The Marlboro democrat. [volume] (Bennettsville, S.C.) 1882-1908, 1907-07-05
TRAGIC CAREER
of a Rich Young Woman Whose
Father Dropped Dead.
KILLED HER MOTHER.

iflcu 10 IAIl I~ferSclf, Her Brother
Killed Himself, She Took Poison.
Was Tried for Murder, Spent six
Years liz u Mad House, Escaped,
Fol- in Love, Worked ut a Servant,
and Died in n Hospital.
The tortured brain and heart of
Bertha Beilstein at last are at rest,
and her death in a hospital in Los
Angeles CAL, has cleared up the trag-
ic mystery surrounding the last ten
year of her,life.
She died q wanderer and in power
ty, yet her death percipitates a con-
test for property valued at more than
500, 900, says the New York Ameri-
can. Before her minds eye during
all those years was the picture of her
mother stricken dead by her hand;
of her frantic efforts with the same
weapon to end her own life; of her
brother dying a suicide on his muir
dered mothers gave.
During the last two years of her
wanderings she also lived over again
six years of close confinement in a
madh0usc, which had ended with her
escape through the connivance of the
man who loved her and of friends she
had made.
In spite of tragedies she had
Wrought, she had always been able to
retain fricnds--and she held fast the
love of a mar to the hour of her
death. But she never dared to marry,
and there seemed to be no one spot
on the earth's surface where She
could rest while life remained in her.
Ten years ago Bertha Bcilstcin was
twenty and a really beautiful girl,
with a charming and intelligent face
crowned with heavy masses of au-
burn hair, which, when unconfined
swept to her knees. She lived with
her parents and her elder brother,
Edward in a comfortable home in
~Pittsburg, her father being a wealthy
business man Of that city.
One evening Bcrtha's father sud
denly Strengthened up in his chair at
the supper table, then fell to the floor
dead. This was a terrible shock to
all the family. Bertha in particular
showed the strain. Sometimes she
spoke of seeing spirits.
On October 2, 1898. q few months
after her husbands death. Mrs. Bell
stein was awakened by the sound of
some n moving about her room.
Who's thcre?" she called out.
There was the sound Of a match
struck. A gas jet blazcd up and Mrs.
Bcilstein saw that the intruder was
her daughter.
why. Bertha, what is the mat
tcr?" she asked, sitting up in bed.
Her daughter was aiming a revol-
yer at her.
Mother, ! am going to kill YOU
said Bcotha.
Almost the next instant Mrs. Bell
stein was dead. Bertha had fired
twice, and either shot would have
been enough. Then she turned the
weapon on herself, pouring four of
the remaining bullets into own BODY,
One of these bullets penetrated
the right temple crashing into her
brain. Another entered her body
Just beneath the lungs. These the doc
tors believed to he mortal wounds,
the two others being mere flesh
wounds.
She was taken to a hospital, and
although more than two ounces of
brain matter had escaped from the
wound in Bcrtha's head on the third
day she rcgained consciousness. In
two weeks she was able to go home,
where she was arrested and placed
under guard, charged with the muir
der OF her mother.
Soon she learned that while she Law
at the hospital her brother Edward
had been found dead on her mothers
grave. He had shot himself. Hearing
this, Bertha made this cnigmatical
remark:
Then it is soon finished"
When it was discovered that she
had procured and swallowed nearly
an ounce Of laudanum, the remark
was understood.
But the doctors we're able to save
her, and in a few weeks she was
placed on trial. In her testimony in
her Owl defense she told Of her
mothers death as here related.
But why did you kill your moth
err she was asked.
Spirits visited me and compelled
to do So" she answered. She was
quite calm and entirely rational in
manner and speech as she continued:
II loved my mother. did not
want to do it. But ever since nv
fathers DEATH loved him dearly
spirits had visited me at night, telling
that father longcd for his dear
ones to join him. They urged me to
Kill my mother and myself, so that
we would be united again. | fought
against their influence, but they per
ION the night that | killed my
mother stroyc with the spirits until
nearly dawn. Then, in despair | tried
to drink poison. But my arms stiff
cncd so that | could not reach NV
mouth. Then | took the revolver and
went into my mothers room and did
as | have told you.
When came out Of the hospital
and learned that my brother had
joined father and mother, was, of
course, more anxious than even to
die"
Bertha was heir to her mothers
property. The prosecution tried to
show that to have been a sufficient
motive for the girls crime of matri-
eide, but failed. The determined cf-
Forts to Kill herself made such rca-
fallacious.
The jury found that Bertha Boil
EN-, being insane was not guilty
Of murder. Accordingly she was sent
the Pennsylvania State asylum for
the insane at DiXmont, near Pitts