New-York tribune., 1919-02-27
Bullet i'm Brain
20 Years; Killed
By 5-Foot Fall
Edgar Wilgus, of Trenton,
N. j., Fatally Injured at
Entrance of Hotel Astor

Living twenty years with bullet in
his brain, Edgar Wilgus, an insurance
broker of Trenton, N. j., was killed
yesterday by a fivefoot fall at the
Hotel Astor. He fell as he was leav-
Ing the hotel. His head struck the
granite steps and he sustained tract
ure at the base of the SKULL He died
two hours later in the French Hospital
Discovery of the bullet in his brain
by means Of an X-ray picture was
responsible for a lusy hour in the hos
pital and on the part of the county
medical examiners office and the po-
lice, who could not understand how
man could be shot at the entrance to
the Hotel Astor at 2 o'clock in the
afternoon, with crowds inside and out
side the hotel, and no one hear the
shot.
Guest at Pennsylvania
Wilgus, who was about fifty years
old, came to New York several days
ago and registered at the hotel Penn
sylvania. Yesterday he haG lunch at
the Astor and started for the Pennsyl-
vania shortly after two o'clock On
the granite steps leading to Broadway
he slipped and when bys5anders picked
him up he was unconscious and bleed
ing from the ears.
Patrolman Babe" Mcdonald, the big
traffic policeman who guards Times
Square, called an ambulance and Viii
gus was hurried to the French Hospi-
tai. There DR.. Brake, the surgeon in
charge, believing the mans skull was
fractured, sought to determine the ex-
tent of the break by the use Of the
microscope and was shocked to find
what appeared to be a bullet in the
brain. Other surgeons were called in
and X-ray plates were made, which
proved DR.. Blake to be correct. The
plate also showed a fracture at the
base Of the skull.
Policemen Search for Clews
Immediately Police Headquarters and
the county medical examiners Office
were notified. Police Headquarters
sent man to the hospital and orders
to Mcdonald in Times Square to find
witnesses to the shooting. The theory
was that the victims skull was
fractured when he fell after being shot.
Mcdonald knew of no shooting, nor
could other policemen sent to search
the vicinity for clews to the murderer
find any one who had heard shot
fred
They were still searching when DR..
Gonzales, of the medical examiners
office, arrived at the hospital. To him
the X-ray plates indicated. as they had
to the house surgeons. that most
mysterious crime had been committed.
The Mystery Is Solved
Soon after, however, a etelephone
message to the Wilgus home on River
side Drive, Trenton, revealed the fact
that there was no murder mystery
There it was said that Wilgus was
shot more than twenty years ago. The
bullet, after destroying his left eve.
lodged in the brain. After ia brief
time he recovered, and the only incon-
vcnience suffered thereafter was the
necessity Of wearing glass eye
Soon after this discovery. Wilgus
died without recovering consciousness.
Dr. Schwartz, Of the medical exam
iner's office, will perform an autopsy
to-day, after which the body will be
turned over to the family.
At the hospital last night it was
explained that similar cases are to be
found in the medical books.
we thought for whiIc," said one
Of the doctors, that we had a real
case on our hands. The bullet showed
on the plates just as plainly as one
could ask. II In one OF the cases
where an undifferentiated part of the