New-York tribune., 1922-11-14
.D.A. w asser11lan.
Banker, Ends
Life Shooting
Personal Business Blamed
for Act of Broker Found
Dying in Batlltub; Was
Separated From Wife

Jesse A. Wasserman, a member of
the banking and brokerage firm of
Wasserman Brothers, of 90 Broadway,
founded by his father and his uncle,
was foa%nd Yesterday in bathtub in
his apartment at 20 East Eighty-third
Street dying from self-inf1icted bull
let wound in the head
From notes found in the apartment
it was thought that personal business
difficulties, not involving his firm, were
mainly responsible for his act. There
also was a suggestion in one of the
notes that Wasserman, who was sepa-
rated from his wife, found his troubles
the harder because he had to bear them
alone. This note was addressed to
woman, said to be his former wife
Carla Won Bergen Wasserman was
the name inscribed on this message. It
was addressed to her in Baden, Ger
many.
Saw No Other Remedy"
II am going to jump this life in a
few minutes" he wrote, "and wish to
for. You are constantly in my
thoughts and will be if there is here
after. All will be over in few min
utes. can see no other remedy"
The second note, written on station
cry of the Lotos Club, of which Was
serman was a member, was addressed
to his brother, Edward Wasserman. of
5 East Forty-ffth Street.
81 have no ambition in life," he
wrote. II have stood it for over year
and can stand it no longer"
his brother, but after the first few
sentences 1t became incoherent and,
toward the end, quite unintelligible.
He made reference, however, to busi-
ness difficulties, to unavaiing efforts
to rid himself of them, eliminating
Sunday afternoon when his last hope
failed, and said he believed his life in
surance was sufficient to cover all hi,
Indebtedness
Although he was not found until II
a. m. it is thought that Mr. Wasser-
man shot himself about four hours be-
fore, filling the tub and seating himself
kill him at once he would be drowned
within short time
He was still alive, however, when
Josephine O'Malley, maid employed
in the apartment house, and John
Owens, superintendent, entered the
apartment with a pass key at II
O'Clock
Was Breathing When Found
The bullet, fired into his mouth, had
drilled his skull, fattened itself
against the wall and was found on the
floor. He had sunk in the water
until his head was almost entirely
submerged, but the water did not
Ii, Il L. ~.
DR.. c.. Ward Champion and DR..
Hadley 7. Cannon, who live .in the
apartment house, were called and got
Mr.. Wasserman into a bed. His own
physician, DR.. Edwin Steinberg. of
So West Forty-ninth Street, was called
also. To the amazement of the
physicians, who scarcely could con-
ceive Of man living with such
wound in his head, Mr.. Wasserman did
not succumb until $3.50 in the after
noon.
At about o'clock his brother, Ed
ward Wasserman, reported his death
to the East Sixty-seventh Street police
station. That was the first the police
knew of it. The medical examiners
Office was notified and DR.. r. A. Con-
zales, deputy medical examiner, made
an investigation and reported the death
suicide.
Mr.. Wasserman apparently had sat
up most of the night, if not all night
long, examining his difficulties and
seeking to find some way out. More
than forty cigarette stubs were heaped
on an ash tray in the living room Of
his apartment.
He is said to have been married to
Carla Won Bergen in New Jersey in
1916. A sister as well as brother
survives him