a Spring Street Store-He
Was in Serious Financial
Trouble

Marco Hellman, young man of thi
| city, shot himself yesterday afternoon a
, about o'clock and he is likely to di,
from the wound.
Shortly after he had entered the Tufts
| Lyons Arms Company's store on Spring
street, for the purpose of buying re
volver W. II. Tufts showed him a Col
| 38, which seemed to meet with Hellman'
approval, as he Immediately purchased it,
requesting that the weapon be loaded
Mr.. Tufts went to the cartridge case and
filled the chambers of the revolver. He'll
man stood by and when the loading pro-
cess was completed reached for the pistol.
Tufts handed it to him and almost i'm
mediately the report of shot was heard,
Hellman falling to the floor with the
words, Good bye all!''
rush was made for the PROSTATE man,
who was lying on the ground, perfectly
conscious. He had wound in the breast
from which blood was flowing copiously,
and the cloth of his vest was powder
burned. The young man then made the
statement to bystanders that the motive
for his act was his inability to meet
the many debts he had contracted and
which he never could hope to repay. He
expressed no regret for his act and said he
wanted to die.
Marco Helman was removed to the re-
ceiving hospital in the patrol wagon,
where Police Surgeon Bryant, assisted by
Drs. Ainsworth and Gates attended him
at once. They probed for the bullet for
more than half an hour without any re-
suits and had to give up the attempt. The
physicians believe the missile to be i'm
bedded in the tissues near the heart.
There was but little hope expressed for
Hellman recovery.
Only few days ago The Herald related
the young mans arrest for having OBJ
tanned $14 on a worthless check drawn on
self, from Secondstreet tailor named
Phillips. lie managed to square the mat
ter that time by procuring elsewhere the
money which the tailor demanded.
That Hellman should have attempted to
commit suicide because the weight of his
many debts was too heavy burden for
him to bear, was discredted by nearly
everyone who knew him, and all said
that there must be another, not yet
known, reason for his deed. That there
was another incentive, far more potent
than number of uncollecttble debts,
which drove lIellman to seek death by
his own hand, was learned by Herald
reporter almost Immediately after the
shooting.
Marco Hellman was again in danger of
immediate arrest, and this time he felt
himself unable to raise the coin that alone
could save him from impending punish
ment. He had obtained money right and
left on other worthless checks, one among
which was of too high a figure to be set
tied by appealing to his friends for aid
or on sums raised by other questionable
transactions
Hardly an hour before the tragedy hap
pened at the Tufts Lyons Arms Company,
ex-Detective Bosqui had obtained from
Deputy District Attorney James a com
plaint in which Marco Hellman was
charged with having defrauded Albert
Bilcke of the IIollenbeck out of $50 by
means of a worthless check, made paya-
BILE to bearer and drawn by Helman him
self upon the Farmers and Merchants
Bank
A second complaint was also being pre-
pared that would probably have been filed
in the morning, in which this reckless
individual was to have been accused of a
far more important haul of other peoples
money. The transaction was no less a
one than getting $400 from well known
financial institution on a check payable
to himself, drawn as usual, on the Farm
ers and Merchants bank. lie had assured
the people at the defrauded establishment
that he had the funds in the other bank
and they believed him. but in their case,
as in Bilicke's, the checks were returned
stamped: mo account:
At 3 O'Clock this morning Mr.. Hellman
was resting quietly under the influence of
narcotics, and it was thought he might
live yet for several hours, although the
police surgeon states that his recovery is
impossible.