The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1898-10-03
HORRIBLE DOUBLE TRAGEDY,

Youug GIrI oe Allegheny city Kills Hen
Mother and Fatally shootp HsESslf'
Tired Of Life. and Didn't Want TO Leave
Her lIothsr to Grlovo OveF Her Death,
PITTsBURG. Pa. Oct 2-Bertha
BeIlsteln, aged 20, killed her mother to-
day. and later put four bullets into her
own body, from the effects Of which she
cannot recover,
The only explanation the giri has
given for her terrible deed were these
words: 'I was tred OF life. It held no
pleasure for me. wanted to die, and
did not want my mother to live and fret
over my death. For that reason ! killed
her"
The crime, which was committed some
time In the early morning, was not dis
covered until late in the day, when
son of the murdered woman came to the
house to Gee his mother. He went to her
room and found her body cold in
death. A bullet wound At the right side
of the nose told the story. The bed was
covered with blood and there was every
indication that death had ensned some
hours before.
In a room adjoining that Of the mo-
ther the son found the body Of the SIS
ter. She was also lying in a pool Of
blood, and In her right hand was clutch
ed revolver, the implement of destruc-
tion.
An examination of Mrs. BeilsteIn
showed that she had been shot three
times with Ss-calibre revolver. One
shot had entered at the right side pf the
nose, had taken downward course in
the neck, and had cut the seventh GER
vlcle veraebrae. This. the physician.
says, must have caused instant death.
Another shot had entered the right
breast and the third had passed through
the right groin.
An examination Of the daughters
wounds convinced the physicians that
her death was a question of only a
short time. A bullet had torn Its way
through the right temple and had passed
out at the top OF the head. From both
the entrance and exit of the wound the
brains were oozlng. A bullet from the
same sized revolver had been fred into
her left breast near the heart and she
had also shot herself twice in the
stomach with revolver OF % calIbre.
To one Of her brothers. during pc
Rod Of consciousness, the girl told OF the
shooting OF her mother. She saId she
went into the room with the revolver In
her hand. She had decided to kill her
self and knew that the shock of her
death would break her mothers heart,
and concluded death would be prefer
able to her sunerlngs on earth.
Her mother. she said. was sleeping
when she went into the room. She
4 ptacGd the revolver close to her breast
and fired On the report of the pistol
her mother sat up in bed and said to
her: Birdie. what are you dolng?"
The answer was another shot, which,
she says, was fred at her mothers face.
This was evidently the shot which en-
tered Mrs. Beilstern's face and resulted
in her instant death. One more wound
was inflicted afterwaFd.
Frederick Bellsteln, the father Of the
family, was one of the best known resi-
dents of Allegheny. He died suddenly
to December last from apoplexy, and
since then Birdie is said to have lost all
of her youthful beauty. Fnnm a light
hearted. happy gin she became quiet,
depressed, despondent woman. Hence the
friends OF the family think she was
temporarily insane when she commit
ted the awful crime.