The Ward County independent., 1907-10-17
Shot and Killed by his Brother
Manager Of Burlington Pool Room Meets Death
in Quarrel Last Nieht---Bullet Crashed thru
Brain---Abe Goertz Under Arrest.

Abe GOertZ, 8 German coal
miner, aged Al years, shot and,
fatally wounded his brother,
Hank Goetz, who managed the
formers pool hall at Burlington.
about half past eleven o'clock
last night. The man lived until
about half past nine O'Clock this
morning, when he died, never re-
gaining consciousness. The trag-
edv occurred about q PAGES from
the pool hall on Main street and
about is feet from the corner Of
the porch of Robbins general
store, and was witnessed BY no
one save the brother, who is now
under arrest and in the county
Jail. He claims that the shoot
ing was entirely accidental, and
is 50 nearly crazed over the affair
that he threatened to kill his
pretty little wife and his little
l3 months .old baby girl last
night, then end his own miser-
able existence.
e. A. Madison heard the shot
Just before he was going to bed
and thought little of it until he
raised the window of his room
across the street and heard Abe
call out, my God, Hank, | have
killed you!'' and other words,
which showed that he was in 4
terrible frame of mind. Madison
Immediately called some of his
friends and went out into the
street where the unfortunate
man was lying in a horrible pool
of blood, unconscious. R.R. Hall,
Mr.. Madison, Art Booth and A. ii.
Halfway Immediately carried
the man to the little house which
the brother occupies with his fam
lily in the north end of the viii
:lage, and a surgeon was sum
imOned from Minot imme ediately,
arriving shortly after midnight.
It was realized at the time the
doctor arrived that there was
hardly one chance in q Thousand
to save the mans life, but he
went after that one chance for
all he was worth. No need Of
placing the man under the indu-
,ence of chloroform, for be was
unconscious already, and with
one Of the miners holding q lamp
the surgeon performed the dhf-
cult operation of exposing the
brain in search of pieces Of pieces
ef skull bone and the bullet
The bullet, fired by q 8 lver
e johnson revolver, had entered
the MANS head just above the
left eye and was found under the
skull near the top The bullet
had been terribly distorted by
its contact with the skull bone,
and pieces of bone as large as .
mans finger were taken from the
brain. 4, ~ tl
70 make the search it vas
necessary to cut the skull for =
distance of several inches either
side of the wound and lay the
brain bare.
An Independent reporter was
on the ground at Burlington soon
afterthe man was dead and look
ed carefully into every phase of
the story. We found Abe Goertz
at his home in charge Of p. A.
Madison, whom Justice j. S. Wal
lace deputized as an officer.
Goertz made no effort to escape,
and whilehe realized the serious
ness Of the crime he claims that
the shooting was entirely acci-
dental. He does not deny that
he had been quarrellng with his
brother, who has been 10 the
habit Of drinking more or less.
The two brothers had spent the
evening at the pool hall. Mad
son was there about half an hour
before the tragedy occurred but
had left. The bnothers walked
away together from the build
ing after locking it, and must
have gotten into q fight in front
Of Robbins store, for there is q
cut and q black and blue mark
under one of Abe's eyes. It is
believed that Hank was ugly and
struck Abe, whereupon Abe
flashed the wicked revolver and
shot his brother. Abe says he
merely pulled the gun TO brighten
his brother, but he will have a
hard time explaining to the jury
why he pulled the gun; anyway
he shot so straight that his broth
er was soon corpse.
The man was not placed under
arrest until this morning, and
had he been disposed TO get away