The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-12-10
THE soNDHEIM SUICIDE.
to He Due to Remorse Over
killing His Father.

BRADFORD, Pa. Dec 9.-The battery
revolver which sent the bullet crashing
through the head Of Philip Sondheim last
evening, in New York. was the same
weapon with which the suicides father was
shot in the head in his home in this city.
on March 20, 1889 The verdict of the
coroner's jury in that case was suicide,
and on account Of the unpopularity of the
elder Sondheim the authorities did not at
tempt to probe any more deeply into the
affair.
Phil told the doctors that he had been
sitting in the living room and had heard
the shot fired. He said the revolver was
his. Doctors Winger and Benninghcff ex-
amined the wound and the appearance of
the skin around the wound, and then DR..
Winger took the revolver away with him.
He was made chairman of the coroner's
jury. When the jury was summoned the
doctor appeared with twelve squares Of
white cloth through each of which he had
discharged bullet with the muzzle OF
the revolver from one to twPiye inches
away.
He asked DR.. Bennington which strip
Of cloth reSembled in appearance the skin
around the wound and Bennington ONT
ed TO d particular strip. Winger, turning
it over, showed where he had marked a
figure 9, indicating that the muzzle had
been held nine inches away when the shot
was fired.
Then he asked each juror to close his
eyes and point the revolver at his heal
with the muzzle nine inches away from
his head. trusting to instinct for his aim.
and in each case If the weapon had been
discharged the bullet would have gone
from one 10 three feet from the mark.
Henry Sondheim was retired merchant
~ li.al 10
violent temper, vino had many exciting
quarrels with his children. Philip Sond-
helm, short time before the fathers
death. had returned from the Philippine
Islands. One evening, as Ray and Sophie
Sondheim we're in their apartments on the
upper floor, and Henry Sondheim and
Philip were alone downstairs, the girls
heard a shot, and when they reached the
head of the stairs Phil was at the foot
of the stairs calling that his father had
shot himself. Phil ran for doctor and
Doctors Bennington and Winger respond
ed, but the old man, sitting upright in a
chair In the parlor. was dead. The bullet
had entered his right temple and passed
almost on a horizontal line through his
brain. cigar which he had been smok-
ing had dropped out of his mouth onto
his lap.
DR.. Winger presented the circumstantial
evidence to show that II was a physical
impossibility for Mr.. Sondheim to have
shot himself with the muzzle of the gun
nine inches away. He thought Sondheim
had been murdered. and that Philip, being
the only one near him, had committed the
deed. On examination Philip told a very
straightforward story, and no direct evil
dence could be obtained to warrant hold
ing him. and the verdict was brought in
suicide, and the matter allowed TO rest.
Dr. Winger this evening, when inter-
viewed, said:
"Remorse killed Phil. ] will never be
able as long as / live TO believe that he
did not Kill his father, and think he was
driven to killing himself by the constant
remorse he felt for his act"
Many Of the conservative people ac-
quainted with the case are Of the same
opinion.