The Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1877-1885, 1881-05-19
A BLOODHOUND.
The part that animal played
in a Murder.
A Boby Identified as girl who is
Still Alive.

Cranes Morgue, in Hoboken, and gaZed
intently down the narrow stone steps that
lead to the basement in which was the
body of the young woman who was muir
dered in the woods near Weehawken.
Many persons from this city, Brooklyn,
and various parts of New Jersey viewed
the body in the expectation of recognizing
a missing relative The clothing that had
been worn by the dead girl, in order to fa-
cilitate its inspection, was arranged on q
lay figure obtained from a neighboring dry
goods store.
Coroner Wiggins began an investigation
on his own account yesterday. which re
suited in demonstrating the innocence of
Mr.. Judson S. Francois of any kno wledge
| Of OF connection with, the crime. The sus-
picion that had attached to him arose from
his peculiar relations to Miss Bella Knet-
tier She was the daughter of a German
florist in West Hoboken. Her father had
amassed some $50, $50 from the sale of his
patents, he having been an inventor. His
! savings had, however, been almost com
pletely lost by speculation, and he wont into
the business of cultivating flowers. In
July last his daughter Bella, a pretty girl
about II years of age became acquainted
with Judson S. Francois, who kept barber
shop In the town, and was also constable
detailed to duty at the Hudson Court
House Francois was married. The pair
were seen frequently together at places of
public resort, and their conduct caused
much local gossip. On the Sd of Februry
the girl disappeared. Her father suspect
ed the barber of having abducted her, and
charged him with it, but the accusation
was promptly and emphatically denied,
Mr.. Knettler, however, was convinced of
the mans guilt, and watched him closely,
but without getting any clue to his daugh-
| ter's place of concealment.
About week later he accidentally learn
ed that a trunk directed to q woman, whose
first name was Bella, had been taken by an
express wagon from Bergen Heights in
Jersey City to a house in Seventeenth
street. He discovered the house, but when
he called and asked for his daughter, the
person who kept the place toldhim that she
had been taken away, and was living in
Hudson street. The old man searched
from one end of that street to the other,
but to no purpose, and went back to West
Heboken utterly detected. While he was
| rejecting at home over his troubles, 1t
! suddenly occurred to him that the instinct
of valuable bloodhound which he owned
might assist him in tracing his child. He
took an old shoe that had belonged to
Bella and rubbed it against the animals
nose. Having secured the dog by an iron
| chain, he led it, on Feb. 24, to the Chris
topher Street Ferry, and crossed over to
| this CITY and went to Hudson street.
The bloodhound on being allowed to fol-
low its own inclinations ran up the west
side to Canal street. There it stopped,
crossed the street. and trotted back on the
opposite side with its head bent toward the
ground In the middle of the block 1t
again returned to the westerly side and,
after running around rapidly for few
minutes, rushed to the front door OF a GER
tain house and jumped three or four times
against the panels. Knettler noted the
building. and, after having left his dog
with a friend in the neighborhood went
back to the house and to his great delight
found his daughter there. She returned
home with him He strictly forbade her
to see Francois, and to enforce obedience,
confined her to her room, securing the
door with screws and the windows with
bars. Despite these precautions, however,
Francois, according to Knettler's story,
managed to communicate with the girl.
On March she escaped from Ethe house.
Her father then began civil suit against
Francois for $4,000 damages for abduct-
! ing the girl, and also procured his lndlct-
ment by the grand jury of Hudson county.
He recently obtained a writ of habeas cor
| pus writ from the chancellor requiring
| Francois to procure the girl, but the de-
| fendant made a return to the effect that
she was no longer under his control and
that he did not know where she was.
! These facts were known through the
/ towns and villages in the northern part of
| Hudson county, and when the body OF the
murdered girl was found in the woods
above Weehawken, many persons jumped
to the conclusion that she was Bella Knet-
tier The father encouraged the belief I'M
! til it became so general that Francois life
was for some time yesterday afternoon IN
considerable danger. Knettler when he
first saw the body on Saturday, could not
/ tell whether it was that of his daughter.
! On Sunday, however, he freely expressed
the opinion that the dead girl was his miss
| ing child. His friends called at the Morgue
at his instance, and their statements cor
rOborated many of the details on which he
had based h is recognition. But yesterday
he dismissed all doubts on the subject, and
professed his conviction that the murdered
| girl was his daughter Bella. He examined
the two switches of hair found in the bush
near the scene of the crime, and declared
| that he recognized them as having belong
! ed to his daughter. He asserted that they
had both been made for her by Francois,
and that one of them was composed OF her
own hair mixed with the hair of her dead
mother. The sacque he not only identifi
ed as the property of his daughter, but he
he said that he recallected distinctly that
she had made it. Two women who had
been sent to the Morgue by him examined
a gold finger ring and piece of an ear
ring that had been picked up near the spot
where the body was found, and said that
they thought they had seen the jewelry
worn by Miss Knettler.
When the report of these identifications
reached West Hoboken, Guttenburg, and
Union Hill, the people became intensely
excited and some of them did not hesitate
to threaten Francois with violence A
prominent resident of that neighborhood
said that many citizens went to Francois
house during the day for the purpose of
compelling him either to produce the girl
or admit his guilt committee, in fact,
called to obtain whatever statement he de-
sired to make in reference to the matter,
but his shop was closed, and visitors were
told that Mr. Francois was i'll and could
not be seen. Coroner Williams had a long
consultation with Prosecutor McGill. AS
the coroner was about to leave the court
house with detective Stanton, whom Mr..
/ McC1ilI had detailed to accOmDany him. he