The Republican journal., 1871-01-19
Row York on tho search for evidence,

was his first necessity to prove the identit.
of the drowned men, and his second to SHOW
their acquaintance and companlonshlp witt
Ruloff prior to the burglary.
Crime has rarely been more completed
cloaked or more patiently unmasked than il
this remarkable case. When Mr. Hopkins
went to New York he had nothing but 81,
keys, drop letter addressed to one Herr,
Wilson, and scrap OF paper bearing tn
name of VIM. Thornton, attorney, at No.
Court street. Brooklyn, as clues by which thu
identity Of his prisoner and the dead mel
were to be established. With Detectiv
ended in utter failure, as it led only into the
labyrinths of illicit love, and the parties to i
were in no way connected with the darl
tragedy to be unraveled. The Thornton clu
was next worked with greater success, as
proved the key which unlocked the mystery
Mr.. Hopkins had learned before he left Bing
hamton that one of the dead men was nance
Dexter and had once been tried for crimi
nal offense, in Thompkins County, and de
Tended by the lawyer whose name was fount
on scrap Of paper in his pocket. But Mr.
Thornton denied that he had ever been il
Tompkins County in his life, and it after
wards appeared that he was personated al
the Dexter trial there by Rulotf, who defend
ed the accused with signal ability and sue
cess.
With this starting point the Attorney ant
the Detective, working patiently for many
weeks, at length ascertaincd that Ruloff was
for years the confidential associate of Charles
N. Jarvis, alias Curtis, and William J, Dex.
ter, who were drowned in the Susquehanns
river on the night of the 18th of August, one
of whom had the tell-talc mark Of the iror
| hon bic fo,.ahoa1 and fb0 ptl,o,, tbo
demnatory bit in his pocket. and both Of
whom had been recognized as two of those
engaged in the crime.
| The next clue was the apparently unim-
portant fact that DeXters mother owned a
| tumble-down old house in the suburbs OF
Brooklyn. The house was found with some
| difficulty No one was there but an old wo-
man, who unsuspectingly answered the care
| less questions put to her until the officers
learned that Billy Dexter was the putative
owner, but that she paid the rents of Edward
c. Howard, agent, who had, unaccountably.
not appeared for two months to claim it.
Cropping still in the dark, Mr.. Hopkins asked
her how it happened Howard was agent for
the property and received the important
answer that Billy Dexter was all the time
getting into scrapes, and Howard was a
shrcwd laWye who had got him out of them.
The picture of Ruloit, taken after his cap
ture here. was then shown, and she instantly
exclaimed, 'Why, that's the agent" The
identity Of Rulotf with Howard, and his ac-
quaintance with Dexter, was thus confirmed.
During an inter view with John Dexter,
brother of the drowned burglar, forced upon
that person at the tumble-down house at the
dawn of an October morning, Kelley forced
from him the address of a woman known as
Maggie, living at No. Is Carmne street, who
had been house-keeper for Ruloff, and knew
where he lived. Capt. Hedden and Kelley
visited her, and, failing by subtcrfuge to get
any information from her. as she was then
aware Of the murder, finally declared their
true character, and demanded the important
fact which she then gave, by telling them
that Ruloff and Jarvis, alias Curtis, lived at
No. 40 Third avenue. The officers instant
ly proceeded thither and to their great Joy
opened the street door with the night-key
taken from Ruloff's pocket. From the fami-
ly, it was ascertained that for eighteen
months prior to the Binghamton murder,
Ruloff under the name Of Leurio, and jar
Wis under that of Curtis, held possession of a
furnished room at this place, during which
time they were several times absent for
some weeks, and upon their return gave out
that they had been engaged in real estate
oPeiIlloHo LII Iuc Neol. Dut, uuilllS alI lliS
time. the ostensible regular business of
Rulotf was teacher Of languages, sew
eral Of which he was a master; and it was
also understood that he was preparing
comprehensive and exhaustive work upon
language, which was indeed the fact. Upon
searching the room, the officers found many
burglars tools, including jimmies, dark Ian
terms and masks, but Maggie had removed,
two days before, some articles which Mr..
Hopkins had much desired to get. One was
a shoe which had been worn by Rullof, but
all of these she had cast into the street and
they were irreparably lost. The other was
the manuscript book on language, written
by Ruloff, under the name of Senrio, which
she had removed to her house in Carmine
street, where Capt. Hedden seized it.
1t has also been discovered that Curtis
was once confined in a Pennsylvania prison
tor a robbery of silk thread in Philadelphia,
and that, shortly after that crime was COM
mtted. Rulotf, under the name of Howard,
had lot of silk thread dyed in Thirty fifth
street, by which its value was deprecated
$500.
O'Clock on the morning of Monday, August
10, and Curtis an hour earlier, since which
time neither of them have been seen there
Due, ooAAA AAoAC LII utllt, wv VI IlC pdlIS VI
shoes found in the store have been positively
identified as having been worn by these two
men when they left that house on that morn
ing. 1t will also be remembered that one of
the old mans feet was malformed so that
one Of the shoes found in the store will fit
that foot, and no other in the world. Finally,
the two carpet-bags have been positively
identified in Court as the property of Ruloff
and Curtis, which they had with them when
they left No 40 Third-avenue on their last
expedition.
The trial began on Wednesday, and will
be intensely interesting. Ruloff will fight
hard for his life, and although he has counsel
engaged, will, it is thought, take the lead
himself in his defense, as he did many years
ago when arraigned upon an Indictment for
abduction and murder, which was the only
time in his life he was ever compelled to
confront the law until now. Then he was
successful in warding off punishment by the
interposition of legal bubbles, and it is GER
tain that he will not now allow an atom of
testimony to be introduced against him
which is not warranted by the rules of evil
dence.