The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1893-04-29
QUEER STORIES, THESE.
New Facts in Relation to the His
tory of a Well discussed
Family.
special to The Jeraeu cltu Me,ps.

special 10 rue Jersey CITY NelcS.
TRENTON, April 20, 1s93.-As the days go
by and people have an opportunity to
digest the testimony in the Sham case
and the circumstances surrounding tn e
untimely death of John Sham, aud the
very marvellous story that is told and re-
fterated about the way in which the
mutilation of the dead body of the young
man was accomplished, they becom g
more and more convinced that there is q
dark secret somewhere, yet concealed,
that Is fully known TO the family of the
dead boy.
New facts relating to the history are
cropping out, which throw some side
lights upon the history of the family that
is now more discussed than any other
family in this section of the country.
THEY DIE QUEERLY.
Mrs. Shann was a B%osenbury, her
father being an old school teacher, who
then married an ola gentleman, named
William Wyckof, who also. after a few
years, when his ability to work mad passed,
died quite suddenly, too. ThaS is a pc
culiarity of the male members of the
family, they all die suddenly.
Fred Sham. the husband OF the present
Mrs. Shaun. died last fall, under such
circumstances that there are men In
Princeton who did not hesitate co say
that he was poisoned. Some time pre-
vious to his death he told a friend that
the family would sometimes hold him
down and try to force medicine in mis-
mouth. He also told that at the time the
Gus was on fire last July, they got him
stupidity drunk and put him In the attic
shortly before the fire broke out. A
policy on his life for $1,000 is assigned as
the reason why it Was SO desirable to get
him out OF the way.
In the earlier days, when the Shanns
Kept the store on the corner of Wibher-
spoon and jackson streets, they got finan-
clal aid from u former citizen of Prince
ton, who succutnbed to the charms OF
Mrs. Sham, and told OF Que instance
when he paid her $500 in cash as a sort OF
blackmail. Those who know say that it
cost him more than 81. 500 to release him
self from the hold she had on him.
MONEY BEHIND IT.
Previous to he fire at the house last
July, il was a two-story and an attic
structure, but the 81, 800 received on the
insurance enabled them to put the third
story on aud introduce other modern I'M
provements of comfort aud convenience.
A singular feature is. that in all the
instances of sudden death, fire, ETC..
there is some considerable sum of
money back of it which comes to the
family. Parents often get their lives in
sured for the benefit of their children,
but it is not very generally the habit for
children, particularly grown up chill
dren. to take out policies on their lives
for the benefit of their parents, especially
when they have wives and children Of
their own
Tue wife of one of the sons. a brother
of John, died under peculiar circum-
stances a year or two ago, and 1t is an
opeu secret that the only reason why he
was cot indicted for being the cause of
her death was a trade off In the Grand
Jury, by whicn he and another party
eacn escaped Indictment. 1t is not
claimed that the stories have anything
to do with the present case. but they do
go to show the estimation in which the
family are held where they are best
En0wn-