News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1886-11-18
THE LtTE A. T. STEWART.
How HIS Body Was stolen from Its Vault
In New York City-The FraitIess Search
for 1.-THE Belief that Its Present Local
tiOn Is not Known.

Inc death OF Mrs. A. L. stewart re-
, calls the romance connected with the
l fate of her husband. The story is now
told by the New York World as fol
2 lows
Alexander Turney Stewart died on
the 10th of April, 1876. His body was
inferred in the Stewart vault in st.
Marks churchyard, near the Second
avenue end and equidlstant from Elev-
enth street and Stuyvesant Square. The
: remains were to lie there until the crypt
: at Garden City was ready to receive
them. On the 9th of October, 1878,
eighteen months later, Sexton Hamill
reported to Judge Hilton that he had
that morning discovered marks of pry-
ing around the edge of the slab that
marked the tomb. Judge Hilton gave
instructions for the employment OF a
Waterman, fearing that somebody was
endeavoring to steal the silver mount
ings on the casket. A few days later
the slab was secretly shifted to a point
several feet distant and the turf ar
ranged to hide any trace of the change.
Any one digging Immediately below the
slab would have struck solid masonry
instead of the entrance to the vault.
Everything was now believed to be per-
fectly safe. Without Judge HiIton's
knowledge the Waterman was dis
charged.
At o'clock on the morning of Nov.
7, month later, Assistant Sexton Fran
els Parker, on going TO his work in the
churchyard. discovered that the vault
had been opened. There had been no
attempt to dig beneath the deceiving
slab, but the excavation was made di-
rectly above the vault entrance. The
coffin in which the millionaires remains
had lain had been broken, and lay
empty on the floor. The body was gone
A dreadful stencil came from the vault.
| When the assistant sexton had partially
recovered from his amazement and hor-
ror he hurried to inform his superior,
and the two carried the startling infor-
nation to Judge Hilton. On going to
the desecrated vault and finding the
stencil that came from it, Judge Hilton
concluded that it would be an absolute
impossibiiity that the body could be
carried away without discovery. The
police were at once notified and gen
eral alarm sent out.
Near the vault was found galvanized
band coal-shovel, with which the earth
had been removed; a dark lantern and
newspaper, upon which the grave
robbers had apparently wiped their
hands. This newspaper was dry, which
made it clear that the deed had been
done after o'clock in the morn ng, as
it had rained up to that h ur.
Every possible effort was made by Judge
Hilton to recover the body of Mr.. Stew
art. Pinkerton detectives, private de-
tpptiVaS aO6 oD1
Byrnes's staff of detectives were put up
on the case, and a vigilant search was
made all over the country. All sorts of
rumors were afoat-teuching the identity
OF the robbers, but nothing tangible was
obtained to justify an arrest, until, a
considerable time after the robbery, it
was pretty pc itively ascertained that a
hackman named Kelly had carried the
remains away in his hack. But Kelly
had skipped. Indictments were found
against him and some others, under as
sumed names, for robbery, and-they are
still in the pigeon holes of the District
Attorneys office, uneXecuted.
A year or more after the body was
stolen eX-Postmaster Jones was the re-
cipient of letter bearing the Boston
postmark, and signed by man giving
his name as Romano, inclosing piece
of the velvet cut from the coffin, the
cheap studs worn in Mr.. Stewards
bosom at the time of his burial, and
some of the silver screws taken from the
coffin as proof positive that they had
possession of the body, and desiring him
to act as mediator, or as their attorney
in securing the $50 900 ransom which
Judge Hilton had offered for the return
of the body. They simply desired i'm
munity from arrest for a certain period
of time, offering to restore the body on
payment of the money. They claimed |
then that the body was on a coal barge
in Canada. Judge Hilton, however, re
fused to hove anything to do with the |
negotiations and the matter came to a |
halt. On another occasion a re eased |
convict led Inspector Byrnes on wild
goose chase through New Jersey, prom
Using to show him where the body was
concealed, and not until they had
travelled great many miles by wagon
and on foot, and had finally reached the
tree near the mill which had been so
graphically described, did the convict
admit that he was playing the Inspector
a joke. On another occasion Private
Detective Fuller received an anonymous
letter inClosing diagram of the spot in
Cypress Hills where the body had been
For nearly one week, day
and night, the ground was dug up, I'M
til one of the prettiest parts of the
cemetery was nearly destroyed, before
this was given up as another hoax.
Later on information was received
which led to the belief that the body
could be recovered; that the secret of
its place of burial rested alone with
Kelly, the hackman, who carried it
away in his hack on the night of the
robbery. he gentleman who received
the information consulted with Judge
Hilton, and gave him all the facts, in
Guiding the movements OF Kelly from
the time he left New York until he
reached San Francisco, and convinced
Judge Hilton that they were really on
the track of the body of the million
naire merchant. A detective was started
across the continent. He reached San
Francisco, only to learn that Kelly had
given up his position in the Suffer Mar
ket, San Francisco, to become Superin-
tendent of a mine at Tucson, Art. He
made the then periIous jourdey to Ari-
iona, but unfortunately arrived a short
time after Kelly had been murdered in
a mine If dispute with some of his
haDGs. The secret died there.
One further effort was made on behalf
Of certain persons who claimed to have
knowledge of the whereabouts of the
corpse to secure from Judge Hilton the
525, 90 reward which he offered for the
return of the body. They waited upon
him through a representative, and made
the singular proposition that if he would
send to them by a trusty agent, not
detective, the sum of $25, 900, leaving
it with them and trusting to their
honor, that on the following day the
body of Mr.. Stewart should be returned
to HIM at any place he designated. They
made this request, they said, because
they required immunity from arrest, and
they warned him that inasmuch as they
knew all of the detectives, it would DO
folly for him to inform Inspector Muir
ray, for if they saw any of the inspec-
tors men, communication between them
would cease. Judge Hilton suggested
70 the go between that it would be a
falrer proposition for them to return to
MIN the body have it properly identi-
led, and trust to his honor to give him
the money, which he certainly would
10, and that if immunity from arrest
was the only hindrance, he would
pledge his word that he would not take
any steps to apprehend the robbers for
1T least forty eight hours, which would
give them ample opportunity to place
in foreign country where ,