New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1910-03-14
KILLS TWO SONS;
COMMITS SUICIDE
BRON} u IN TRIED TO
SET FIRE TO HOME.
Sent Stepm0ther A5cay and
Deliberately Planned Crime
Terrific Fight 5cih Boy.


melancholia induced in part by the death
Os his first wife four years ago. Herman
H. Moritz, real estate operator. shot
and killed his two sons last night in his
home, at No. 2214 Aqueduct avenue. The
Bronx, and then ended his own life with
bullet fired into his mouth.
According TO the police. the triple
tragedy is one of the most grewsome in
its details Of the crimes recorded in tn
annals Of the department
Moritz married a second time tao
years ago He sent his wife ard .Ee
servant girl away for the day yester-
day morning This and another incident
was reported to the police by William G
Bergen, a real estate man. VINO owns a
TOW of houses along Aqueduct avenue.
Bergen said that a. few days ago
SlOritz told him that he was convinced
that his younger son was fool and
that he would be better OFF dead than
alive.
Mrs. Moritz returned to her hon1>
about an hour and half after tho
tragedy When told what had happened
she was Frustrated and was taken ~
the house Of neighbor to be cared for
Moritz ran out OF the house after kill 3
ing the two boys and setting the house .
on fire, and told an Italian watchmarl
that the house was ablaze. Then he
went back. Tue watchman ran 20 md
Patrolman Lake. OF the HighbriGge sta
ton, on post in A4ueduct avenue Lake
meanwhile had seen the flames and had
turned in an alarm. Then he an6 the
watchman, who had told him that Mo-
ritz had given the alarm of fire. rushed
into the house and stumbled over Mo-
ritz's dead body.
He was joined by PatroIman Petty,
and together they returned 20 the Morita
house. The flames were apparently
making no headway as the men ran into f
the basement. Aided by the firemen.
who made rapid run to the box from
which the alarm was pulled. the patrol
men extinguished the blaze.
In their efforts TO keep the fire from
spreading they had failed TO notice under
the stairway the body of a boy, the four
teen-year-old son of the man who was
lying dead upstairs.
Fierce Struggle with Son.
ment and then began a systematic
search of the house. In room on the
second floor they fOurd evidence that
there f1ad beer a terrific struggle. Fur
niture was broken and overturned and
trail of blood led to a closet in the room.
Opening this closet another Cead body
met their gaze. Wedged tightly into the
the small space was the body of a boy
about seventeen years old, the elder son
of the dead rnal estate operator.
There were no witnesses to the double
murder and suicide, but from the posi-
tions of the bodies when discovered and
the attempt of Moritz to fire his own
home before ending his life. the police
said that the shooting happened in this
wise:
They believe that the elder son, George.
who was student at the BOrdentown
Military Academy. and had been at home
for several days because of a slight at
tack Of rheumatism, was in his room
when his father entered in one of his !
frenzied spells.
From the condition of the room it Is
believed that there was a fight. and that
the younger man. finding the battle was
going against him. ran into the closet to
escape. His father. however. forced the 2
door open and then enSued a fierCer
struggle than before The son, caught in .
a trap of his own making. fought des-
perately TO save his life. while his father. /
becoming more and more violent. would .
he satisfied with nothing less than the I
life of his son. Il
Two shots in the body of Georges .
MCritz tell the story of how he finallS- .
met his death. One of them penetrated
the temple and the other went straight
TO the heart Either would have been
sufficient TO cause death. The walls Of
the little closet were spattered with blood
and bore other evidence of the fight be-
tween the boy and his father
Killing of Younger Boy.
Meanwhile, it is evident that ths
Younger boy. Walter. had become fright
ened at the tragedy that was being en-
acted above stairs and had fed TO the
basement. in the hope OF finding a hiding
place In this he was not successful.
however. for no sooner had NOritz ended
the life of his elder son than he started
TO find Walter. The latter. a mere boy
apparently yielded without a struggle
when his father dragged him from his
hiding place under the stairway and
killed him with one shot through the
heart.
The C-azed man heaped a pile of rub
bish and other Combustible material in
the middle of the basement floor and
started a fire. thinking, perhaps, TO cover
all trace of the crimes which he had
just committed. He ran out to tell Of
the fire, and. seeing that the fire would
be too slow, returned and killed himself.
\ bullet through the jaw finished him
and he dropped where Lake found him.
News of the tragedy spread rapidly. and
in a short time hundreds of students
frcm New York University had reached
the scene. Residents of Norris Heights.
University Heights and FOruhan
Heights arrived In large numbers, fol-
lowed by others from fremont and more
remote sections of The Bronx
Among the first to hear the news was
Cyrus c. Miller. President OF the Bor-
ough of The Bronx and a lifelong friend
OF Moritz He said thar the latter had