Waterbury evening Democrat. [volume] (Waterbury, Conn.) 1887-1895, 1891-05-27
SUSPECT FOUL PLAY
Four Men Thought to Have Been
Killed by Fishermen.
THEIR BODIES BADLY BRUISED,
Ths7 May Have Been Drowned, but the
Newark Police Are Investigating.

They Have Discovered that There Was a
Fight ON the Fishing Gounds--The Coro-
ner to Disinter the Bodies and Hold an
Autopsy The Suspected Fishermen Re-
fuse to Talk About the Case.
NEWARK, N. j., May 27.-The police
are disturbed over the new and startling
developments in the recent drowning of
four men off the dixie half mile south of
Newark Bay on the HackensackeR iver.
1t is supposed that the boat in which the
men were fishing accidentally upset, and
the darkness and fog prevented them
from seeing the shore, but now a relative
of one them claims that they were at
tackled by fishermen, on whose grounds
their boat had fioated, and lost their
lives in the fight which ensued.
The victims were Harry Gasser, his
brother Jacob, Charles Harengberg, a
brother-in-law of the Gassers, and Joseph
Fuss. The quartet got a boat at Krol1's
boathouse, intending to spend the night
fishing in the Hackensack. They were all
sober.
The next morning their boat was
found bottom side up floating down
stream, and when a fisherman pulled up
his nets in the morning the body of one
of the men was found fast in the meshes.
It proved to be that of Harry Gasser.
Fuss body was washed ashore near the
same place. Then the search began for
Nuremberg and Jacob Gasser. Their. bodies
were fished up in big nets, with hundreds
of fish wriggling around them.
When the relatives of the men We're
notified, George Wagner and William
Nuremberg went to Bayonne to make ar
rangements for the removal of the bod
les. They noticed that the bodies of
Gasser and Nuremberg were considerably
bruised about the head. The Commissions
appeared to have been made with pike
poles or some sharp-pointed instrument.
and the gashes looked as if they might
have been made with a club.
Rumors of Battle.
The fishermen argued that all these
marks were made while the bodies lay in
the water, or in falling out of the boats
their heads might have come in contact
with the side of it. At first the heart
broken relatives took this view of the
situation, but when they heard rumors
of a fierce battle which the fishermen
who owned the nets in that quarter had
a week previous with some trespassers,
they were inclined to be suspicious. AZ
ter the funeral the families talked the
matter over and decided to make known
their suspicion of foul play to the author
tiles. An investigation was begun at
once, which thus far has revealed enough
to satisfy the police that there was fight
that night on the fishing grounds, but
which of the numerous fishermen were
concerned in it they have not yet discov-
cred.
The Bodies to be Dislnterrcd.
William Harrenberg, representing the
relatives, is fully convinced that there
are good grounds for suspecting foul
play, and in order to proceed in an intel
ligenL manner the coroner will have the
bodies disinterred and hold an autopsy
which will probably throw some light
on the manner in which the wounds
were received.
The fishermen around the fishing
grounds were noticeably scarce and those
present refused to talk about the
case. One of them admitted that they
| were very much troubled with parties
who insisted upon fishing upon their
grounds, and boldly stated that there
was ''no law in the land that would inter
erty."
The sudden taking off of the four ex
cursionists leaves four widows and II
children without means of support. The
men all worked in the Domestic Sewing
Machine factory, and the other employees
are taking up a fund for the temporary
maintenance of the bereaved families
| Nuremberg was a Mason, and the lodge
| to which he belonged will do all they car
to assist the police in discovering the