The Jersey City news., 1892-06-13
Harry Schliff, a Lehigf
Valley Brakeman, Iden-
titled at Perth
Amboy.
THE BLOOD STAINED KNIFE.
Every Indication of a Premedi-
tated Murder With Revenge
as Its Motive.
Special to the Jersey city Nevs.

PERTH AMBoY, June 13. 1S92.-The po-
| lice of this city have arrested Harry
| ScbIiff. Lehigh Valley Railroad brake
man, whom they have had under survil-
lance for three days for the supposed COM
Dlicity in the murder of Miss Herta Mary
Anderson last Wednesday night.
Schliff, who is about twenty-one years
| of age. has been positively identified by
night watchman Schultz as one of the
young men whom he saw on the railroad
track about the time of the murder.
Schliff will be examined this after
noon. Little by little. and with
exasperating slowness, fragmentary
facts of Importance are coming TO
the surface to throw light on the mys-
terry. Today the officials of MiddleseX
county actively engaged on the case are
in possession of two late valuable and i'm
portant bits of evidence.
THE KNIFE.
I1 is now known that Herta Mary An
derson was dead before her throat
was cut, bullet from a 32-cali-
bre revolver having been fred into
instant death. Next, the authorities pos
.sess the knife which the assassins, for
| there were certainly two. drew across her
fair throat after the bullet had done its
fatal work.
County Physician Donohue Is entitled
to the credit of discovering at the last
hour the most essential fact in any case
of murder-the exact cause of death. He
says the bullet wound was disclosed in the
autopsy Fridaythough he distinctly stated
that there were no bruises other than
the mangled throat on the girls body. IT
was then that he limited at discoveries
that might sole the mystery.
n'ha fndiuoy of the hlo0dv kpifn ic tho
newest development up to date. The
weapon was picked up by two lads yes
terday in the heavy growth of Hines
Woods. not more than eighty yards from
the scene of the murder. The young men
are Augustine Ejacquot and Louis White
of Sewaren.
The lads we've looking around the
woods from curiosity Sunday. when they
found round, smooth piece of wood
sticking out of the ground, and it proved
to be the handle of a steel bladed knife,
ten inches long, with the blade ground
down to point OF razorlike sharpness.
Blood stains were found on the blade,
and at the shank, where the blade joins
the handle, were thick clots of blood.
The police secured the important clue
at once and guard it jealousy from all
eyes.
FERMENTATION PROVEN.
That the girls death was case of pre-
meditated murder, deliberately conceived
and carrie out with extraordinary
boldness. is now apparent to everyone
who has followed the details.
Herta Mary Anderson. a buxom,
pretty Danish girl, only a month over
sixteen years old. worked as domestic
in eastman w. Boynton's family in
Sewaren. Her parents lived on Hall ave-
nue., Perth Amboy, which was distant
two and half miles from Mr.. Boynton's
house. Herta Mary always walked from
Sewaren after visiting her mother, and
she used to 60 gen. on the va tracks Of Of
afternoon. June s, Mary, as she chose to
call herself, left her mothers home at
430 O'Clock to return to Boynton's. She
made two brief calls in the town before
reaching the tracks, on which she was
first seen by John Harburock at 500
o'clock. She was also seen walking the
tracks by Signal Operator Brobst, who
occupies a tower less than half mile
from the scene OF the murder, and by
night watchman, Henry Schultz, as late
as $40. The time now fixed for the dis
coyery Of her body by Track Walker
shoot shooting V and Cutting of " the "t throat as
were done in ten minutes. Plenty of
evidence Is at hand that the murderers
were seen prior and subsequent to the
crime. AT least three persons, the boys
Johnny Beiser and Clements Epner and
NlRlG w dlCnLu man fcCuulZ saw TWO young
men in the immediate vicinity OF the
scene OF the tragedy and about the time
of the murder.
The boys were chased along the rail
road track by one of the men, who bran
dished big knife, now believed to be the
weapon in the hands of Prosecutor Robert
Adrain Of New Brunswick.
REVENGE THE MOTIVE.
A sensible review Of all the circum-
stances now in evidence brings forward
the conclusion that the motive for this
tragedy was revenge. Had IL been the
work OF traInps who attempted criminal
assault on the girl, the one single slash
ing of the throat would have sufficed
them in silencing their victim.
The question resolves itself into this
Who was so well acquainted with the girl
and her habits in making the railroad her
thorougnfare between her employers
home and that Of her parents, as TO be
able to time her arrival at Illness
woods so accurately. No better place
could have been chosen tor murder than
this grove, SO thickly studded with trees
and dense shru bberY, but who should
desire such 4endish revengef
Mary Anderson had suitor In AleXan-
der Petersen, who worked on the Lehigh
Valley Railroad as a brakeman no to
about the middle Of last winter when an
accident on the road incapacitated
him. He was tenderly nursed by
his, then accepted sweetheart. pret ty
Mary, who, when he recovered. gave him
his dismissal, offering. 1t is said. only the
excuse that she would not marry Grip
pie.
Alex Peterson was sorely grieved over
his rejection, and In March left
Perth Amboy for the West. His
parents live in a big brick house on
Smith street hear Eagleswood. They have
declared positively that Alex has not been
T.. A L,.,v s,;,N LEE
three persons have tod the police that
they saw Paterson in the neighborhood