E. Camden Woman Shoots Husband; Son, 15, Escapes

E. Camden Woman Shoots Husband; Son, 15, Escapes PRR Cop Wounded In Arm; Another Bullet Misses Boy A Camden woman shot her husband Sunday, wounding him in the right arm, then turned the gun on their 15-year-old son who narrowly escaped death, police reported. At a hearing today before Municipal Court Judge Dzick, the woman, Mrs. George Beitzel, 44, of 124 N. 32nd st., was held without bail for grand jury action and remanded to county jail. She is charged with atrocious assault and battery. Her husband, 45, employed as a Pennsylvania Railroad policeman at the Pavonia yards, was treated at Cooper Hospital for the arm wound, according to Detective Benjamin Simon who said the couple's son, George Jr., was not struck by the bullets. Beitzel told Simon he was in bed asleep when his wife awakened him to ask for cigarets. Beitzel said he called to his son to bring the cigarets and said the youth entered the room a short time later. Mrs. Beitzel then took her husband's .38 calibre service pistol from a top bureau drawer and said she was going to shoot them and herself, Simon said. "The first shot wounded Beitzel," Simon reported. "Then she directed a shot at her son who was lucky enough to bend down and escape," Simon said. Three bullets were discharged from the gun, Simon said. District Detective Ernest Santanella arrived and disarmed Mrs. Beitzel after the youth summoned police, Simon stated. Beitzel told Simon the family had moved here a month ago from Atlantic City. Judge Dzick today refused to accept the woman's plea of guilty and changed it to not guilty after Detective Simon testified she had been a patient in a mental institution on two previous occasions. After holding Mrs. Beitzel for the grand jury, Dzick instructed Simon to present this background to Prosecutor Cohen. Mrs. Beitzel, whose testimony was barely audible, gave no explanation for the alleged shooting. Her husband and son appeared at the hearing.