The Washington herald., 1910-01-31

New York, Jan SO-The detectives hold
it as q reasonable theory that the bur
glar who shot and killed Moses GOttman
and seriously wounded Isaac. his son.
after q struggle in the kitchen OF the
Gotmane apartments at 10 East lO9th
street. at 2.30 o'clock this morning. was
known TO the elder Gottman. and. pos
sibly. recognized by him before he died.
At least they say to-day there was
ground for the belief that Gottman feared
that his house would be entered.
Gottman was a manufacturer Of shirt
waists. with a mandatory at 80 Broome
street. He employed between fifty and
sixty men and women, all Of whom had
gone out in the general shirt-waist strike
called some weeks ago. He lived with
his wife and his son. who is a lawyer, in
the apartment on the first floor of the
house on 1O9th street On Saturday night
when the family retired Moses Gottman
slept on a couch in the dining room, in
stead OF going TO a bedroom which he
shared with his wife of the hail in the
front Of the apartment. and Isaac occu-
pied a second bedroom adjoining the din
ing-rOOm
Seemed to BE Worried.
The head OF the house had slept on the
couch during several nights previously,
30 Mrs Gotman told the detectives to-
day. He seemed TO be worried about
something and gave as his reason for the
change the excuse that lac was not sleep
ing well and preferred to be alone.
A few minutes before 2:3O o'clock this
morning Isaac GOttman. the door OF
whose bedroom was ajar, heard
strangled cry sounding in the kitchen
He ran out OF his bedroom into the din
ing-room, and in the dim light given by
a single gas jet turned low. he saw his
father struggling with a short, thick-set
man just beyond the door leading from
the kitchen TO the dining-room. Before
the son could clear the table in the mid
die of the dining-roOm he saw the in
truder press a revolver against the elder
Gottmans abdomen, and the flash Of a
shot lightened the gloom Of the kitchen.
The father dropped TO the floor.
Unarmed though he was, Isaac GOtt-
man made a rush at the burglar. who
had turned toward an open window Civ
ing onto the lower balcony of a fire.
escape Before he could grapple with
him. the burglar raised his revolver and
sent a second shot, which plowed
through young Gottman's left arm and
entered his side. He fell unconscious.
Stumbled over sons Body.
Mrs. Gottman ran screaming, strikers.
Strikers" from her bedroom in the front
apartment. and in the darkness she Stun
bled over the body of her son. When the
neighbors, who had heard the shots and
her call, came into the rooms and lit the
gas, the elder Gottman was still alive.
His lips were moving and some
Of the neighbors afteryyurd todd the police
they thought they heard the dying man
repeat name. It sounded like a Jewish
name. they said. but they could not tell
what IL was.
Somebody telephOned 10 police head
quarters and for the ambulance The
Harlem Hospital ambulance soon arrived,
and after DR.. COnard saw that Moses
Gottman was dead. he took the son TO
the hospital. where he was operated upon
Immediately. Later to-day the hospital
surgeons said that he was out Of danger.
although the wound in his chest had been
q severe one.
Though the reserves surrounded the
block and some Of them went to nearby
roofs, they found no trace Of the burglar,
nor did they discover the weapon with
which he had done the shooting. Inves-
tigation showed that he had left the
house by the same way that he entered.
Forced Lock of window.
A fire escape ladder stopped so near TO
the ground AT the back Of the house that
by springing he had been able to grasp
the supports and pull himself up; thence
no had climbed 20 the balcony opposite
the kitchen window and had forced the
lock Of the window A passageway be-
tween the house he had entered and the
one next door gave a ready exit into
IC9th street
The burglar had evidently been sur
prised early in his work for so far as
Mrs. Gottman could discover to-day he
had taken nothing but her husbands
pocketbook. containing a few dollars.
This. she believed. must have been left
lying on the dining-room table All Of
the family slverware was stored in the
dining-room near the couch upon which
Gottman had slept, and that was undis-
turbed
The widow Of the shirt-waist manu-
facturer could not tell the detectives of
any threat which her husband might have
received as TO the possibility of harm
being done him, for, she said though he
had been greatly worried by the strike in
his shop he had not discussed business
with her. She was sure, however, that
he must have had some special reason
for giving up his bed and sleeping on
the couch in the dning-room for the few
nights preceding his murder, for he had
never done such a thing before.
Isaac Gottman was too weak to be
tTterTOgated hV the detectives