Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-07-13
Inquest Reveals Drink Crazed
Threats Against Lives
of Family.
HOMICIDE
VERDICT is RENDERED
Witnesses Agree Contractor on
Way to Shoot Wife at Time
Boy Stabbed Him.

OeHperaLng less than 80 minutes a
coroner's jury yesterday decided the
Staying Friday of John Alt, contractor,
by his 15-year-old son Henry was a
justif1able homicide and ordered the
release of the boy.
Inc verdict was announced after
several witnesses had testified during the
three-hour inquest concerning numer-
GUS threats the drink-crazed contractor
mad made to take the lives of members
OF his family Witnesses agreed he was
on his way to the home of a neighbor
on the announced mission of shooting
his wife when the boy plunged a long
butcher knife into his back
Not even whisper was audible in
the inquest room when Mrs. Lena Alt,
widow OF the dead man, walked to the
witness stand to tell a pathetic story.
Sobbing, she told in faltering voice of
the martial strife which had eliminated
in the death of the 55-year-old con-
tractor.
Drank Heavily for Several Months.
MY husband had been drinking
heavily for two or three months" the
widow began. He frightened me ter
ribly by drinking so much. He awak-
ened Henry yesterday morning and
made him go down stairs with him.
He told Henry he never would be any
good because he slept too much and
that he ought to go out to look for work.
II told him, John, don't talk to the
boy because you've been drinking
This made him even more mad. He
turned on me and said, I'm going to
kill you. I'm going to finish you right
now ran out Of the door while he
went to the dresser to get his pistol"
Mrs. Alt appeared on the verge of
collapse at this point, DR.. j. Ramsay
hewitt, the coroner, interviewed, ex-
cusing the witness.
homicide squad, read statement
signed by Henry after the boys attor-
ney, John c. Foster, had decided to
abandon his original plan to place him
on the witness stand.
The graphic statement follows, in
part:
MY father had been drinking heavily
for long time. He came to my room
yesterday morning and after arousing
me from sleep upbrEded me ior not
going to work and said that l was
loafer. MY mother came into the room
at this time and tried to quiet MY ia
Their, but could not My father Jh7n
went downstairs, where second argyll
ment with my mother started I came
down just as he was reaching for my
mother and made an effort to stop
him.
Boy Pursued Father.
The statement added that Mrs. Alt
ran to the home of a neighbor while
the boy attempted unsuccessfully to
prevent his father from giving chase.
Panic-striken, Henry obtained a long
knife in the kitchen and pursued his
father into the back yard.
when reached the rear woodshed,"
the statement read, II grabbed my ia
ther and stabbed him with the knife"
| Alt then stumbled back into the
house and fell unconscious.
! DR.. George H. Baier of 1926 Harvard
street, one of the witnesses, figured in
several sharp verbal exchanges with
| Charles B. Murray, assistant United
States attorney, as the latter sought to
| learn the origin of a report that All
had committed suicide.
| On direct examination. DR.. Baier
| said he had been the Alt family physi-
clan more than 10 years. He added
| that when he reached the scene at
1890 o'clock yesterday morning he was
told Alt had shot himself.
1T inquired where the gun was and
was told he might have thrown 1t out
|
The physician told of finding the
mans body lying face downward in a
| rear room of the Alt home. Life was
| extinct.
Murray. on crosS-examination, at
tempted to force the witness to say who
had told him the man had killed HIM
self DR.. Baier at first testified he was
uncertain and then asserted Henry was
the first member OF the family he had
seen on arriving at the home. The
physician said he presumed the boy was
the one who had told him the father
had taken his own life.
Did you examine the wound?"
Murray inquired.
mo. sir" DR.. Baier replied.
Don't you think it was your busi-
ness to find out where the wound wasp"
II minister to the living, not the
dead"
DR.. Baier said he learned several
months ago that Alt was in a serious
condition from heavy drinking. He said
he advised relatives of the man to have
him placed in an institution.
They refused" he said, telling me
they were afraid he would kill them all
when he got out"
Neighbor Takes Stand.
MIS-. Lena lrOger, neXt-doOr neigh
Dor Of the Ats, declared Mrs. Alt
sought refuge in the Troger home more
than a month ago when the contractor
chased her with pistol.
II held his arm at my kitchen door
for half an hour before l could per-
suade him to go home and go to bed"
the aged witness said. He had loaded
pistol in his hand. He was very in
toxicated. I told him he never would
take another drink of liquor If he could
only see himself as did"
Numerous school teachers, ministers.
and neighbors of Henry, who appeared
at the inquest to testify as character
witnesses, but were not called to the
stand, gathered about the boy to con-
graduate him on his release.
Alt had been a prominent figure in
Washington German fraternal and
benevolent circles for many years. He
had served more than a decade on the