Waterbury evening Democrat., 1895-07-06
HIS FAMILY WIPED OUT
Hellman Suffocated Them and
 Himself Also. ~
SIX FOUND DEAD IN THE HOUSE

In an Insane Mood He Calmly Planned the Crime and Executed It Successfully, Turned on the Gas In a Sleeping Room, and All Died.
 CHICAGO, July 6.-Frederick Hellman a well to do mason and contractor, mur- dered his wife and four children and then killed himself. It was at first supposed i that Hellman and his wife and children met death by accident, but it developed at the coroner's inquest that the wholesale murder was calmly planned, and that the man intended to kill himself and end the existence of the members of his family. The dead man and his victims are Frederick Hellman, aged ST; Mrs. Ida Hellman, aged 32; Fred Hellman, Jr., aged II; Ida Hellnan, aged 10; William Hellman, aged z, and Hedwig Hellman, a Swear old daughter.
 The tragedy took place in little brick cottage at the corner of Cornelia and Wood streets. The motive for the crime may never be known, but it is supposed to bo the act of madman.
 Hellman ten years ago had a sunstroke, from which he never recovered completely. Suspicion was first aroused by the fact that the house in which the Hellmans lived was tightly closed long after the usual hour for the family to be astir The mother and married sister of Hellman, who lived next door, attempted to break into the house, but were unable to do so. They finally managed to force an entrance through window that had been left un- fastened, and made their way to one of the bedrooms, where the dead bodies of all the family were found.
 The house was so full of gas that the two women were nearly overcome, and it was only after it had been opened up that it was found possible to turn off the gas, which was streaming from an open jet. The relatives and all the neighbors at once concluded that the deaths had been tho result of an accident, and the police, when they came, adhered to the same opinion. The open gas jet was just above the bed in which the mother and one of the chil- drcn lay, and it was supposed that one of them had during the night accidentally hit the stopcock and knocked it open.
 Had Calmly Planned the Deed.
 At the inquest, however, an entirely different complexion was given to the af- fair by Charles, a brother of Hellman, who produced a letter written by the mur- derer and suicide late on the previous evening, in which he clearly stated his purpose of killing himself, although he gave no intimation of the fact that he was meditating the deaths of the members of his family. He spoke of the window through which the women had crawled as the only way in which his brother could gain admission to the house and said he had left it open for that purpose.
 The brother did not receive the letter until the afternoon and came direct to the inquest. Other circumstances also went to show the deliberate intentions of the man. The gas pipes were only placed in the house two weeks ago. It is now tho belief that they were put there for the pur- pose of carrying out the deed so success fully accomplished.
 The position of the bodies at the time they were found indicated that the two boys and older girl fought desperately to leave the room after the father had turned on the gas. The mother and baby were ly- ing on the inside of the bed, as if in peace full slumber, but the two boys and the old CT girl were in different attitudes, and the expressions of their faces were those of persons who had struggled hard. The fathers hand was firmly placed across the mouth of the older boy, and there is an abrasion of the throat of the other lad, as though he had been strangled.
 Charles Hellman said that he could see no reason for his brothers action save in- sanity. He..w devoted to his family, and his business was in flourishing condi- tion, he not owing a dollar. A verdict of murder and suicide was rendered by the jury.