The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1885-05-06
ANOTHER TRUNK MYSTERY.
The Body of Dead Maa Found Packed In
Trunk at Pittsourg-It Was Checked
From Chicago.

PITTsBURG, May This evening about
o'clock Baggsgemaster Jenkins, at the Union
depot, upon bursting open a trunk which
gave out suspicious oder, was horrIfed to
find therein the body Of q man securely
bound and in an advanced stage of dscom-
position. The face was badly discolored and
bloated and the stencil wss so great that it
kept at q safe distance the large crowd which
quickly gathered. The trunk was a common
wooden one, and evidently had not been
used before. 1t arrived here from Chicago,
on the Pittsburg Fort Wayne and Chicago
railway. ct 600 a. IA. on the morning ex-
press, and was checked ALL, but no psrs0n
called to claim it. The bsggagemgs1er
noticed peculiar smell when It was un-
loaded from the train this morning but no
attention wes paid TO it until this evening,
when the stencil became unosarable. After
a consultation the railroad officials decided to
open Ii, and the result was the ghast!y
discovery. TIE body, in ocder to get it into
the trunk, had been bent almost double;
around the neck, arms ano legs, was hemp
cord about one-eighth OF an inch in thick
ness which had been drawn 50 tight that it
| had cut deep into the flesh. There was no
mark Of violence, and SO far as could be as
certsined from an outward examination,
the stomach was in a normal condition.
| The body was thst of q laboring man, probs-
bly, thirty years old, of short, heavy build,
| with smooth face. He was dressed In a
| pair of checked wooden pants, blue checked
shirt, and had on his feet a pair of new con.
| gress CATERS. There was nothing on his psr-
son that would furnish any clue to his iden-
| tity, except, an international money order
in favor OF Fillippo Caruse for S25.0I. The
order was drawn at Chicago on February "a,
1888 Immediately after the finding of the
and the body was placed in his charge. A
| telegram was sent TO the baggage agent at
Chicago, but he replied he had means of
finding out who had checked the trunk.
The Coroner Is now holding al inquest. He
| is of the opinion that the remains were in
the trunk at least thirty elk hours.
At the Cor0ner's inquest Drs. Hamilton
and Shaw. who made q post-mortem exsmi-
nation, testified that there were external
marks of violence on deceased. All his or
gsns were healthy, except the lungs. which
| were badly congested. This could result
from suffocation or strangulation. In ac-
cordance with this testimony verdict was
| rendered that deceased ca ne to his death
! from strangulation at the hands OF persons
! to the jury unknown. There appears no
doubt but that he was an Italian.
| The Police on the Track of the BIur-
derers.
CHICAGO, May - Francisco Caruso, a
brother of the man whose dead body was
shipped in trunk from this city to Pitts
burg, called at police headquarters and stated
that he and the deceased were engaged in
| the business of peddling lemons; that at 8
o'clock last Thursday morning Philippe left
the house at No. 75 Tilden avenue, where the
brothers lived, for the ostensible purpose of
| finding market in some suburban town for
| his lemons. That was the last seen of the
| dead man by his friends. francesca Caruso
says that when his brother left the house he
| had between 5000 and $500 in his possession,
besides the draft found in his pocket. Who
ever killed the unfortunate man did the
work very expeditiously, for his body wss
packed in the trunk snd checked at the
| Union Depot at IL 80 o'clock, just TWO and
half hours after he left home Andrew Russo.
the man locked up at the Dssplsines Street
Station on suspicion Of being implicated in
| the crime, has told so many conhlcting
stories about the matter that the officers are
inclined to think he is the murderer. When
| fret arrested Russo admitted that he knew
Phillipo Csruso, but he denied an acquaint
ance with his relatives. Yesterday, Fran
cesco, the brother. was confToa oated with thu
| prisoner aud recognized as an acquaintance.
| The officers in charge Of the case have infor-
| nation which leads them to believe that the
| trunk in which the body was shipped was
| DOuR0t at q slOre near LQS nome Ol luS DTOlu-
ere. The police are now looking for three
| Italians who lived on the upper floor of No.
| 20 Tilden avenue, the home of the Carusos.
| These three men knew that Phillipo had
money in his possession and some suspicion
1 attaches to them from the fact that
| they vscated their quarters last Monday. At
late hour last night the police had not
found one of the three persons indicated.
| Officers Mcdonald and Benheld, who have
the case in charge, expect 10 unearth some
| important facts o.dsy.
The Detective Bureau to day received
| from Pittsburg detectives pieces cut from
the pants, vest and shirt of the murdered
man whose body was shipped in trunk to
| Pittsburg- These were shown to Francisco
Csrusso, and he at once identified them as
| cut from the clothing OF his brother.
| PITTsBURG, May The trunk which con-
tanned the remains of Phillip Caruso, and
the clothing found on the body. we're sent
| by express to Chicago to-day. Nothing new
in the mystery has developed here.