The Sunday morning news. [volume] (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1886-1891, 1890-01-12

was AuttKSSscV III tne fdiSlHS Oh uOfSeS.
Last November. Miss Pursel alleged
one morning that burglars had entered
her roon by night, had terrorized her
with q knife pointed at her throat. and
had ransacked her room. Only SIG was
missed when the room was searched, and
S1o0in another place remained untouched
Some people said the girl dreamed the
whole episode; but she always stuck to
her story, and apparently the Kniffins
and her other friends believed it. The po-
lice did not and did next to nothing about
it.
Miss Pursel spent the Christmas holt
days at Broadway, a small place near
Philllpsburg, and seventy-fve miles dis
tant from Trenton. She was absent from
the Kniffins' house about two weeks. On
the morning of Thursday, January 2, she
started to return to Trenton It is neces-
sary to change cars at Phillipsburg, and as
she did so she met Dr. K niffin, who had
left Trenton in the morning for the pur-
pose of going to Broadway. The two
| talked a little-there is some difference as
to the length of the conversation, their
friends claiming il was only few min
utes, their enemies saying it was more
protracted
However that may be, at its close they
parted on their several ways. DIR. Kniffin
went to Broadway, where he stayed
Thursday night Thus he was seventy
five miles distant from Trenton when his
wife was killed.
Miss Pursel came to Trenton, went to
| the Knif1ins' house, and spent the day and
evening with Mrs. Kniffin, retiring to bed
with her at the usual hour. The Knit
fins' son spent the night at the home of
Mrs. Knifiin's parents. Mrs. Knif1in was
seen alive by Druggist Patterson and his
wife about ten o'clock Thursday night.
And this brings us down to the discovery
of the murder and the sworn testimony
before the Coroner's Jury.
THE FATAL DAY
On the morning of Friday, January 3,
Wilson Raymond, Dr. Kniffin's Office boy,
and Elizabeth Miller. an old German scrub
woman, came to the door of the house
and rang for admittance. Here is the
story of what happened, as told by Ray
mond in his testimony
Q. On Friday morning, what time did
you go up to the Officer A. / think little
after seven O'Clock.
@. Where did you go when you came
up 70 the office; did you go in the store?
A. l found an old lady standing there and
| she told me she could not get in; she had
4 been ringing and could not get in.
/ @. Did you go in the store then? A.
! No, sir; l rang the bell two or three times.
/ Q. Where did you go after thats A.
went into the store and was talking to
/ the boy in the store little bit.
| 0. What did you do after that9 A.
went down the cellar to see il l could get
through the cellars to see if could get up
/ into the other house.
@. Could you get up? A. No. sir.
Then | went out back to see if
| | could get in the back way
Q. Could you get in? A No, sir.
Q. Did you try the door? A. | don't re-
member any more whether did or not,
| and / tried the shutters
| Q. You don't remember trying the door
to get in the backway? A. No, sir.
O. Did you come back in the store, them
/ A Yes, sir.
| O. Where did you go after that? A l
was in there little bit, and then | went
out and rung the bell again, aud was in
there little bit; then went down to DR..
Shannon's after the keys.
@: Did you go up after you got them:
A. Yes, sir.
@. What did you do thens A. | went
into the drug store little bit, and AL
| fred Patterson wanted to know if / had
the keys. / said yes, and he said, Afraid
to go inS' | said l didn't like it much.
And then | went out and unlocked the
outside vestibule door, and went in and
| asked the old ladyif she would 90 in with
me. She said yes. Then | unlocked the
inside vestibule door and then went up
pretty near to the top of the first step, and
then ! saw the drawers were all pulled
/ out. and turned around and we went
down stairs. and then DR.. Shannon came
| and pretty soon he came and went mp the
stairs and told me he was going for the
| police; they had been robbed.
What an awful thing the shadow Of
death is. Before this boy knew the house
had been robbed even, he was chilled by
the atmosphere of fate that brooded over
the house.
THAT OPEN DOOR.
But the notable point in this testimony
is his accidental failure to try the bacs
door. 1t was an odd omission, but he
made it, for Edward Wilkes, Druggist
Patterson's boy, confirms his evidence on
the point thus
O. Where did he go Them A. Why
then he went-he says "can go through
| the back door," | SAID, "Why certainly, u
and he went through, and he says II
can't unlock the door," and it was the
back door that let into the alley | went
| back and unlocked it for him. He went
{ back and said ne could not get in; he did
not go as far as the door, he only went as
| far as the shutter. the first kitchen shut
| ter.
O. What door did you unlock? A.
That back door In our prescription room
| there.
q. In the store part you means A. Yes,
sir.
Q. Did he go out then in the alley? A.
Yes, sir, as far as the kitchen door-the
| kitchen window.
9. Did he try the door, A No, he
| didn't try the door,
Q. What did he do them A. He came
back and said he could not get in.
| If he had tried the door he would have
got in by it, for the Chief of Police came
in that way little later, as shown in this
passage of Druggist Patterson's evil
dence:--
9, Did you 90 out at the back and ex-
amlne the back of the house at ALP A.
No.
Q. Why didn't you? A. Why, l went
to notify the police of the burglars that
had been in the house, and after noti-
| tied them l went no stairs and then the