The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1901-07-09
SHOT HIMSELF TWICE
GEORGE It. sTEINACKER's DETER
MINED ATTEMPT AT SUICIDE.
FAMILY TROUBLE THE CAUSE.
THE SHOOTING TOOK PLACE IN
HIS WIFE's PRESENCE.


While the other Has Not Been LO-
cnted-Dr. w. Il. Norton Thinks
That the Man May Recover-went
TO the House Expecting to Meet
| "AnOther Mnn"-After the Shooting
Told the Doctor Not to Bother
About Him, and Prayed That He
Might Die.
George T. Steinacker shot himself twice
with suicidal intent last night, inficung
wounds that may prove fatal The deed
was done at the home of his wife, No.
416 President street, east, about O'Clock.
The wounds, made with 32-caiber pis-
tol ARE both in the region of the heart,
one bullet having entered his left breast,
! pursued an outward course and came out
! Of the side near the arm pit, the other
entered above the heart and penetrated
the breast to a depth that the doctor was
unable TO determine upon his first exam
nation, shortly after the shooting took
place.
The sound of the shots. and the news
| that a man had shot himself. which was
quickly spread, attracted a large crowd
of the curious in the neighborhood. De-
| tectives Stark and Murphy. who heard
the reports of the pistol at the barracks
were among the earliest arrivals on the
scene. Steinacker was found lying on
the floor where he had fallen from the
chair in which he had been sitting when
he shot himself He was taken into
bedroom across the hall and in a short
time DIR. w. E. Norton. who had been
summoned by telephone was in atten-
| dance.
When Detective Stark reached the
wounded man his first inquiry was who
had shot him.
| 81 did 1t myself" responded Schumacher;
II have no desire to live a dishoDored
man"
well you havn't made a complete job
of it." said DR.. Norton.
"Then give me back my pistol" Stein
| acker said, intimating by his tone OF de-
| termination that he would finish the job.
Steinackers determination to end his
| life was caused, as might readily be sur
| missed, from his recent marital troubles,
| of which an account has been published
in the Morning News. He charged his
wife with unfaithfulness, instituted suit
for divorce, which is pending in the court,
| and since that time has not been living
| at home. Last night he went to the house
under the impression that his wife had
an appointment with some man, presum
| ably the one who Is the cause of the d.
vorce proceedings, as was learned from
his own words after he had shot him.
| self. He went into the house and was
with his wife in the parlor, some fifteen
or twenty minutes, when he made the
| attempt on his life. Mrs. Steinacker said
| that while she and her husband were in
| the room there was some talking" 1t
must have been quite a quarrel, as,
though the windows were closed, 1t was
loud enough to attract attention from the
sidewalk, as a negro was seen to stop
and listen by Miss Schumacher, who was
up stairs.
The probable subject of this talk be-
| tween the husband and wife may be gath
| cred from Steinacker's words and actions
after he had fired the bullets into him
| self. Mrs. Steinacker, in assisting at the
bedside found occasion to put her hand on
/ him and was instantly told by the wound
ed man not to touch him. but rather
to put her hand in caTbolic acid. Also
| for some time, probably half an hour or
more after the deed was done, he con-
tinued to repeat that he wanted to die
and hoped to God that his wounds would
| kill him. These remarks he varied with
others of a kindred tenor OF DR. Norton
| he asked If any thing had been the mat
ter with his pistol. and when the doctor
had replied that he didn't know, he re-
marked in a querulous tone that he had
| always thought it a good one. He also
asked the doctor not to bother about him,
but to let him die as he had no desire to
| live a dishonored man.
Again at different times, stil conscious
| though growing weaker, he said evidently
| far n f- xuffn had an
pointment with him here at o'clock:
I'm sorry he didn't come for If he had
there would have been a different story
to tell: l would have killed him." In
other disjointed talk he spoke of himself
as being six feet, two inches, weighing
225 pounds. every inch a man and yet
ruined by a woman. And again with a
wistful look az the people around the
bedside he said that he hoped that his
friends would think kindly of him.
Mrs. Steinacker who busted herself
| about the room so long as she could be
| of use, bringing towels to staunch the
flow of blood sending out for prescrip-
lions, etc. heard many of these remarks
which she .afterward referred to as being
nonsense" In discussing the shooting
and the events that Immediately preced-
ed It, she did not say what the subject
of the conversation between her and her
husband had been. But she said that
| Steinacker nau Deen drinking, and that
when under the influence of liquor always
acted queerly.
That Steinacker fully expected to kill
the man whom he thought to find at the
house, as well as himself, is shown by
the fact that not only had he carried
to the house the revolver with which he
shot himself but had also another loaded
one in his pocket.
S,einacker has been in Savannah for
some time, and has always borne the rep
utation Of clever man. He is a builder.
and has superintendent the building of
some OF the largest and most prominent
stores on Broughton street, among them
the store in which Messrs Foye g. Eek
stein now are, aud the new Weed building
to the west OF that; he was al work on
remodeling the building now occupied by
Messrs. Weed & Co. He was brought
| prominently before the public May year
ago. because of good deal of trouble
that he had with union strikers who as
| saulted some OF the non-union men that
he then had in his employ.
| ~-%-s--
The United States is fast becoming the
! rrreat grane-eroying country of the u,orla