OBIT: John GOEHRING, 1880, Allegheny County, PA

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MURDER IN ALLEGHENY.
An Inmate of the County Hospital Kills a Companion.

  PITTSBURGH, March 30. - The facts developed at the Coroner's 
investigation, relative to the murder of John Goehring, an inmate of 
the Allegheny City Almshouse, are that on the morning of February 6, R. 
B. Crawford, in charge of the insane department, found an insane man 
named Wausman severely beating Goehring.  Wausman was locked up, and 
Goehring ran into the dining room.  Crawford called Coolhoff, a weak-
minded inmate, to assist him in taking Goehring back to the room.  
Goehring resisted, kicking Coolhoff in the stomach.  Coolhoff, greatly 
angered, returned the kick, knocking him down.  While Goehring was on 
the floor, held there by Coolhoff, the latter asserts Crawford kicked 
Goehring on the head several times.  Finally they succeeded in getting 
him as far as the bath-room, when he again became violent.  Coolhoff 
then seized the roller on which towels are hung, and struck Goehring on 
the head, knocking him insensible.  He was then taken to his room, 
where he died at 12:30 P.M., Crawford and two inmates burying the body 
quietly the next day.  In the monthly statement to the Poor Board 
Goehring is reported as dying from mania potu.  The affair was kept 
quiet.  Finally it leaked out through the medium of an inmate coming to 
the city, getting drunk, and telling the story.  Crawford and Coolhoff 
have been arrested on the charge of murder.

Morning Tribune, Altoona, Pa., Wednesday, March 31, 1880