New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1891-09-14
WAS, THE BOY MURDEREDY
IMPORTANT EVIDENCE COMES TO LIGHT
rur raNe BRANCH coRONERs JURY SAID IT
WAS sUIoIDE-THE BopY HAS sINOE
REEN IDENTIFIED.

SIICIDE-lhh
BEEN IDENTIFIED.
The body of a well-dresSed boy was feapa OIL
che beach north of the ocean pier at Long Dision
an August l6. He had been choked 10 death eS
. string which was fastened TO a rope heldlng
fishing boat. Every ore who read the accounts
as published no doubt felt surprised wheh
verdict of death by suicide vac given rev
aavs afterward by a LEGAL coroners jury. HOW
ever. the bey was unknown and all clews seeheu
lacking, so that the affair was soon fergoueh oS
the public. The case was, however, reePepeu
list week when two women came TO the Lohs
Branch Morgue and proved that the boy was their
brother. His name was George VIII, ana ne
bearded at No. l5S East Eighty-seventh-st. lie
was a baker by trade, and had not been IN TINS
country long. The popularity surrounding the
case and the verdict is enhanced on investiga-
ton. and the result OF The Tribune's inquiries
is given herewith. A. Erickson, who is on his
mettle on account of the 1ippant way in which
his testimony was received by the Long Branch
officials gave valuable aid in the investigation, to-
gether with his brother-in-law, ". II. Duboise,
of No 74O Lafayette-ave, Brooklyn.
On Sunday night, August 49, at about half
mast o'clock, a Swedish fisherman named
Krustean Jorgeon Wincler Hansen employed ~
John Gsslxn x Co., walked along the strip OF
beach at the foot of the blulI about half mile
north Of the iron pier at Long Branch. One of
Gaskin e. Co.'S fishing boats, a large chnker-
built surfboat, which is used by the fishermen
employed by the firm to raise the pound-nets
which are set at short distance from the shore,
was hauled up close TO the foot OF the blum, which
is about fifteen feet high at that point. IL was
fastened TO a stake on the top of the bank by
means Of rope running through pulley block.
The rail which runs along the edge of the blum is
here broken by an inclined way leading to the
beach, which is used by the fishermen for haul
ing up their catch.
When the Swede got TO the boat he was
startled bv seeing human body partly sus-
pended by thin string, which was fastened TO
the rope bodina tle Lat. 1t was that OF boy
about sixteen years old. The string so long
that the body almost lay en- the beach. Had the
boy merely raised himself TO his knees be could
not possibly have strangled. Tie body was at
once cut loose and was hurried to the Office of
Mr.. Bearmore the undertaken, who also keeps the
Morgue at Long Branch. The BODY was still
warm when it was brought there. and DR.. :. w.
TAYLOR who lad been hastily summoned tore
open the clothes and worked hard for a long while
irving to bring the lad back to life. But all his
efforts proved vain, and at last he had 10 give
up, and acknowledge that the boy was dead
Who he was, or when he had arrived at Long
Branch, no one knew lie was dressed in a suit
of dark plaid and in his pockets were 81 so, and
q piece of the same sitting with which he had
been strangled. There was also brown plaid
pocket handkerchief, with blue border, marked
sJ. W."
On Tuesday, August 1s, an inquest was held by
Coroner Van Dyke, and the verdict of the Cor
oners jury was that the boy had committed suicide
nu.
apparently the only for this verdict
The many reasons which would naturally suggest
themselves to almost any thoughtful men evi-
IDENTIFY did not appeal TO this jury the coroner,
the captain of police. They seem 70 attach
little weight 10 the consideration that only rarely
do boys kill themselves, that if he had been
abnormally constituted so deeply troubled as
TO resort to suicide, it would appear the simplest
thing for the boy TO have thrown himself into the
sea, which was only few yards from, where his
body found.
But acknowledging that he intended to commit
suicide, and also that he proposed to achieve his
end by hanging himself, it seems utterly incredible
that he should have done il in such painful and
lingering way as he used if the theory of suicide
were accepted. Tie rope which held the boat, as
explained, was stretched from the beach TO the
bluff. The string used was a thin piece of iute
twine, doubled and lnOtted, and noosed around
the boys neck He could not have passed under
the rope without stopping. Now adding the
string, it brought him so near to the ground that
he could only end his life by deliberately rest
ing his entire weight on the string until the
strain strangled him, The position in which he
was found was with his legs stretched out behind
him
If these facts had been the only ones TO be
considered, they should have been more than
enough to make the police force at Long Branch
hesitate, at least, before arriving at the time
worn and labor-saving conclusion that the boy
had committed suicide But there was something
else TO consider, something strongly indicative
OF the fact that murder had been
committed, that it is simply astonishing
10 any person of cOmmon-Sense that apparently
no attention paid TO it; in fact, it seems as
II 1t had been for some reason or other, con-
veniently ignored This was the positive state
ment OF four trustworthy witnesses TO the effect
that the boy had been seen by them only three
hours before he was found dead, in company with
another person, who has aever been seen or
hearl of since What difference did this evidence
make to the officials at Long Branch? Apparently
none. The four witnesses say that they were
"pooh-pOohed. They were not asked to testify
at the inquest, and the machinery of Long Branch
expensive verdict of suicide the boy was buried,
ana that, il was supposed ended the affair.
Another New-Jersey mystery was added to the
many which have remained unsolved, and in time
oohVlon would have covered the case had it not
been for new and unexpected developments
oh thursday, September 10, there came TO
Long branch TWO young German girls One was
Hannah VIII, of No. 10 Market-st, Newark. n. J..
and The other was Mary Will of No. 347 War
ren-st., Newark. They went to the Morgue and
said their brother, George VIII, had been missing
since August l6 They not only minutely de
scnbed the clothes he had worn, even 10 a cheap
scarfpln which the boy had in his tie, but also
produced photograph which was Immediately
recognized by the undertaken. Bearmore as being
that Of the dead boy. The Identification was COM
plete without the shadow Of doubt Hannah
Will had read the account Of the finding of an
known boy, and the description was so much like
that of her brother that she became uneasy. She