Daily new dominion. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1897-1906, 1902-09-17
BANKER D|EDOF BLOW
Nicholas Fish Had Fight With
Detective In, and Outside,
New York Saloon.
UNCONSCIOUS ON THE SIDEWALK
Expired In iospitaI--AssaiIant Caught
and Held on Homicide Charge.
Women, With Whom They Were
Drinking, Held as Witnesses.

Drinking, Held as Witnesses.
New York, Sept. 1.-THE death OF
Nicholas Fish, the result of a quarrel
In a saloon. and the arrest of Thomas
]. Sharkey, a private detective, on the
charge of homicide in that connec-
ton, was the subject of close police
investigation and conjecture all day
yesterday.
Head of Distinguished Family.
Mr. Fish was the head of one of the
most distinguished families in the
United States, 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 an alter.
cation with a stranger in Ehrhardt's
saloon on the corner of Eighth avenue
and Thirty-fourth street. According
to information gathered by the police,
Mr. Fish's death was due to blow
struck by Thomas ]. Sharkey, a pri-
vate detective, 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 front
of the saloon and summoned an ambu-
lance, in which he was taken to the
Roosevelt hospital, where his identity
was revealed by papers found in his
possession. A dispatch was sent to
Mrs. Fish, who was at Tuxedo, and
who reached the hospital soon after
midnight, remaining at the side of her
husband, who never regained con-
seriousness.
Drinking With Women and Man.
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 Monday afternoon,
accompanied by Mrs. Phillips and
Mrs. Casey, two women who live in
West Thirty-fourth street There
they sat drinking until they were
joined by Sharkey, at the invitation
of one of the women. Mr.. Fish con.
tinued to treat his companions until,
on discovering that his money was
exhausted he announced that he
would draw a check and get the bar
tender to cash It. This provoked
derisive remark by Sharkey, who was
ignorant of Mr.. Fish's identity, AMI
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
trying to separate them. One of the
women, clutehing Mr.. Fish by the
arm, succeeded in dragging him out
of the saloon to the sidewalk. There
he was confronted by Sharkey, who
had broken away from his compan'
ions, and they clinched. A moment
later Mr.. Fish reeled as if from
blow and fell prone to the sidewalk
Seeing him lying unconscious and
fearing that he might be killed his
late companions fed, leaving Mp.
Fish where he fell, until a policeman
came along and summoned an ambu.
lance.
Sharkey Held on Homicide Charge.
AS soon as the fact of Mr. Fish's
identity was established 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 At
ter being arraigned in the police
court they were brought before Cor
oner Jackson, who, after prelim-
mary inquiry, held Sharkey in $40,
900 bail on the charge of homicide
and the women as witnesses.
To the coroner Sharkey made
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
refused to make public.
Coroner Jackson, after performing
an autopsy, pronounced Mr., Fish's
Heath to be due to cerebral hem.
Orrhage, following confusion of the
brain, and not to a fracture of the
skull, as was at first supposed by the
surgeons at the hospital. The coro-
ner declared his conviction, from a
careful examination of the condition
OF the brain, that the injury was
caused by heavy blow and not by
contact with the sidewalk in fall.
In the latter case, he said, there
would aim st certainly have been ex-
terror injuries and fracture of the
skull
Mrs. Fish Completely Frustrated.
The inquest will be held Friday
Mrs. Fish, who was completely pros
trated, remained at the hospital all
night and yesterday morning went to
her home in Irving place, accompanied
by her brothers-in-law, Hamilton Fish
and StGyvasant Fish. After the
autopsy Mr.. Fish's body was removed
to the house.
The funeral will be held today In
St Marks church, in Second avenue
The burial will be in the family plet
at Garrison. N. Y.
J. O. Gault A Naw Architact In Town