The evening herald. [volume] (Shenandoah, Pa.) 1891-1966, 1892-12-07
ELLA NEWTON'S DEATH
No Clue Yet Found to the
Mount Vernon Mystery.
WAS IT MURDER OR SUICIDE ?

The Chief of Police Certain that Some
Man Tied the Anchor to the Girls
Waist, and Says He is on the Trail of the
Individual.
MOUNT VERNON, N. Y, Dec Did
Ella Newton tie a stone to her waist and
drown herself in East Chester creek, near
Mount Vernon? Or was she inveigled to
the lonely spot and thrown into the
water to drown? If the latter, who did
1t? These are the questions that have eX-
cited Mount Vernon folk from the time
the girls body, recovered from the shoal
water at Invermere, the inn by the creek,
was identified by her stepfather from New
York
The fact that she had run away from
an unhappy home points to the self-de-
struction theory. But the chief of po-
lice feels certain that some man tied the
anchor to her waist and threw her into
the water. He thinks that he knows the
man.
Death was caused by drowning alone
and the fact that the girl was inviolate
removes the most common cause for muir
der from the case.
The girls movem ents have been traced
only up to within four hours of her death.
She left New York city, starting from the
Grand Central depot, Monday morning,
reaching Mount Vernon at about 1890.
She went to James Kearn's tailor shop,
where she had been employed more than
year, and applied for a situation as
nurse. Kearn and his wife referred her to
Mrs, Meyers intelligence Office. Mrs.
Meyer sent her to Mrs. George Bard,
who said she would want nurse within
few days, and asked the girl to leave
her address.
Ella replied that she had no address in
Mount Vernon. Before going to Mrs
Bard's house Ella had called for the
second time upon the Kearns to ask them
the way to the address Mrs Meyer had
given her. She never returned. She
made a second visit to Mrs. Meyer, to
whom she reported failure to obtain the
situation.
That was the last seen Of her alive Mrs.
Meyer and her son as well as Mrs. Bard
and the Kearns are positive that on all of
her visits to them Ella was alone.
While Ella was wandering to and fro be-
tween Mrs. Bard's house, the tailor shop
and the employment agency, another girl
was diligently seeking her for the pur-
pose Of offering her a place as nurse to
the children of Mr.. and Mrs Anlach She
followed Ella to all these places, missing
her by a few minutes at each place.
That Ella Newton did not go out to East
Chester on the one horse, single track rail
road is almost certain. Jake Feenan, the
driver and conductor of the only car that
runs from Sixth street TO lvermere on the
Sound, Weber & Clough's hotel, does not
remember having seen her, and his passen-
gers are few enough for him to remember
them all.
The. environments of the place where
the body was found preclude the possi-
bility that it might have fioated thither
with the tide from up or down the stream.
If she committed suicide Ella must have
waded out thirty PAGES with 20 pounds
weight of stone tied about her waist and
deliberately drowned herself in water by
no means so high as her head. Sailor
Jack and the other boatmen living along
the creek agree that all the knots in the
rope were tied by a man long used to boats
or ships. The stones had undoubtedly
been used as anchors for a rowboat.