The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1908-04-09
BY HVU MAYNARD SON
MRS. CARLIN'S Roy HAD JUST
LETT 4 REFORMATORY.

He Planned for Two Years 10 Kill Her anC
His Brother and sisters and went "a
Their Home In Brooklyn TO DO II
Sorry He Didn't Kill at Least Two,
A young man sat in a cell OF the Gates
ven police station in Brooklyn yesterday
afternoon and explained that during his
two years Of confinement in an upstate
reformatory he had plotted the murder OF
his mother which two hours earlier he had
accomplished. The humane administra-
ton Of the Commonwealth had provided
transportation for him back TO the city
from which he had been sentenced for horse
stealing and had given him $40 that he need
not be tempted to commit another theft
Immediately. but might have an oppor-
tunity to live a short time while he sought
work, With the money he enjoyed one
night Of freedom on the Bowery, then bought
a secondhand Ave chambered revolver
and eleven hours after his arrival in New
York he shot his mother dead at the door
way Of her home at So Quincy street,
Brooklyn.
And I'm only sorry,' he said. that I'm
going to the electric chair for doing only
one Of them. II l could have finished two
| should think that | had squared myself
and | could go feeling better He re-
ferred to his failure TO kill his brother.
The boy-he appears as a boy, though he
Is just past 2l-wss Bernard Carlin. His
birth and early life are more or less Obscure
because his brother and two sisters we're
too much shocked yesterday by the tragedy
to give \ clear account Of the life which had
been such a failure. Bernard himself
knew only. or he would say only, that Of his
n years he had been able to spend but
four in his mothers home, For this he held
her responsible and therefore had deter
mined TO kill her.
His brother and sisters could give no
reason for his act. They said only that he
had given evidences Of insanity before.
They did not say either TO the Coroner or
TO the police what the evidences were,
The police in the Gates avenue station said
that 10 them Bernard Carlin appeared to
be one Of the most cold blooded offenders
they had ever seen.
Il did it, he said. Il killed her. and |
meant to do IT,. / meant to do more l
meant to kill my brother too. ! had orig
inally meant to kill the whole family-my
mother, my brother and my WI sisters,
DO you realize what you are sayingl'
the policeman who was examining him
asked. do you know that whatever you
say here may be used against you and that
under your constitutional rights as a citizen
Of this State you are entitled 70 counsel and
need not say anything which may DO used
against your
Yes, know all about il, the boy replied.
Il know what | did and what | meant to
do. Wasn't | two years planning IL out?
My father died when | was IL months old
and my mother put me in an orphan asylum.
After that she put me in other institutions
and | was home only four years before |
was sent to the r~eformatOry. She might
have kept me from that.
"All the spare time that | had in the re-
formatory | spent trying to plan exactly
how | could square myself and ! determined
that | would kill my mother, sister and
brother. | planned just how ] should
do il. But last December ] heard that
my sister had a child, and since then !
have not thought Of killing her, ! did
not want 20 leave a child motherless. But
| meant to kill both my mother and my
brother. knew il would mean the cleo
trio chair to me, but what good was life
me anyway | suppose I'd have to
spend il all in some institution. II | had
done them both ! should not mind. I'd
feel that | had squared myself and that
was worth the chair, and ] suppose It
viii take them fourteen months to get
me convicted and out Of the way. I'd
like to have II oon That's a long time
to wait
One OF the sisters told the District Attor-
ney at the police station that the family
had not known that he was in the reforma-
tory until the police, searching his pockets
his arrest. learned from the papers
which he carried that he had just left it.
These showed that he had been sentenced
by Justice Asphalt in March, 1905, TO the
New York ~Refofmatory at Napa-
nooh, in Ulster county, for stealing a horse
and wagon in Wallabout Market in Brook
lyn. The other sister, Mrs. Mary Powers,
told the Coroner that the family had thought
the boy was out West at work. He had
however, been troublesome TO the
sometimes incorrigible.
Mrs. Powers had married while Bernard
was away and the younger sister e out
TO work. They and their brother lived with
mother in a neat fiat In the Quincy
house.
Mrs. Powers and the brother. Anthony,
were at home with Mrs. Carlin at $50 O'Clock
yesterday afternoon when Bernard en-
Tered. After a very few words with his
Bernard drew his revolver and
fired a bullet into her head. When she
fell he shot her four more times. The
boy then went on into the fat and attacked
his sister, seeming to forget that he had
his mind when at Napanock and
decided not to kill her. But his revolver
was empty and a. neighbors had rushed
at the sound OF the revolver shots he
ran out to the street. He was pursued
until the police Of the Gates avenue station,
which is only a couple Of blocks away, |
him. He fought desperately. His
Anthony had been in the bathroom
when his mother was attacked and when