Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-02-22
SURELY A MURDER,
That Much Of tie Mystery Of
the Death Of Sarah joyce
Is Penetrated.
DISCOVERY OF A L0CKET
Which Detectives Are Relying Upon
as an Important Clew.
SECRET CONCEALED In A SHAWL.
Three More CclOred Men Under Arrest,
Mainly on Suspicion.
DISCOVERY OF A LOCKET
SECRET CONCEALED IN A SHAWL.
TIE FUNERAL OF THE GIRL VICTIM

the suspicion is not strong. 1t was learned
yesterday that the police have purposely
pretended to disbelieve the murder theory
advanced by Coroner Mcdowell The
officers have slight clews upon
which they have been working
industriouslv and their action in advancing
the accident theory has been evidently in
tended TO throw the murderer or murderers
of their guard.
There is now little doubt but that the
girl was murdered but by whom or for
what purpose is mystery upon which the
police are as much at sea as anyone else, de-
spite the secrecy of their actions.
The Discovery of q Locket.
The clews in possession of the Off
GERS consist of lace shawl and a
gold brooch or locket upon which are three
links. showing it to be an emblem of the
/ o. O. f. These articles were found near
where the girls body lay on Friday morn
ing. and it has been learned by the police
thar neither of them belonged to her
or were worn by her on the night
she LETT her sisters home to meet
death. Her sister, Mrs. Mckinley, is posi-
tive the girl never owned either article and
saws she would have known it if she had.
The locket is oval, about three-quarters
Of an inch IN length and a slide between the
outside halves is held in place at one end
bv a rivet The slide has a space for a
small photograph, but it contains lock of
light brown or blonde hair apparently that
OF a child from the fineness of its texture.
The lettering on the locket is in blue and
black enamel There is no inscription to
show its ownership
The lace shawl is round and about three
feet in diameter, and of about the appear
ance and texture of cheap lace curtain. 1t
may have been intended for table cover.
The figure in it is small and it seems to have
been used considerably, though it is not
torn.
The Search for the Owners.
Both these articles were found within
few feet of the body. The shawl was rolled
and crumpled up and soaked with the rain,
hut there was no blood upon 1t. The police
have vainlv endeavored to find an owner for
either the shawl or the locket, but thus far
without success. Inspector Whitehouse
and Detective Fitzgerald were out from
early yesterday morning until late last
evening.
When they returned, covered with mud
thew declared they had no information to
give out. though admitting they had been
searching for man in connection with this
mysterious case.
From another source it was learned that
they had been looking for a man who had
on Thursday night attended a wedding party
not far from where Sarah joyce met her
daath. He had passed along Sylvan ave-
me twice, and his clothing was spIashed
with mud when he reached the house where
The party was held.
All Believe 1t Is Murder.
Inspector Whitehouse and Detective
Fitzgerald. when pressed to the question,
reluctantly acknowledged their belief that
the girl had been murdered. They said
That when the body was first discovered
there had been found in the mud near it
prints Of the girls shoes and those of one
or two men, which Enthusiastically indicated
2 struggle There was also depression in
the soft clav which looked as if q man had
5alleH. In few hours after the first dis
coverv. however. these marks had all been
coliterated by the crowd which tramped
about the spot
It is supposed the girl resisted fiercelv
and bv reason of her strength threw her
assailant before she was subdued by the
blow which crushed her cheek and must
have felled her to the ground. One re-
markabie feature of the case is that there
were no marks upon her throat or BODY to
show where she had been seized by her muir
derer 1t is thought that if she had been
caught by the throat so soon before death
the post mortem change would have made
blue marks where the murderer's fingers
grasped her.
4 Fan Eighty Improbable.
A visit to the ground showed that it was
neTt TO impossible for the girl to have
fallen from the roadway down the hillside
10 where her body was found. While there
is a steep slope of u feet directly below the
road, there is a level stretch at that dis
tance and then Il stretch of rolling, uneven
ground between it and the little knoll
where she lay when found. A large num-
ber of people visited the place yesterday
and the general verdict was that the girl
had never fallen but must have been forced
down the hill
The colored men arrested earlv yestesday
morning by order of Inspector Whitehouse
were taken from their beds by Detectives
Fitzgerald and Sterck. They are Anthony
Johns, James Thornton and John Robinson.
Johns is proprietor OF the boarding house
where John Pulpus, the colored man ar
rested Friday, boards. Thornton is also
boarder, but Robinson lives on Neville
street and was spending the night at Johns
when arrested. The prisoners tell a straight
story apparently and tell it without
variation. Last night they were singing in
their cells at the Fourteenth ward station
as if they had no trouble on their minds.
Pulpus was silent, however, and did not
seem as light hearted as his companions
The prisoners were all last night given TO
understand why they were arrested, but all
protested that they knew nothing about the
case, and were willing TO have the most
searching investigation made.
The Views of the Coroner
Coroner Mcdowell said last night that he
would begin the inquest at 10 o'clock this
morning, but would go slow in the investi-
cation in order to allow the police all the
time necessary in gathering evidence
81 am firmly convinced that this poor
girl has been foully murdered" he said,
"but ! acknowledge there is deep mys-
1ery surrounding the entire case and the
officers have difficult task on their hands
10 establish The identity of the murderer.
il viii take time to dc it, arsl l will arrange
1he investigation and assist the officers all L
can. have much confidence in the pres
cnt Second district officers, and feel sure
they will fathom the case sooner or later"
The remains Of Sarah Joyce were inferred
yesterday in the Calvary Cemetery at Hazel
wood An immense throng of people at
tended the services at St. Stephens Church |
on Second avenue. Father Devlin delivered
4 touching sermon over the remains, paying
a high tribute TO the courage of the maiden
who had given her life in defense of ner
honor The church was crowded and the