New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1880-12-08
LOCAL MISCELLANY.
rp,Crn Nv MISSING FINGER


TESTIMONY AGAINST TIE VAN vALENs, ACCUSED OF
THE MURDEp OF MISS BRowER-TRAcSs DIS
COVERED IN THE oATFIELD BETWEEN THEIR
HOUSE AND THAT OF MISS BRowER.
The examination of Francis and Jacob Van Valen,
who are accused of the murder OF Miss BroweT
was begun yesterday in the lecture room or the
Dutch Reformed Church at Tappan, before Justice
Neeker, of Nyack. District-Attorney AlonZo
Wheeler conducted the prosecution, ana Cornelius lt
Hoffman appeared for the prisoners. Although I'M
like in appearance the two brothers look IKE low
Tuifars Francis, the one who is supposed TO nave
committed the murder. has most repulsiye coun-
tenance He wore 3 Soiled shirt with no collar, cor
duroy trousers, soft hat. and an old black coat
but no waistcoat. He chews tobacco necessarily,
and is not nice about il. Jacob bad his trousers III
his boots, and presented little better appearance
than his brother.
the first witness. lie described in detall me linu
ing Of his sisters body on the morning OF thc muir
der the discovery of the missing panes OF gss III 1ie
window OF his and that OF ms sls'er, ana aso
n tower-pot which bore marks IL the earth OF
foot i'm stocking. lie woke up IN the nlght ana
saw light at his window ot rhoms1 IL ms W. ss s
was visiting at his house in the summer, but had
gone away the day before the murder. He saw
Jacob Van Nalen on the day the murder was dis
covered but did not speak to HIM; he also met
Francis who simply saued him.
Dr. G. +. Blauyelt who made the post mor'em
examination, testified that death was caused by
strangulatiOn. He described marks OF violence on
the throat of The deceased woman which 1ndie a'cd
that She had been seized by the throat. Only fonr
missing There were three marks on The right side
OF the neck and one the left. On cross -eXanll-
nation the witness was asked If the sallo marks
might not he visible if the dead wOm2i. had been
struck by lightning. He stated that III his OPINION
lightning could not have produced the same wounds
o. FaulkenbuIv, a brOthcr-In-l law OF tie uea1 Wo-
man. said that he discovered the finger marks on
The throat and Immediately asked II nyJody hVeu
i'm the village who had the middle finger OF the leit
hand missing lie was told there was suCh per
son but was not then told the name OF the man;
In looking for tracks he noticed That the oatIeId
between the houses of Van Nalen and Brewer had
been tramplcd down. He then found two distinct
maths in the oatiield. In one the oats were
iIanplcd that the tops pointed IN the direct on
of Brow,r's house, showing that q person hau
started 10 make the path at the Van Nalen i2lm-
ward in the other the tops pointed toward Van
Nalen's house. and showed a return. AZ some
places in both paths there was divergence when
Indicated that two persons had started at the same
time When one walked behind the other mere
was only one path but when they walked together
there were two parallel paths. On crosseXamna,
tion he was asked if two dogs or two fOwlscoud
not have made the tracks, and Iepled mat the
oats were crushed to the earth by very heavy
weight.
Mis-. Mary Terpenning, of this city, visited the
Brewer house soon after the murder was dlScoV-
cred. Her attention called to the hnger marks
on the throat.
Miss sarah Brewer testified about finding her sis
1pt : body.