New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1890-01-06
NO LIGHT ON THE MYSTERY
THE TRENTON MURDER STILL UNsoLvED.
THE POLICE UNABLE TO ACCOMPLISH ANY
THING-wITNEssES FOR THE CoRoNERS
JURY-RUMORS AND STORIES
ny TELEGRAPH TO TIE TKIBUSE.i

by TELEGRAPH TO TIE TkIBCNf-i
Trenton, ~ j., Jan 5-Thc inability OF the po-
lice up to date to find the murderer OF the young
wife of DR.. Kninin last Thursday night or in the
early watches of the following morning HAS
brought down upon their heads the censure of
the entire population, and they may possibly DE
coaded during the next twenty-four hours into
taking certain persons into custody on suspicion
of connection, more or less direct with the COM
mission of the crime The police. in Sef-deence,
STATE that the evidence in their possession is too
meapre TO warrant the arrest of anybody. Every
rumor that has come TO their ears has been faith.
fully investigated, every incident looked into and
weighed, and all the labor that has been per-
formed has resulted in nothing more than such a
knowledge of the case as the public already pos
sess The police are not even certain that the
murderer used chlOroform to rob the comcly
young woman of her life The odor Of chlOro-
form was plainly pcrceptible in her room when
her dead body was discovered, but the physicians
who made the pOstmOrtem examination yes
terday We're not entirely satisfied that Mrs
Knnn was chioroformcd 10 death. II is known
now that they fancicd that other means might
have been employed to cause her death, and
therefore decided that it would be we'll 10 have
the contents of her stomach subjected TO chem
ical analysis.
and the complaint of the police that the pcrs 'ns
who ought to he the most eager to assist IN all
their investigations were obstructing them have
intensified the public interest thousand fold
Considering the theory of the police who seem
inglv cannot reconcile themselves TO tie idea
that burglars would enter q house, commit muir
der and ransack the apartments, Net carry
nothing away, DR.. knifin on the eve of The
coroner's inquest acted only naturally, the
cooler headed say in retaining counsel TO stand
by him i'll the trying ordeal
Coroner Bower has been the busiest Of all the
officials in the case. He has summoned fully
fifty witnesses, including DR.. kniilin, Emma
Purcell Albert Patterson, whose store IS III
kniflin's building Mrs. Murphy. the mother oil
the dead woman; the three hySlclans wAo per
formed the autopsy; DR.. {. Shepherd, who was
called in when the first alarm was given; ChIei
of Police Met hasSney. Detectives LcalJy, Plgcr
and Lane and Mrs Miller, the scrub woman.
Two OF the witnesses, Coroner Bower S2d today,
would give evidence to show that Dr. hhlThh
and Miss Purcell were friendly enough to engage
in demonstrations of aLecuOn upon tie street
DR. Shepherd will testify that when ne reached
DR. Kniflin's home he found Miss Purcell lying
at full length upon the floor. lie felt her puSe
and examined her. but scarcely thought she
needed any medical attention. Her pulse
was normal and Eer bands cola
This appeared to him 10 be healthy
condition. Patterson, the druggist. it is said,
will testify that he was among the first to enter
the apartments Friday morning, and ne per
ceived no odor of chloroiom at all He will add
that 10 his know edge Mrs. knitfin had heart
disease and tnat IL IS his opinion that burglar
was strangling her, and that III her fright cart
failure eEsued, causing her death. Patterson has
faith in the burglar theory.
The reporters were informed last night OF an
odd incident in connection with the former al
legged burglary at the Knitiin home, when Miss
Purcell said She had been silenced by the bur
glars uplifted knife. II day or SO after
TINS when Mrs Knifiin, talking to a friend Of the
affair, said: ." didn't see the burglars but they
came into my room and turned on the gas with
out lighting il. ! wonder whether they thought
to sufocate me- Mrs Knliiin will he buried
OF Tuesday.
Patterson. the druggist tonight makes public
81 new incident of interest in connection with the
case He states that about 10 o'clock on the
night Of The murder he and his wife heard a
noise as Of a person falling 10 the floor i'm the
Kniilin apartments Simultaneously there was "a
Shrek by Il woman. They paid no particular
attention to the matter AZ the time, but have
since learned from Miss Purcell that she and
Mrs. Kunn had TWO visitors that evening, the
Misses Beer. Of East Trenton. One Of them had
accidentally fallen from char, and although
She shTickcd, was not injured
Miss Purcell was much a-itatcd dav over
the tOwn-talk connecting her with the pcrpctra-
tion Of the murder. The expression by many
friends Of the utmost confidence i'm all her state
mcnts served 10 calm her somewhat. II is not
positively known whether She Will 20 upon the
witncsSstand before the Coroncrs jury or not
Lawyer Barton said Tonight that il depended
upon circumstances whether he would advise her
10 testify or not.