Show ATTACKS HIS WIFE THEN DIES IN INy I y SMOKE t. t Otto Bertman erf an 40 Kip i r d Himself in 10 Gruesome m 1 Manner fI WOMAN IS UNHURT UNHURT- W Waiter i er Takes Tragic c Means tto to to Escape His M Many ny li 2 r Tr Troubles V il l fi 11 t families s 8 are homeless toda da because Otto OUo Bertman 40 afire a waiters e fire to th the old orphans' orphans home homeY 30 SOD at i t I SOi South Ul street yesterday aft after r attempting at- at f i tempting to murder his wife and her hr rr children Bertman r n lost his Jils life by suf suf- in the blaze biazo that followed h his i s pouring of ot kerosene On on the stairs setting it off oft with a match Mrs Bertman h had d been iii court where her divorce suit against Bt Bertman Bert Bert- rt man mart wa wag postponed for a week yeek She had a l not been home borne long when the m man n game In irs iland and struck at her He Ue struck at her three times until she seizing I their year old baby fled from him Later when she crept back she saw him touching a match to Co the stairway and floor B Bertman had 1 I threatened to beat hex her to death 1 y f Harry McKune a roomer in the house came upon Bertman n just after he had st started th the blaze M McKune Kune tried to stop the tile man tron from fleeing to th the attic above the flames flameS' but was driver driven back bac by the heat Then he turned in inan an alarm Locked Himself In J J. T l 1 Bowen and Hoseman Charles heroically forced their way through the flames and the ll smoke to the attic rooms where Bertman Bertman Bertman Bert- Bert u p man was said to be He had locked th tho J. J door and they w were v re forced to break W it down tp get in They found the man mati under the bed dragged him out and r tid d carried him to the ground There he lle- was placed in the chiefs chief's car but died dle as the emergency hospital was was was' reached One side of his face was b badly bad bad- bid ly burned thou though h death was due t io suffocation from smoke Man Many of the other lodgers Odgers had nar nar- nar v row rv S tt fr ni Jj ISe frames Vh When When- r the firemen Ir m n arrived the he interior of the fhe large house hous was a furnace j. Under personal direction of Chief W ri it Bywater the firemen soon soon had w water t playing on the base of the flames half an hour after their arrival the the fire was under control Tried Once Before Four years re rs ago B attempted P Pd d dI I suicide at South Se Second iE East str street At that time he set fire t to t they the er house then ran upstairs t to his room and getting into his bed cut his throat with a razor Miss Eula Eua Mason his year fourteen-year- old stE stepdaughter daughter said that Bertman when out of Jail either threatened his hla or his own life He gen generally rally carried 3 razor she said We Ve were afraid that he was going to murder mamma with the razor before ha lie started the fire Mrs Bertman has been working as charwoman In on one of the downtown office buildings to support her chil dren Bertman has not contributed to lien her support for fol a l n ng time She said he had been drinking heavily yesterday and was Intoxicated when ho came to to the house oO I Bertman n w was s released from the cI cIty y Jail two days before Christmas so that Jio JC could spend Christmas day lay with his l family He lie had bt been en st sent nt there for beating his wife Two days after his release he l le was arrested again aln charged with assault upon his wife lIe He w was s given fifteen days more in the thc city Jail It Is believed that If Mrs Bertman n n had not escaped she would have been stabbed as when Bertman's clothes Were searched one of ot the searchers c cut cit t. t his hand on ona a a largo large pocket knife that tha t was found open In his pocket ready for use s The body is at the undertaking rooms rooms of S. S D. D Evans No funeral arrangements arrangements arrangements arrange- arrange ments have been made |