The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1902-09-18
RESULT |; OF 4 QUARREL QUARREL
NICHOLAS FISH, MILLIONAIRE
NEW YORK BANKER, DIES
FROM A ELOW.
PRIVATE DETECTIVE HELD

Banker and TWO Women Were Drink
ing in Saloon When They Were
Joined by Thomas J. sharkey-Mr.
Fish's Money Gave Out and He
Spoke Of Making Out a Check, the
Discussion Ending in a Fight.
New York, Sept. 1.-THE death Of
Nicholas Fish as the result of quar-
rel in saloon, and the arrest Of
Thomas J. Sharkey, a private detec-
tive, on the charge of homicide in
that connection, has been the subject
OF close police Investigation and con-
| lecture all day.
Mr.. Fish was the head of one of the
most distinguished families in the
United States, a banker of great
| wealth and at one time minister at the
| court OF Belgium. He died at the
| Roosevelt hospital from the effects of
| injuries received during IN alteration
| With stranger in Ehrhardt's saloon
at the corner of Eighth avenue and
| Ihlrty-fourth street. According to in
formation gathered by the police, Mr..
F1sh's death was due to blow struck
by Thomas J. Sharkey, a private de-
| tective, who, with two women who
were present at the time, was arrested
after the death.
A policeman found Mr. Fish lying
unconscious on the sidewalk in front
OF the saloon and summoned an am
bulance in which he was taken to the
| Roosevelt hospital, where his identity
was revealed by papers found in his
! pockets. A dispatch was sent to Mrs.
Fish, who was at Tuxedo. and who
reached the hospital soon after mid
night, remaining at the side of her
husband, who never regained con-
| seriousness.
According to the police, Mr.. Fish,
who In his Wife's absence was living
at his town home in Irving place, en-
| tered the saloon in the afternoon &C.
| companled by Mrs. Phillips and a
| Mrs. Casey, two women who live in
West Thirty-fourth street.
There They Sat Drinking
until they were joined by Sharkey, ct
the invitation of one of the women.
Mr.. Fish continued to treat his COM
panions until, on discovering that his
| money was exhausted, he announced
| that he would draw a check and get
| the bartender to cash it. This pro-
Voked a derisive remark by Sharkey,
who was ignorant of Mr.. Fish's iden-
tlty, and high words followed. A blow
was struck, by whom the police do not
know, and the two men rushed at each
other, the women screaming and try
ing to separate them. One of the
| women, clutching Mr.. Fish by the arm,
succeeded in dragging him out of the
saloon to the sidewalk There he was
confronted by Sharkey, who had brok-
en- away from his companions, and
they clinched. A moment later Mr..
Fish reeled as if from a blow, and fell
prone to the sidewalk. Seeing him
lying unconscious and fearing that he
might be killed, his late companions
fled, leaving Mr.. Fish where he fell
until a policeman came along and
summoned an ambulance.
AS soon as the fact of Mr.. Fish's
identity was established a dozen de-
tectives were set on the trail of his
companions and before daylight they
were traced to the house in which the
women lived and were arrested. After
being arraigned in the police court
they were brought before Coroner
Jackson, who, after a preliminary in
quiry, held Sharkey in $4,000 bail on
the charge of homicide and the women
| as witnesses.
To the coroner Sharkey made a
statement that he met Mr.. Fish and
the two women in the saloon and after
| verbal
Alteration With Mr.. Fish
they left the place by different doors.
He denied striking Mr.. Fish and de-
| clared that he must have fallen as he
| was leaving the saloon. Detective
Trojan, who made the arrest, declared
in an affidavit that Sharkey admitted
to him that he struck Mr.. Fish. Both
the women made sworn statements,
but these District Attorney Jerome
has refused to make public.
Coroner Jackson, after performing
an autopsy, pronounced Mr.. Fish's
death to be due to cerebral hemor-
| rhage following conclusion of the
brain, and not to a fracture of the
skull, as at first was supposed by the
surgeons at the hospital. The coroner
declared his conviction, from a care
full examination Of the condition of the
brain, that the injury was caused by
a heavy blow and not by contact with
the sidewalk in a fall. In the latter
case he said, there would almost GER
! tainly have been exterior injuries and
| q fra cf11ro Of tho skull
The inquest will be held Friday.
Mrs. Fish, who was completely pros
trated, remained at the hospital all
night and in the morning went to her
home in Irving place, accompanied by
her brothers-in-law, Hamilton Fish
and Stuyvesant Fish. After the au-
topsy Mr.. Fish's body was removed to
| the house. 49,
The funeral will be held in St..
Marks church in Second avenue. The
burial will be in the family plot at
| Garrison, N. Y.