The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1907-12-28

Lover, and Had QuarrcIed with
Her Father Before the Crime.
New York, Dec. 27.-That eighteen-year-
old Marie Marasd, a plump Polish girl.
three months in this country. vas found
/ dead last night on a small landing of
the cellar stairs az $40 Cherry street with
powder stains and bullet wound in her
left breast, is about all the police know
this morning. after ANAL nights work.
Of the latest East Side tragedy.
! The building where the dead body was
found is a six-story tenement OF the reg
ulation type IN that district It Is filed
with Polish families. and not even the
children speak or understand word of
English. AS a consequence. when Pa
trolman White. of the Madison street
station. hurried into the place. on a re-
port that a shooting had occurred there.
/ he stepped into the worst snarI of
tongues and of hysterical, gfbbering hu-
man beings imaginable.
/ a few women were on their knees pray
ing. All hung back from the dingy OPEN
/ ing ~ the cellar stairs. and White had
no trouble IN understanding where the
cause Of all the chattering and moaning
was to be found.
! With candle n hand ne stepped down
/ the four steps that led 20 a landing. below
which the stairs turned. on the little
rickety platform lay the body OF a girl.
/ neatly dressed With her head by the rail-
I ing and the rest Of the body huddled be-
tween the rail and the step. a revolver
was lying by her right hand. and there
was black hole in the front Of her
waist.
Ambulance Was Called.
The patrolman made sure she was dea5,
! but an ambulance surgeon from Gouver-
neur Hospital was summoned as a matter
Of routine. BY that time a squad Of head
quarters detectives. in charge Of Lieut.
/ O'FarreI hal arrived on the scene. and
/ the all-night investigation was begun.
/ A few facts were quickly learned. and
/ then the tales ran of into a mass Of Wild.
contradictory rumcrs. The girl was Marie
daraski. she was eighteen. and lived with
/ her father and stepmother in the build
/ ms. Their apartment was on the ground
! nocr a few steps from where the body
was found. Moreover. the girl had ar
/ rived here three months ago. and bein.
unusually handy with her needle had been
/ earning enough 10 support the whole
family. the ncishbors said.
/ After that the tales IN the house went
or into strange talk Of a lover. and a
quarrel and revolver. and what not
1t was only after the hardest kind Of
work thai the detectives obtained from
the father. Vincent and the stepmother
Antcinette any explanation OF al this
gossip Of the Railways.
For one thing. all the family and most
I Of the tenants We're marched around 10
I the Madison street station. where Capt.
Sehlottman lined every enc up. while
the girls body in pine box was car
ried in
All the family fell on their knees and
. sobbed at the sight. and were more will
ing 20 talk. The story which the police
obtained. scrap by scrap, and pieced To-
gether afterward is as follows The dead
girl had young lover who had cnce
/ lived IN the same town IN Poland with
the girl He was now a miner IN Penn
. syivania. The police allege that the
father. Vincent Marasld. opposed the suit
( Of the young man. and that a heated
quarrel between the three-the girl. the
father, and the l0ver-0ccurred on Christ
mas Day. which the Maraskis had cele-
brated with the usual Polish accessories
/ OF accord and much drink
The police version represents the quar-
rel as ending with AIarie's exclaiming TO
her father.
I won't live without him." To which
the young man responded:
Gave Girl Revolver.
Then ! give you this revolver If YOU
ever want to XIII yourself" handing "a
the girl a .3S-caliber revolver as he spoke
The police declare that the stepmother
later Identified the revolver found by
/ Marie's side on the landing as her lovers
gift.
Thus far all the information pointed 10
suicide. and the Maraskis were positive
that the girl had killed herself for love
But an examination of the death wound
in the girls breast set the detectives 20
work again. For Capt Schlottman and
his men declared themselves convinced
that the direction of the wound, from the
side, and not from the front. denied the
suicide theory
More questions brought out a few more
statements, and although the police do
not place much credence in any OF the
tales related TO them, they allege that
the final story Of the stepmother. An
ti6Eette Maraski. represents the sweet
heart as visiting the house last night a
few minutes before the girl was shot
The young miner had seen the girl al
and again few minutes before last
night. the police alIege on the authority
OF the Maraski woman The second time
the girl had stepped out into the hallway
TO talk with her lover. the woman's story
I runs. and after perhaps ten minutes the
| stepmother came out TO see what was
= happening.
Neither Of the young people was 10 b,
seen, and she walked out to the street Il
look for them. As she did so. the polio.
allege. she heard a shot and a scream
within. and a moment later the youne
man came running out. The woman callet
TO him. but he ran on, and disappeared
down Clinton street. Inside on the land
ing she found the girl. unconscious ant
dying.
Relatives Are Held.
The police are not relying on the yer
sion Of the shooting thus far obtained
But they are looking for the young love
10 learn what he has To say Of the affair
: Meanwhile they are OBTAINING the fathe
and stepmother and also friend of II,
lovers. at whose house the young mine.
]