Evening star., 1933-02-26
MRS. FITZGERALD
CLEARED IN DEATH
Husband Killed Self With
Necktie Is Verdict of Cor
oner's Jury.

Freed by a coroner's jury after an
inquest into the death of her husband,
who was found strangled with his own
necktie in the gas-f1lled kitchen of
their apartment, Mrs. Jean Fitzgerald
held her 2-year-old daughter in her
arms last night and prepared to start
life anew.
1t was the first time she had seen
her baby since Thursday night, when
she was arrested by homicide squad de-
tectives on suspicion Of having slain
her husband. Taken into custody i'm
mediately after his DEATH she was held
until yesterday afternoon. when the
jury decided he had strangled himself.
The verdict was rendered after the
jury presided over by Acting Coroners
A. Magruder Macdonald and Christie
pher j. Murphy. had been given q two
page typewriter statement in which
Mrs. Fitzgerald declared her husband
was in the habit of taking" suicide at
tempts in order to frighten her.
Statement Read to Jury.
gerald after a three-hour grilling at
police headquarters Friday, was read to
the jury by Detective Sergt. Jerry Fla
herty. Before the jury began its delib-
erations, Mrs. Fitzgerald acknowledged
the statement and said there was moth
ing she could add to 1t.
In the statement, which was obtained
by F1aherty and Detective Sergt Walter
S. Beck. Mrs. Fitzgerald declared her
husband, John F. Fitzgerald, 24-year-
old stationary engineer, had been drink
ing throughout the day of his death.
When she married him. she said, he
promised her he would stop drinking
They were happy together the first
couple months, she said, but then 'he
started to drink again" On January
IA, she related, she left him and went
to her mothers home, in Pittsburgh,
but he found her the next day and in
duced her to return to him, again prom
ising not to drink any more. Nearly
every time he drank, she asserted, he
feigned suicide attempts sometimes
smearing his arms with ketchup or
painting his lips with iodine or mer-
,curochrome, and once turning on the
gas.
When she found him lying on the
kitchen floor, with the gas range turned
on, she continued, she did not become
alarmed, because he had faxed so
many suicide attempts that I thought
he was doing it again"
Tie Removed and Hidden.
She threw water on him, she said,
then discovered his cravat drawn tightly
around his neck. Unable to loosen the
tlght Knot, she said, she cut the tie and
hid it in the kitchen closet because She
didn't want his people to know about
It," Then she summoned William G.
Sprosser, 8 Third street northeast. who
was visiting another family in the
building and he notified the fire rescue
squad.
Testimony OF other witnesses, includ-
ing Sprosser, was to the effect that Mrs.
Fitzgerald, apparently reluctant to have
any one know anything unusual was
going on In her apartment, did not call
Tor AID until convinced her husband was
not taking"
DR.. Murphy, who performed an
autopsy, told the jury Fitzgerald died
OF .strangulation and net of gas poison
ing, as was at first supposed.
Two notes indicating Fitzgerald con-
templated suicide were found in the
apartment
Throughout the inquest, Mrs. Ftz-
gerald, who Is under treatment for a
neart a1lment, wept intermittently.
apparently on the verge Of collapse, she
could not stand to hear the verdict.
fitzgerald will be buried in Cedar Hill
Cemetery tomorrow, following services
at 2 pm. IN Hanlons funeral parlor
GAL H street northeast.