Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1891-12-16
HIS MOTHER
Identifies the Head of NOrcrOSS, the
Bomb ThrOWer.
KISSED THE CHASTITY FOREHEAD.
A Sad Scene Witnessed in the Morgue at New
York When the Young Mans Aged Parents
Call to Identify the Only Part Of the
Poor Fellow That Remains.

New YORK, December 15.-Never be-
fore in the history Of the Morgue has
there been as sad a scene as was wit
messed there at an early hour this morn
ing.
At one o'clock the parents Of Henry
L. Norcross, the Boston note broker,
identified the bomb thrower's head as
that of their son.
Coroner MESSENGER had charge OF the
Identification and accepted it as COM
plete. Previous to the visit to the
Morgue the Coroner took the sworn
statements of the bomb-thrower's pa
rents, and they will be used at the in
quest, which will begin as soon as an
expert Jury can be summoned.
Mr.. and Mrs. James Z. Norcross ar
rived here from Boston at nine o'clock
last night and went to the Grand
Union Hotel. A reporter accompanied
them from their home at Somerville,
and he notified Coroner Messemer of
their arrival. The Coroner went at
once to the hotel and Mrs. Norcross re-
ceived him with phenomenal calmness.
She expressed wish to visit the morgue
as soon as possible and the Coroner
made haste to take her statement and
that OF her husband. A Mr.. Whiting,
an old friend of the family, accom-
panied the aged couple, and the three
got in carriage with the Coroner and
arrived at the morgue shortly after one
o'clock.
Warden O'Rourke and Clerk Rockets
hastily arranged the head so as to shock
the parents as little as possible. A
cloth was placed around the neck, and
Mrs. Norcross and the gentlemen
were ushered into the warden's private
Office. Mrs. Norcross was first shown
the head. She identified it in presence
of Coroner Messemer, and said posi-
lively:
This is my darling boy. Yes, yes,
yes; poor Henry, poor Henry. My
poor, darling boy; he never meant to do
any harm. He surely did not mean to
do wrong. My own, my poor Henry.
Yes, yes; these are his teeth. / know
them. / remember those under teeth
and how proud he was of them. And
that tooth there; 1 remember how it
was separated. Yes, and his ears-how
often have l looked at them. And re
member his hair. That is just the way
he used to part it,"
At this point Coroner Messemer asked
the mother II she positively identified
the head. The sorrowing woman knelt
down on the hard floor Of the hospital
Office and laid her head upon the fore
head of her dead son. She was about
to kiss the forehead when Mr.. Whiting
gently drew her back. She turned on
him and said fercely: 81 wish had
come here alone. / must kiss my boy"
The filings of the teeth were then ex-
amined, and were found to tally exactly
with the description furnished by DR..
Wells, the dead mans dentist.
This Identification by Mrs. Norcross
makes it positive that the man who
threw the bomb was Henry L. Norcross.
With mothers instinct she recognized
one who had been the idol of her heart,
and, losing sight ef the hideousness and
responsiveness of the head in its present
condition, and seeing only In IL the out
lines of one dearly beloved, she pressed
her lips to the forehead OF the dead
man. None but the mother could have
done that. Mr.. Norcross also closely
examined the head and fully identified
it as that of his son.
Mrs. Norcross' sworn statement, made
to Coroner Messemer in the Grand
Union Hotel, at midnight, is as fol-
lows:
"a letter was found in the safe In his
Office and delivered to me. l cannot
give the contents OF the letter as it is
destroyed. 1t was written in black ink
on plain, unruled paper, very wide. 1t
was not dated. 1t began: Dear Moth
er, am going to New York to-day to
get $1,000 600. II successful / shall re-
turn. II not. shall kill myself He
signed his name in full, Henry NJ. Nor
cross There was another letter, ad-
dressed in his own handwriting, TO Mrs.
James Z. Norcross, personal
''The first letter was destroyed be-
cause he said he wanted no one else to
know its contents. We read it several
times together, and my husband. and
then / put it on the Goals myself. /
felt that was the disposition he wanted
made of IL. / was so shocked | could
not tell how long / would live. The
second letter have here. 1t reads:
I" n. L. Norcross, Note Broker, No.
12 Pearl street, Room Z, Boston: II
should be s, because he changed his
room.
"DEAR MoTHER-You will find the
combination Of my safe at home under
the bureau and under the carpet in my
room. HENRY.
"'P. S.-Open the safe and read the
letter to you, without the presence OF
any one, II possible
"The letter was written In the first
person-every word of it. He had no
satchel when he left home. / never
saw the bag they say he had. He said
to me when he left: Il am going away
for few days, and will not be back be-
fore Saturday night, probably he did
not say where he was going. There
was nothing peculiar In his manner.
He seemed quite thoughtful. He had
been thoughtful for the last six months,
though Ct times he was as jolly as ever.
He and l used TO have frolic when he
came down to breakfast nearly every
morning. In bis letter he did not say
why he wanted the $1,000 ,000."
Sunk ON the Reef