The New York herald., 1879-07-10
THE SEYMOUR TRAGEDY.

DISCOVERY OF A BULLET SIMILAR TO THE ONE
BEppEp IN FEScE-THE PAUL srUcKE
THEORY DIscREDITED.
Another day has passed and the mystery of John
L. Seymours death is no nearer solution. Yester-
day was spent by the detectives principally in talk
ing and investigating theories and clews and
making experiments with small firearms. The story
of Detective Nevens about the mysterious person
with long coat turns out to be the echo of q clew
which was fully Investigated days ago by the detec-
tive officers actively engaged on the 1t the
old story OF the person who saw man in conversa-
tion with Mr.. Seymour III the seminary grounds
the night Of the death.
There is little doubt that police detectives are
thoroughly satisfied Of the entire of Paul
S.ucke. and yet in the absence of any other clew,
they keep hammerng away at that one. Paul him.
self complains somewhat bitterly OF what he calls
the injustice of not fully exonerating him. and is
comfortcd by the assurance OF the authorities that
after the inquest everything will be made clear
he is concerned He still sticks to his story as
detailed in tho HERALD of yesterday. and is fanked
by the repeated corroborations of the Rev, Mr..
Frisbee, Rev. Mr. Pearce. Mr. Elliott and Others who
stanchly stand by his statements.
THE PRINCIPAL THEORY Exploded
It is now pretty well established that Paul Stucke
did not fire the fatal shot, If the matter depended
entirely his word the word of two, it would
be more reasonable to suppose there might be mis-
take; but the boy has almost overwhelming array
of facts and evidence his side He has proof that
he fired only four Shots that these blank cart
ridges fired III an opposite direction to where the
body found; that they were fired at time be-
fore Mr. Seymour left the house-that is, at fifteen
minutes past nine O'Clock (he has several witnesses
to that fact-because the gas still burning
hall he has no rubber Of the kind found In the
wound. and his cartridges have nothing about them.
either ball blank. Of the nature of rubber. Alto
gether Paul has an excellent cause for complaint
against certain persons who would continue to whis-
per that the bullet from his pistol was the fatal
AS the advances with the detectives the thought
that the killing was accidental becomes more and
more convincing. The suicide theory is now utterly
secuted, and the case narrows down to twoan acci-
dental Fourth OF July bullet controversy in the
grounds followed by murder. The latter idea has
number Of followers who led to their belief by
the presence OF the rubber in the wound. They are
indorsed to certain extent by Dr. Miller, Deputy
Coroner who states that in his opinion the bali was
fired at short distance. He says that the rubber
fully an inch further in than. the bullet and must
necessarily have preceded the bullet in its en-
trance. The result was internal hemorrhage. the
largest artery Of the heart severed As for the
marks on the nose, he Is OF the opinion that they
were post-mortem. signs of blood could be
found by HIM at the time he examined the body. He
thinks il the blow the nose had been struck ive
seconds before the bullet had entered the body
there would have been evidence of the blow left.
A NEW CLEW
The daily search OF the grounds made yes
terday. every tree. every stone and almost every
blade OF grass being examined by the detectives
and the newspaper men. No pistol was found. but
Sergeant Blair, of the Sixteenth precinct police,
and Detective Patrick Leahy succeeded in getting
bullet out of the picket fence that may throw some
light the death. 1t is certainly plausible
theory the OF the seminary window and seemed
to be accepted with aacrity by some of the detec-
tives, that the fatal shot hred from some house
in Twenty-trst street. or by some passer by. The
bullet which is % caibre the size that killed Mr..
tIad
ters of an inch in On inch plank which formed
of the palings of the fence. BY carefully cutting
gettinGthe ball out Of the wood without injury 1t
had evidently been fired from small pistol.
and must necessarily c, have come from one % Of
442 to No. 470, and the shot may have been fred
from any Of these although i more NO. probably
45S. The most remarkable thing about it il that
had the bullet not struck the fence and stayed
spot where Mr.. Seymour's body was found. About
twenty feet west from where this found Sergeant
Blair and Detective Dorsey found another embedded
in the fence. This one however when got out after
twenty minutes hard work proved to be q small
round bullet similar to those used in air guns.
FATAL SHOT ACCIDENTAL?
The finding Of the ~ calibre bullet and immedi-
atey in front OF the fatal spot of ground caused the
to the effect that persons Twentieth street had
distinctly heard firing from Twenty-irst street on
the night in question. There number of
stories TO this effect In fact there is hardly house
on Twentieth street which does not contain some
one who heard firing from that direction on the
somewhat yesterday by the statement made by Paul
Stucke to the effect that he had been told by boy that
another boy whose name he did not know, living
on Twentieth street. had an air gun or pistol These
air guns sometimes used rubber in the cartridge, but
the other hand. it is urged that in Mr. Seymours
body the rubber preceded the bullet. This argues
that the bullet red from muzzle loader ut close
range. and in support Of this theory which is fast
finding favor with the detectives, great number of
witnesses have been found who willing to testify
to seeing men in the grounds about the time OF the
NN.k k1f&l eta I<., xAIno.
define whether the shooting took place the
grounds proper or from rwenty-frs. street.
Experiments were made in Bridgeport yesterday
with cartridges used by young Stucke but the re-
suit did not reach Detective Dorsey, for whom tho
experiments were made Sergeant Blair. OF the Six
teenth precinct, who was on duty the night Of the
death, states that violence whstever used
toward Mrs. Seymour. and on the contrary every
thing possible was done to make her comfortable.
He says he has the greatest respect for Bishop Sey
mour. being member of the Episcopal Church him.
self and the last in the world show rudeness to
any one. much less a bishop. Drs Hudson and
Cushman searched the body Of Mr.. Seymour when
it brought to the station house, and found
nothing more than an empty pocketbook and some
memoranda.
special meeting of the directors of the New York
Life Insurance Company held yesterday at tho
Office, at which series of resolutions offered
and passed concerning the death of Mr.. Seymour.
who had been one OF the trustees. The resolutions
expressed the high appreciation he was held in by
his business associates. and offered the sincere
sympathy of the Board to the afflicted family.
The inquest has been adjourned by the Coroner to
Saturday next ut ten A. NJ, at the Seminary building
AN IMPORTANT DlsCovERY.
Captain Ryan, last evening. in making careful
examination of the clothing of the deceased. made
discoveries that have started the suicidal
theory and have direct and strong bearing the
murder theory we'll. 1t will be remembered
that it had been stated that when the
body was found the coat and vest were open and
there was mark OF powder upon the shirt
dershirt. This fact hawked about with great
persistence and much capital made of it in doing
away with the theory that he shot at close range
either by himself somebody else. The examination
of the clothing made last night dscloses the
passed through two thickncsscs OF it, making
plete holc The ball entered just where the coat
was Tapped over, and the mark of the wax
on the bullet is plainly to be seen. This
establishes the fact that the bullet was
new one and fired from breech-
loading cartridge pistol or gun. There
marks Of powder on the coat, but man named
Schlesnger, who makes the clothes for the Police
Department. and is held to be expert in flannel
clothes. says that the powder would not be