The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1891-12-22
M'BRIDE UNDER FIRE.
Faherty Intimates Police Neglect in
the Lewis Case.

Again u CrOWQ ulleu Jne nalI III Autlclpd-
ton of seeing on the stand Mrs. Holf.
whose name has been so prominently
mentioned in connection with that of
Lewis and his terrible death. Again
Mrs. Hoff failed to materialize. Constable
O'Grady was dispatched to Mrs Hoff's
apartments in the Arlington Flats, ard
shortly afterward telephoned the Coroner
that Mrs. Hoff, her husband, and Mr..
Conover, Mrs. Hoff's brother. were not
to be found.
Several other witnesses were called. in
Guiding Mrs. Blakely, Mrs. ~Ingraham,
Charles Milton and Detective Mcbride.
none of whom responded except Mcbride.
The detective was closely questioned as
to why the police SO soon abandoned the
case. McBride's answer was in the
main that he, with Special Officer
Willard, of the Lehigh Valley Rail
road, had investigated the case
the morning after the occurrence,
and both were satisfied that Lewis, in at
tempting to hide somebody" fell from
the roof. perhaps received a shock from a
live electric wire near the coping over
which he may have attempted to pass
from the Academy roof to the Warren
street side of the Arlington fiat building.
He reported the result of his investiga-
ton to Superintendent Smith, who agreed
with him that the fall of Lewis was acci-
dental.
A CONGLoMERATE PAUL PRY
At the conclusion of last nights fnves-
tigation, Coroner Flaherty and his jury
visited the Arlington Flats In a body.
The HoH apartments were d~arkened, and
there was no response to repeated KNOCKS
at the door. The ~janitor, his wife and
soEs, and several of the occupants of
apartments on the same floor were closely
questioned as to whether they had seen
Mr.. or Mrs. Hoff or Mr.. Conover pass in
or out during the day. Non had noticed
particularly, but some thought they had
seen MIR. Hoff and Mr.. Conover sometime
during the day, but were not sure: Or.
Gray has not attended Mrs. Hoff during
the past week, but woman on the stair
way said Mrs. Hoff had been i'll for the
past few days, and had been waited upon
by several ladies, and q noise as though
some one walked across the floor of one
of the rooms of Mrs. Hoff's apartments
was heard in the janitor's rooms directly
beneath, about three quarters OF an nour
before the Coroner Il his jury called.
In his testimony last night Detective
ave fully his reasons for believ-
that Lewis fall FROM the roof was
While investigating the case
he went through all the balconies to see
il anyone could fall off unless in a strug-
gle. He surmised that Lewis caught hold
of the electric wire. but when questioned
by Juryman Bechtel AS to whether he had
If Lewis hands were burned, the
admitted not having seen the
body. The juryman had, and ne did not
notice any such marks on Lewis hands.
Mcbride was satisfied the wire alluded to
was a live que
But" asked Juryman Bechtel, lad
hitting it was a live one, do you suppose
the shock would have been sufficient to
hurl Lewis from the roof"
"Well, l don't know" answered the de-
II never caught hold of one to
the strength of such q shock"
The detective thought it probable that
Lewis went up on the roof to see II the
balconies were clear.
Coroner Faherty asked Mcbride II he.
q man of Lewis height, whose
legs must necessarily, according TO tine
laws Of anatomy. v been thirty-eignt
inches long. would find it necessary to
clench the wire in making the step across
the coping.
The detective thought it only natural
a man would do 80 In making such d
step.
In answer to the Coroner's question.
Mcbride admitted he had heard of a
blonde lady who lived in the flats and
who used to meet Lewis at the depot.
"Well, is 1t not the duty of a detective as
to 4 case like this to follow up all
clues" asked the Coroner.
well, you've subp9naed all the peo-
pie in the house, haven't your" asked the
detective.
"But isn't it the duty of the police to
ferret out such mysteries?"
II made my report to Superintendent
Another reason that Mcbride
gave for believing that Lewis fell from
the roof was the imprint of a heel on the
tin roof and scratches near the ledge of
the roof ~as-though Lewis, in falling.
at the ledge.
A SENSIBLE JURYMAN.
Juryman Bechtel Thought the heel
imprint too far away from the ledge to
attach any significance to it.
Detective Mcbride did not think
scratches on the wall opposite the third
balcony, which are thought to have been
made by Lewis's toes in his downward
flight to death indicated that he was
thrown from the balcony. Lewis'sweight.
two hundred II ten pounds. WAS too
great to have been thrown to the oppo-
site side by even two men. The detective
found LewiS's neck-tie and a piece of one
the Coroner, but the Coroner did not
want them. Yes, he had noticed that Il
piece was torn clean out of one OF
Lewis's cuffs.
The Coroner next took the detective to
ask for a Every peculiar assertion" he
hau MADE TO the euocU CnaG Cnerc were
people who would pay a large sum of
money to have the affair investigated
Mcbride explained that two men who
had been on the witness stand said they
would foot any expense to satisfy them
selves as to the solution of the mystery.
"How much?" again asked the Coroner,
.'has the Jersey City police force done to
help the Coroner through with this
casef"
"Al it conld do"
Drop it?"
II carried You over the ground and
gave you a list of all the witnesses to be
subr@aaed. If we thought there was
any mystery about the case we would
never have let up"
''There seems TO be something back of
this"
Nothing back of me-"
"How much have you done?"
az am now watching people who might
take a sudden notion to move out"
This reply seems to indicate that the
police have not yet entirely given up the
case.
MRS. H0FF IN THE COUNTRY.