The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1873-02-12
THE MURDER MYSTERY.
A Profound Darkness Still Surrounding the
Little Neck Tragedy-A Theory Which
Nay Prove True-Further Clews Discov-
ersd-The Coroner's Inquest To-Day.

OF stupid horror and amaZement; but there Is yet
discovered no certain light which will reveal to the
blinded sight of Justice the name OF the murderer
OF James Graham. The stories told by the bewil-
dered inhabitants, composing population which
Is partly Irish, partly German and partly negro.
are as various and as different as the stars in the
armament or the shells OF the ocean, and most OF
them are founded more upon visions OF fancy than
those of reality. 1t has become, however, an &C.
cepted fact that the terrible deed was committed
by some one who probably belonged to the neigh
borhood Whereabouts, and certainly knew great
deal about the business affairs Of the murdered
man. Constable John II. Wright formerly de.
tective on the New York force, was detailed by the
District Attorney, Mr.. Downing, to solve the mys-
terry which surrounds the tragedy, and In quiet
manner has been ever since it occurred engaged In
cleaning knowledge, one by one, OF certain cir
cumstances which at length, it Is believed, will
surely indicate the man or men whose souls are
stained with the blood OF this most fearful crime
If this supposed cew prove to be sound one there
is doubt that he will be placed behind the bars
OF prison cell before week has passed. There
are many difficulties, however, in the way OF Sc.
curing complete evidence OF guilt, and these may
possibly be found to be insurmountabe. Con-
stable Wright is confident, however, of the sue
cess Of his undertaking. flis colleague, Smith,
was seen yesterday at Little Neck. The local con-
stable Roe, in the afternoon again caused the els
terms near the shop to be searched, but nothing
was found OF the character sought.
Around the dingy stove in the yellow walled bar.
room OF the Little Neck Hotel rough and rugged
looking men congregate in the afternoons and
drink hot rum and smoke bad cigars per-
petually, while they rehearse what they know
or invent concerning the horror that hap
pened in their midst. study OF their faces and
fnr
satisfactorily to accomplish and in the
midst of il he is continually asking him
self, (Which of these men Is he who did
this deedg' The elements of nationalitles
mix here with beautiful Indifference, and the In
Hence of Queens county rum, which Is good in
quality, seems to beget an unusual affinity among
the races which while it may not be founded upon
human Kindness but upon the chances OF circum-
stance suggests curious thoughts regarding the
social composition Of the neighborhood.
DOZEN HEIRS PRESUMPTIvE.
The HERALD reporter yesterday talked with
Justice Provost, OF the town OF North Hampstead,
action on the morning of the discovery Of
the dead body of Graham. The Justice is
an old and portly gentleman, with jolly
and sefcOntented air-in fact. type of an old
fashioned, wealthy country Squire Yet In this
character Of being at peace with himself he seems,
not to have acquired any just conception Of the at
tributes and limits OF his authority. Now, after it
is too late to mend the harm that resulted IN his
singular action in relation to the effects of the muir
dered man and the custody OF the scene OF the
crime, he acknowledges fully that he was IN the
wrong and regrets his error Strange to say, how
ever he still retains possession OF the books and
papers OF Graham, and yesterday stated that at the
Of the nTs ne 9tn ad an
rent intention OF closing the anairs OF the
estate. This. again, even before the Coroner
unseemly haste. He says that besides
John and Thomas Macreary there are five other
brothers and half brothers OF the deceased sup
posed to he in Ireland. paper shows that at one
time Graham sent S57 across the ocean to his
father who Is poor THESE 4aier nears Gann , pos
pontment of an administrator, and 1t Is also
stated, upon legal authority, that Provost lacks
make him eligible to the functions OF that office.
He has had, it is said, no such relations with the
deceased as would empower him to administer his
estate Thus II appears that first overstepping his
Jurisdiction in the matter or the murder,
as was intimated yesterday In the HERALD,
he is now grasplng power over a large amount
of property which he can by no means rightfuly
exercise. II these facts are true there may yet
grow very pretty civil muddle out OF this already
dark criminal mystery.
THE SCENES ON SATURDAY.
The circumstances which occurred on Saturday
morning at the shoe shop are now, by comparing
the stories OF several witnesses, found to have
been nearly as follows The first discovery OF The
the door and then fed horrOr-stricken at the sight
which lay before his eyes; Then, alter the
first ~ entered BY the blacksmith Bennem and
another person who happened to be in his shop at
the time. A cOl0reu man, named JOnn PETERSON,
VINO lives in neat house near by and 10 the barber
Of Little Neck, was called to the door by these two
men and asked by them TO ascertain whether Ora
ham was dead. He refused to do so unless they
would enter also again witnesses. They all
went in together ana Peterson ielt OF the pulse OF
the murdered man and found that it had long
since ceased to beat, and the flesh was cold and
rigid. The next, or nearly the next, arrival was
that of Squire Provost, with the two laborers
employed on his farm. who. on hearing
of the tragedy had informed him OF a fact OF which
he never knew anything before-namely, That they
were half-brOthers OF Graham.
they entreated him to accompany them to the
village to see the corpse and to take care OF some
property OF theirs, which, tley sads Was kept In the
shop. They seemed when they came heartbroken
at The sight OF the body, and then went upstairs To
look after the trunks and boxes which, they said,
belonged to them Provost, according TO the testi-
nony OF John Macreary at the inquest on Saturday,
was present and allowed them TO take some cloth
Inc. which they claimed as their own to pick up
and change the positions OF articles which were
scattered about, and received from their hands
TIE BANK BOOKS AND PAPERS.
The former were accounts with the Emgrant's,
the Bowery, the Third Avenue and the Seamen's
Savings Banks, and there were other new ones,
which belonged TO himself and to a man named
James Collins. He had often seen Graham examin-
ing these and counting up his riches, and was in
the habit with his brother or visiting him several
evenings during the week; he had not visited him
since the sunday previous. Afterwards, when
cross-questioned, he hesitatngly said that he had
also been to see him short time on Tuesday night.
Drs. Hoag, Reimer and Porter examined the
remains. The opinion OF the former, given yes
terday to the HERALD reporter, is that the
death; but that the one at the base OF the brain,
which severed the artery, may have done so al
ready II IL was the first one given by the murderer
or murderers. His written statement will be read
to-day on the continuation of the investigation.
TOWELS, WITH THE INITIALS IL. 81"
The Assistant District Attorney was one OF those
who were early at the scene OF crime on Saturday,
and ne found In the garnet three towels In paper
box and one handkerchief, the latter looking
as II 1t had been somewhat used, all Of which
were marked in red needlew0rk with the
initials 81 s." The stocking which was found
a IL
have been one belonging to Graham, although it
Is strange that even o misery bachelor could have
darned 1t so neatly and SO wen that 1t should look
like the work OF careful and frugal housewife.
GRAHAM'S MONEY.
II Is q disputed point whether Graham had much
money with him when killed or not. One man,
who met him the cars coming from New York
one day during the week, was informed by him
that ne had not had enough to pay his bills In the
city, lacking a OF $50. What he had
on the night of his death must then
have accumulated since that day. Another