The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1907-07-22
PHYSICIAN SLAIN IN STREET
DIR. RUSSELL SET UPON by THUGS
IN BROAD DAYLIGHT.


He Was Beaten and Robbed In Har-
lem-Pslns In His Head Caused Him TO
wander -Four senseless IN Doorway.
DIR. Edwin J. Russell. a practising pbysi-
clan Of 1882 Bedford avenue, Brooklyn.
was found unconscious at y o'clock yester-
day morning in n doorway in Lexington
avenue near i2sth street. He was removed
TO the Harlem Hospital. where he died
shortly after 0 o'clock last night. In an
statement 10 Coroner Acri-
tell DR.. Russell said tina lac had been beaten
and robbed
1T happened IN Droad daylight Friday
evening"" he said. The time ] sho uld
say was 2 O'Clock had left home a short
time earlier TO answer a call While near
the other end of the bridge ] was seized
with intense pains in my head TO which
have frequently been subject ] wandered
into the subway across the river. Later
after getting &c the street ! managed TO
make out from the lamp post that ] was in
18th street on the south side and walking
west. Possibly a quarter Of a block from
Lexington venue sic Young men sur
rounded me war crowded to the inside
Of the walk
"One kicked me IA the stomach. while
. strapping big fellow choked me with
his two thumbs. Then M man hit me
on the Jaw. think it was with "a blackjack.
NV surgical bag was shocked ron my hand.
l felt my watch being jerked out of my
..,Lat md m faxp uoip,tfaa lQfer NV wallet
containing $50. was taken,
About this time some ole headed me a
glass Of what seemed TO be water. but from
the taste | should say was a drug. ] re-
member the crowd talking in low tones and
their voices seemed to get further and
further away Other than being conscious
Of wandering about J don't remember
much. Occasionally l staggered into a
doorway. People would crowd about me
and | would rise up and move along,
They tell me that it was Sunday morning
when | was found, but it seems as IL years
must have passed since ! was first stricken.
w ould you be able To identify the men
who assaulted you il they were brought
here?"
I'D desperately try answered DR..
| Russell.
Coroner Arcitelli then went over the
ground where the physician said that he
was attacked and the place where he was
finally found. The neighborhood is occu-
| pied mostly by tenement houses and is said
by the police TO be respectable. The Biddle
| piano factory occupies a large frontage OF
the street at about the place DIR. Russell
says he met the gang. He was found
less than a block away. around the corner.
in a doorway upon the west side OF Lex
ington avenue.
Notw~i outstanding the fact that DIR. Rus
sell was picked up early in the morning,
the first information sent to his home was
at $50 o'clock and was t~ehephoned by a
reporter. 1t was said at the house that
he had left there early Friday evening in
response TO a call. DR.. Russell had been
| practising for twenty-seven years and was
graduated from the Homeopathic College.
He was 40 years old.
He married Miss Edith Singson of Month
cello, n. Y, and left n son. Clarence. who
is a craftsman. and a daughter. Mrs,
Russell said that her husband had patients
in Manhattan. He left home on "A pro-
fessional call shortly before 5 O'CLOCK on
Friday. but did not say what was his
destination. A search was started for the
missing man on Saturday morning.
Acting under orders from Coroner Acri-
tell an autopsy was performed by DR.
Edward Weston last evening on the body
Of DIR. Russell. The autopsy disclosed the
fact that death was caused by strangling.
Coroner Acritelli said that the strangling
showed that DIR. Russell had been attacked
and choked to death. the choking which
the doctor received being the direct cause
of his death.