The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-03-01
MURDERED IN THE STREET.
sToNEMlsoN SHOT DOWN IN SIGHT
OF HUNDREDS OF PEOPLE,

Murderer Fired Repeatedly at Hts Victim
Amer re had Fallen - Seized and Disarmed
Later Auid Cries or Lynch Himip-
Went Tell way Ho Committed the Crime.
A little before 1 o'clock yesterday afternoon.
when East Fifty ninth street was filed with
people, Emil Guzman, q cheap jewelry fakir,
camo across Nicholas Pontius, q broken-down
stonemason, in front Of 217, and began to
shoot at him. Pontlus. who was a big man,
was leaning against the wheel of q wagon.
There were perhaps 5oOspeoploiwithin sight
in tho street. Two cars of the Belt line railroad
were passing. Nobody heard either man say =
word to the other, and nobody paid any atteniton
TO the two until a pistol shot sounded. Guz-
man was then seen standing in front of Pontius,
holding q pistol within a foot Of his head. Pom.
thus raised his hand to his face, and blood
spurted from q wound In his forehead. He
wavered from side to side for n moment, and
fell just as Guzman fired at him again. There
were a dozen persons within reach Of Guzman,
but they were apparently paralyzed with fright.
Pontius fell with his head between the
wheels of the wagon against which .he had
been standing. GuZman waited a moment,
and then, leaning over the prostrate man. he
fired again. The second bullet had entered
the right cheek. This third one entered tho
nose at The bridge. The shots were heard all
along. the street. Windows .were; thrown up
anu THCeb appeared ~ tneHi. 1uO urlNoEb VI
the horse cars pulled up; women in the crowd
shrieked. People came, running from every
direction, but Tho not . 2 soul limo moved sndo e. put rs a nEnq
in hand. He leaned over the body again, and,
taking deliberate aim at Pontius's breast. he
fired a fourth time. There wore more shrieks.
more windows were thrown up. q Thousand peo-
pie perhaps were now within sight. Again Guz-
Then came a reaction on the part Of the spec:
tators. Everybody seemed to recover himself
man. Thnmaa Murray n COncbnlan who Hyea
ut 40 East Sixty.third street, reached him first.
He had been 3 sSPsass senngeEr:on one s. Of t the Belt cit line Inc
Weapon SSstso Ai away y u. John Wilkinson q sas East
slant grabbed the murderer's other hand. Then
II g CROWD ST% ;! closed p = in. J.; There were cries of
GuZman had a smile on his face. He looked
at the corpse Of his victim, The next instant
he was the centre ss Of a Whirl ,a mob r,t Wil kim
in the crowd tried to reach him. and round and
round the whole mass whirled out into tho
creased. In the midst of the excitement Po-
liccman William Stockinger of the East Fifty:
first street station arrived from the direction of
man Washington Irving Of the same station
f FROM s snS ID i sysn tims tb bhey It f 5ste, upon pc i., f1 e
man. Newsboys had told them what had hap
crowd and examined the body Of Pontius. lie
thought, the man might, stu be alive, SO he sent
the Flower Hospital. In the meantime the
crowd was telling the policeman who held Guz.
ma n. what hiatt had add hs speensaav E Ever c 1Edy was and tax de.
nouncing the prisoner. The ambulance came.
The doctorsaid. that Pontius was dead, that
Guzman was taken to the police station.
%hen Capt. Kane asked him why he had shot
tain. I have nothing to say" He told the
Sergeant that he was % years old and that he
no had inst arri ynd IN the cify from New Or |
leans, which was not true, for the police know
him well. He had been a hanger;on in the pre-
them as II cheap gambler and fake jewelry ped
dler. He said he was a Spectator when the
Sergeant asked him his business.
The body of Pontius was brought to the sta
ton. Guzman saw il when it was brought In.
had lived in the precinct twenty or twenty-five
years. He once had u good business. He lost
It.. He had been working off and on at any.
had spent most of his time in a saloon at Fifty
eighth street and Second avenue recently:
he two men. Guzman was flashily dressed and
had a big watch chain. and flashing ring. Pom.
Gasm mas % assin xS S!o Ss bad rhS si GsG'' Po nshSa
was taken to the Yorkviile Court, where Magis-
speak. lie was formally committed to await
the action of the Coroner. and was taken back to
where Coroner Bausch took charge Of the case.
Lawyer Francis Oliver got to the Coroners
once AT the same tlWe. lie SAID he nau Deen
retained by telephone to defend GuZman. He
told GuZman not to say n word, and the prls-
oner refused even to tell the Coroner where he
lived. Murray and Wilkinson. the men who
caught Guzman, made atidavits to what they
had seen; The prisoner was committed to the
Tombs. Later. when reporters tried to inter.
view him, he sent out word that he was 'indis-
posed" and did not care,to be disturbed"
The police, after they had got rid of their
prisoner. set about finding out a motive for tho
shooting. At n late hour last night Capt. Kane
said they had not learned anything at all. Pom.
thus was a married man, and had two daughters.
Neither his wife nor his daughters had ever
heard of GuZman. Friends OF GuZman who
were. seen professed to know nothing about the
of the two men. There were half n
dozen stories around. One was that GuZman
had sold a policy slip to Pontius. that the gig
won. and that GuZman refused to pay. An
other was that the men had auarrelled over a
debt. Still another was that Guzman
had insplted one Of P%ontius's daughters, and
had threatened him. The police found
no proof TO sustain any Of them. They did
learn from a jeweller named Balk that there
dealer In fake jewelry named Gus DAVID
son, with whom GuZman had auarrelled two
years ago. At that time PontiuB was a friend
Of Davidson, and took up his quarrel: David
son was assaulted by GuZman. Later Davidson
died Of consumption, and since that time Guz-
nan has frequently assumed his name. They
think perhaps tho old quarrel with Davidson