The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1905-04-02
BRIDGE SUICIDE
is IDENTIFIED
Two Men Say Hat Found Be.
Ionged to Joseph
kOvotsch

The identity of the mysterious man
who ended his life in a sensational
leap from the Wabasha street bridge
Friday afternoon was yesterday dis
covered when two friends of Joseph
Kovotsch, a Prussian, called at the
police station and identified the hat left
on the bridge as Kovotsch's property
They recognized Kovotsch in the mea-
ger description OF the suicide furnish
ed by the witnesses to the deed
According TO the story the two men,
Peter Andre and Frank Rupert, told
Chief O'ConRor Kovotsch leaped to his
death because Of grief caused him. by
a reproving letter written to him by
his wife, who is still in Europe. The
letter was received by Kovotsch last
Tuesday. while he, with two friends.
was in Ionia, Wis. just coming from a
lumber camp in which they had work.
ed during the winter months. It Sc
vereiy chided him and concluded with
warning which translated read:
If what they tell me is true, hope
| that / may never see you again.
want you to write to me and tell me
the whole TRUTH
Cried Over Letter
When Kovotsch read the letter, his
companions say. he broke down and
cried like a baby. The next day the
little party came to St. Paul and went
to boarding house at 512 East Sew
enth street Kovotsch continued to
brood over the message from across
the seas, despite all the efforts of his
companions to cheer him.
Friday afternoon they were walking
about the city. Suddenly Andre and
Rupert noticed as they left a saloon
that Kovotsch had disappeared. They
at first thought that they had left him
in the place and went back, but he was
gone. They searched for him and then
returned to their boarding place.
He did not return that night, and
when yesterday morning came and
they heard of the suicide of Friday
night their fears were at once aroused.
They hurried to the police station,
where look at the hat thrown on the
bridge by the suicide before he took
his fatal leap confirmed them in their
suspicious. Both instantly recognized
the hat as that worn by their friend.
They were given the description of the
suicides appearance, furnished by
| witnesses to the deed, and all doubt
vanished.
Family in Prussia
Kovotsch, they say, was a married
| man, 80 years old, with a family of
three children. He came to America
leaving his wife and children at their
home In the province of Posen, Polish
Prussia, last May. Last summer he
worked on farms in the neighborhood
of st. Paul, and in the beginning of
the winter he went to a lumber camp
to work. All the time he sent regular
remittances of a portion of his earn
| fngs to his family in Prussia, and to all
of his friends he oft REPEATED the wish
that before long he should send for
them to come and join him. He had
been ia excellent spirits, his friends
say. until the reproachfuI letter came
last Tuesday, and they incline to the
belief that 1t was grieving over this
that drove him to the rash act of self
destruction.
The police have taken charge of Ko-
votsch's effects, found in the boarding
house, and are holding them awaiting
the arrival of some authorized claim
ant. The body has not yet been re-
| covered.