The New Bloomfield, Pa. times. (New Bloomfield, Pa.) 1877-188?, 1880-01-13
A Startling Adventure.


and now Secretary of the Prison Associ-
alton Of that city, made special study
Of mysterious cases of supposed suicide
for years, and In conversation with
the writer declared his belief that large
proportion of the cases of mysterious
deaths Tint so on the records of the city
as suicides were really skillfully planned
murders by gangs of men and woman
who make murder and robbery busi-
ness.
Along the streets bordering upon the
river. or in adjacent streets, such as
Water and Cherry, are located many
vile hells.
Investigations made in very large
number of cases where bodies have been
found floating in the water showed that
the victims were last seen alive in the
company Of female frequenters of these
bells Of the metropolis or in the dance
houses. In most cases of this kind no
vauabes of any account were found
upon the remains and rarely any exter
nal Injuries were developed in post
-anOrtem.
These facts led DR.. Harris to the con-
rclusion that many, if not all, had been
dnveigled into the low resorts by women,
where they were drugged to death by
some subtle poison administered in
liquors, and then, in the silent hours of
the night, the inanimate body, after
helms etriOned Of ,nonox, ond ,,oI,,olio,
would be carried 10y the male murderers
to an adjacent dock and quietly dumped
into The river. In due time the remains
would be carried to the surface and found
by b0atnan or the river police. The
deadly drug had left no tell-tale mark.
The police would investigate, and that
was the end of the matter.
So impressed was 1 with the conclu-
sions arrived at by DR.. Harris that 1
communicated with personal friend on
the detective force my suspicious that
scegTain house on Water street, which 1
had occasion to pass as late as A. NJ dali
ly, was den of thieves of this class. He
readily consented to join me in an effort
to discover something positive regarding
the place. which was resort of abandon
ed women, sailors and Countrymen, with
bar attached.
One night at II 80, dressed and dis
guised as Jersey countrymen, Detective
Il. and entered the main room on the
floor even with the street. In it were
four or five halfdrunken women and
halfa.doZen sailors. In one corner was
small bar, presided over by villain
ous-loOking, pock-marked, ex-convict,
and II another corner was fiddler
playing for the dancers. We spent
money freely in treating all hands, talk
ed about the price of country struck"
and the best market in which to sell,
and promised to go around next day
after we bad sold our produce and have
good time all around, remarking that
we wanted the fiddler, so we could have
dance.
The convict boss of this den chuckled
at the proposition and readily assented
TO the further proposition that no ''sail-
or fellers" should be admitted while we
were guests, as we wern't used to "thar
rough ways and wanted to have ga
clear swarth all to ourselves"
A little before noon on the following
day, well disguised, we entered the
resort. But two women and the propri-
etor We're there, and an air of quietude-
in striking contrast to the boisterous
resort Of the previous night-pervaded
the place.
Each of us had provided ourselves
with a sponge, hidden away inside of
our coat.sleeve, and, as we had previous
Iy arranged to drink nothing but
''pony" glasses of wine, it was an easy
matter by dextrous movement to
deposit the contents, after taking it from
the glass, into the sponges. My COM
panion drank freely, or at least appeared
to drink, displayed considerable money,
and after the fiddler had been sent for
and the doors locked, indulged in several
waltzes between drinks"
An hour was thus passed, when, to all
appearances, the Jersey farmers' were
pretly wen Iuuuleu, so well had we
simulated intoxicated men.
AS our object was to see more of the
premises we offered no resistance when
the women urged us to retire to rear
room. There more drinks were called
for, and in half an hour we were both
apparently unconscious in a drugged
and drunken stupor. The women retir-
ed from the room, which was dimly
nohfad hv the karosena lann and we