New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1890-08-26
IS HE THE MURDERER?
THE PRISONER SAYS lie HAS DOUBLE
WHO DID IT.
a DANISH IMMIGRANT CHARGED WITH KILLING
MAN AND SHIPPING THE BODY
OVER HERE IN A CASK.

AleAa0OeT InIlupSSI, WIlO NtAS Pi"tVU "h"'i o"i
veillance at the Barge Office on the charge Of
being an escaped murderer from Denmark thot
he was figuring in an unpleasant parallel to the
story of Edward Everett Hale, of My Double
and How lie Undd Me" But to-day will tell
whether there is double who committed the
murder, whether this Phillipsen is the double
himself, or whether there is only one Philiipsen
and this the man, and consequently the murderer
The story opened on Friday, when slight,
pale-faced Dane, with n black beard partly shaved
at the chin, and with 1lebraic cast OF couh-
tenance, landed at the Barge Office from The
steamer Normannia. from Hamburg. He was ac-
companied by pretty young wife and five
months old infant. The Phillipsens did not
wait to claim their baggage, but went to the
Hotel Denmark, at No. s4 Greenwich-st As
they registered the bartender Z. c. jacobson,
exclaimed TO q boarding -house runner, so he says
THAT is Phllipsen, the murderer of Meyer
whose body was found last spring in cask at
the Appraisers Stores"
jacobson spoke TO Phillipsen and when the lat
ter replied in a stammering voice that he was AL
exander Phillipsen, of Copenhagen, jacobson be-
came positive that il the murderer of Meyer
whom he saw before him. The hesitating voice
confirmed all his suspicious.
How about the murderer of Mcyer?" he asked,
"and where is hep"
question, however. He merely shrugged his
shoulders and said that the murderer was Adoph
Phillipsen and that Adolph had been convicted
of the crime, sentenced TO death and was now un-
der confinement in an insane asylum at Copen-
hagen. The Hebrews of Copenhagen, he said, had
raised half million of crowns with which TO in
drce the Government TO commute the mans SEN
tence to imprisonment for life.
Il was taken for him, added Phillipsen, when
/ walked the streets in Copenhagen People
pointed their fingers at me and said There goes
the murderer of MVer!'"
JACOBSON Is POSITIVE.
But Jacobson in Copenhagen at the time OF
the murder, and not only knew the story of the
crime but also knew the murdered man, and says
he has met the murderer there number of times.
So he recalled to Phillipsen how Meyer. who
collector for a large firm, had
gone TO Phillipsens rooms one night last March
and how Phillpsen had stranglcd the old man for
his money and shipped the body in cask of
plaster of Paris to this country Phillipscn seemed
TO know it all, and they recounted how the spend
thrift and murderer fed TO Germany and took
passage in the steamer Elbe for this cou.try; and
how the steamers machinery broke down, and
how she had TO return TO port, where the MUIR
derer captured and carried back 10 Denmark,
where he confessed. jacobson wondered how the
induced to release Phillipsen from the insane asy
lum on condition that he should come 10 this
country. and Phillipsen explained how unpleasant
1t was for him to be taken for the murderer.
jacobson apparently became friendly TO Phil
lipsen. He learned that his new friend a
pharmacist, whereas the murderer was supposed
10 be a manufacturer of chemicals further
coincidence of details was ascertained, that this
Mrs. Phillipsen had child only five months old,
while Jacobson knew that the wife Of the mur-
derer had child of the same age. The next day
jacobson accompanied the Phillipsens TO a re-
spectacle boarding house at No. l9l Baltic-st,
BROOKLYN, where the Immigrants took rooms
There the Phillipsens met Christian Raven, Dane,
who is O registry clerk at the Barge Office, and
when Mr.. Raven the name :" a. Phllnpsen,
he loosely inquired whether lie was the famous
murderer of that name.
Phillipsen laughingy replied, "Oh, no' But
The story had reached the Barge Oflice, and when
Ihilpsen came there yesterday the bagsagemen
were waiting for him. Superintendent simpson,
Of tie Landing Bureau, asked him Tor hls pass
port, but he lad none, and he was carried peiore
Assistant Snpcrintcndcnt O'ilernc. jacobson was
sent for, and ne made affidavit that ne recognized
Phillipsen the murderer OF IT, Mcyer, whose
body had been found in a cask at the Appraiser
Stores .
Phillipsen seemed calm and collected and APP
peared accustomed TO being taken for murderer.
lie denied the accusation, but admitted all the
condolences. In addition TO his story as ALREADY
related he said that he had been eight nonlhs III
this country in 1882 when he learned now 10
manufacture an article for backing or vanishing
boots On his return to Denmark he lnVcsteu
$3.50 in his invention. But he failed ana Wei,'
into business with his father, drygoodS man
Finally he decided to return 10 thls c0uhlicl
where he expected to obtain employment, ne ola
not know at what. lie had secured Ic',er oi
Introduction TO Gene:al ChrlstidncS, WHO, ho hO"'
would help him.
NOT AFRAID TO LET ITHs WIFE KNOW.
"You can tell my wife that have been arrested
on the charge of murder" he said to Mr.. Raven
after the examination was closed
But it will kill your wife if tell her that,
said Mr.. Raven.
"Ah, no. replied PLilipsen, she will know
that i innocent"
lie was led away 10 bc locked up in the Barge
once Tor the night, while General o Beirne teic-
graphed the news TO Superintendent Weber, at
Washington, who will report the facts 10 the
State Department with the request that the De
partment telegraph 70 Copenhagen and ask whether
Ihiliipsch the murderer. is still under coniinc1
ment men. at Copenhaeen The Danish, Consul .Ynd
Nlce-tonsul were out Of town yesterday, but they
Will be Informed OF the case to-day.
-, In the evening Tribune reporter found Mrs.
Philnpsen She is q gOOd-loOking and intelligent
woman. dresses neatly and has evidently lived in
good circumstances. She appeared TO be calm and
confident that her husband would dispIoye the
charge against him.
Il am sure, she said through Mr. Raven as an
Interpreter, that my husband will be released to-
morrow because Secretary Blaine will learn by
telegraphing a Copenhagen that Phillipsen. the
murderer is st ii shut up in insane asy lur under
sentence of death. lie and my husband may
have some resemblance, but have never seen the
murderer. do know that he is twenty-seven
years old, whereas my husband Is thrty-two
and taller and stOuter than the murderer. Ny |
husband is the grandson the maternal side OF
DIR. Woulf, the Over-Rabi OF Copenhagen, Whom
everybody there knows No. we never saw
jacobson until we came 10 this country, and his
testimony is unsupported
Later in thr evening Mrs. Phlpsen went 10 the
barge Office 10 see her husband for the first time
since his arrest, and asked him about his alleged
double, but she seemed confdent that the news
from Copenhagen to-day would set her husband
free.
Al WOMAy ARRESTED FOR ARSON.
Fall River. Mass. Aug 25.-Therc were five at