Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1899-02-28
FATE OF BE|LSTEIA FAMILY.
FOUR HAVE DIED AND ANOTHER
LIKELY TO FOLLOW.


Bertha Refuses to Reveal why She
Murdered her Mother and
Attempted Suicide.
The misfortunes which have over
taken the Beilstein family Of Allie
gheny, Pa, during the past twelve
months reads more like fiction than an
actually. The case that prompted
Bertha A. Beilstein to kill her mother
and make desperate attempt on her
own life may never be revealed. The
girl shows every disposition to keep the
secret locked within her own breast,
unless, indeed, she confded 1t to her
brother, now dead, in the letter she Is
alleged to have written to him before
her attempt on her own life.
Scarcely less remarkable than the
crime itself is the fact that the girl,
with bullet wounds in her breast and
head, which the surgeons said must
produce death within few hours has
survived SO long, and may recover en-
tirely.
Throughout the weeks that she has
fingered between life and death she
has been conscious a large part of the
time, and yet so far as those about her
will tell has never expressed any con-
triton or sorrow for her crime.
Bertha A. Beilstein murdered hel
mother by shooting her three times
with revolver on the morning of Oct.
2 She then drank large quantity of
laudaEum, after which she shot her
self four times, using two reyolvers,
and indicting wounds which the ply
sicians thought from the first would
prove fatal within few hours. Mrs.
Beilstein, it Is thought, died almost
Immediately. Owing to the promi-
nence of the family, the tragedy caused
intense excitement.
The family retired about 1890
o'clock on Saturday evening. Both
mother and daughter appeared to be in
excellent spirits, and Bertha, who was
very much attached to her mother,
babe her goodnight in cheerful man
ner.
Next morning about 9:3O, when Ed
ward Beilstein brought the Sunday
supply of meat for the family he found
that all were still in bed. He went to
his mothers room and called several
times to her. He then knocked at the
door, without receiving any response,
opened the door and was Mortified to
find his mother lying on the bed in a
pool of blood and with three bullet
holes in her head'a body. The hOr-
rifed son then hastily made his way
to the room of his sister and found her
lying PROSTATE across the bed with
blood gushing from bullet wounds in
her head and body. In pool of blood
on the center of the bed lay two revol-
yers, one of 3S and the other of %
caliber. The young woman opened her
eyes as her brother entered and recog-
nized him instantly. She called him to
the side of the bed, and pointing to the
weapons, said:
II had to die, and killed mother SO
she would not grieve over my DEATH"
Sticking in the floor at the bedside of
the wounded girl was large dirk, and
upon the mantel was found q three
ounce bottle that had contained laud-
anum. A large handy-billy was found
hanging on the knob Of the door.
When the tragedy was reported to
the police, after thorough inyestiga-
ton, they concluded that the girl en-
tered her mothers room and while
the latter was sleeping fired the fatal
shots. She then returned to her own
| room and drank the laudanum. after
which she shot herself. The revolver.
knife and handy-billy Were all taken
from bureau drawer in the attic,
where they had been kept for a num-
Der of years.
The Beilstein family was probably
one of the best known in that section
of Allegheny The father, John Fred
erick Beilstein, a former wealthy
butcher in Allegheny, died suddenly
from an attack Of apoplexy while seat
ed at the breakfast table on the morn
Ing of Dec. 10 last.
BY some surgeons Bertha's case is
considered most remarkable, while
others are of the opinion that there
was nothing unusual about 1t save the
young woman's extraordinary tenacity
and constitution. From the time she
committed the crime she has endured
suffering, which at times Is intense.
with great fortitude, and only at
times does she complain.
Each one of Bertha's self-inflicted
wounds were considered by the at
tending physicians of a dangerous ma
ture. One Of the bullets of 3S caliber
penetrated the walls of the stomach
to the left and about two inches below
the heart. This was considered vital
spot, yet after the first dressing the
wound began to heal Two bullets of
% caliber entered the left breast, to
the right of heart, and both wounds
have almost entirely healed. The
fourth ball was Of 3S caliber and en-
tering the head Immediately above the
right ear, 1t pentrated portion of the
head. From this wound considerable
brain matter exuded and the frontal
bone was shattered. An operation was
necessary to remove more Of the girls
brain.
This wound is washed and treated
with an antiseptic dressing daily. The
portion of the brain at the wound is
considered dead, and this is RESPONSE
Bile for the partial paralysis which set
IN several weeks ago. The girl is I'M
able to move herself, but at the times
when she feels strongest she converses
freely and nationally with those about
her bedside.
She, 1t is said, makes no allusion to
the crime, and has not expressed her
preference of death. She has lost
nearly 80 pounds in weight, weighing
about IS pounds now.
The physicians are unable to predict
in case of her ultimate recovery
whether she will be in possession of
ali her faculties or not.
David Reich, better known in the vi.
entity as Uncle Davey," and who
made his home with the Beilstetn,s for
a number of years, was so shocked a,
Bertha's crime that he left the house
Snn6nu Al