The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1893-05-18

Is one OF II very QueereSb III lHe gill
mails of crime. The only prospect OF
its solution, too, is in the arrest OF one
or both of the condemned murderers
alive, If they are alive.
Here is, in the first place, one big
question: Are the bodies found in the
river really those of Roll and Pallis-
ter or is the discovery a huge fake
Whichever way you solve this first
question in your mind, you are CON-
fronted with a new crop of unanswer-
able conundrums- Take the fake
theory first:
If the bodies are what crooks call a
ssplant," vino is responsible for it.
Did the prison authorities derise this
plan to satisfy the public, stop discus
sion and cover up their W inability
to recapture the escaped menu If this
is the solution, why did they shoot
bullets into the bodies which they Sc
cured. presumably. from some pur-
veyor to medical students or from the
prison graveyard? At least, why did
they shoot bullets into both Why
should they introduce complications
into the case which were bound to
give it new and acute interest
Almost the same questions arise ii
we accept the theory that the friends
of the escaping men provided" two
bodies which they dressed up in their
clothes and dropped into the river to
deceive the prison authorities, the
police and the public into the idea
that the men were dead, and thus
stop pursuit. Why should they have
fired bullets into both of the corpses,
aud thus run the risk of having the
Identification doubted
This train of thought leads to a
horrible solution of the mystery. Is
it possible that Rohl and Paliis-
ter themselves Or that their
confederates outside deliberately
murdered two men having q general
resemblance to the escapers, dressed
them in the escaped mems garb, and
after waiting long enough to make
absolute Identification impossible on
account of decay. calmly planted"
them 10 the river. to be found by the
first conner and end the whole episode.
This CHASTITY theory, we confess, stag
gers one. by its atrocity, and yet q
careful consideration will show that
it comes nearest to fitting all the un-
questionable facts.
identified. That is nothing. Those
who have studied the history of mis-
taken identifications, especially OF
dead bodies, will take no stock in any
recognition of these disigured corpses.
That attributed to Palister was SO
decayed that the epidermis had all
worn off the face; the doctors could
not tell ON that account whether it
he'd been burned with powder when
the bullet was fred into the head.
Yet we are, told, the mans
mother identified him at once. We
do not mean to. discredit her sincerity.
but Just recall the Tichborne case.
Lady Tichborne identified the claim
ant as her son, and yet the courts of
England, after an exhaustive inquiry.
decided that she was mistaken. Yet
he was alive. The, lawyers of the two.
men also gave a general opinion as TO-
the identity of the bodies, but OBJ
vionsly their evidence il. of small mo-
ment That of policemen and prison
officials is absolutely worthless. We
grant that the prison clothes and
Hulse's pistol were found on the
bodies, but we have seen that there
were more ways than n by which
this might come to pass.
The moment we accept the identi-
fcation of the bodies. as. correct, we
are involved in a hopeless tangle OF
incredibilities, That men who. had
just effected such q desperate escape
from death should agree to mutual
suicide, OF. that either one Of them,
even after killing the other, should
kill himself, is a wild monstrosity.
We have from the keepers and the
other tenants of the dead house, :
many quotations from their talk be-
fore going away. Every word shows
that the love of life was strong ia
them. Fhey were striving Tor life,
and they were determined to struggle
for it to the last extremity. II is sim
ply the widest nonsense to bring
the element Of suicide into the solqT
tion ia any shape on form,
Then. II these bodies are the re-
mains Of Roll and PaIlister, bow. did
they die2 Take fer q Wpeoment the
theory Of e quarrel and a slmultape-
Gus discharge Of their revolvers-lt
won't de. The wound Of Rohl is ip
the back Of his head, and the pistol
found on Pallister had not been dis
charged. Besides this leaves unac-
counted for the fracture of Rohl's
skull, WHICH, the doctors say, was N
1icted during life apd was bound 70
cause instant Inconsistencies One
of the theories broached is that E 9ol
- L.a ~r+oJ An poliicfar in o. Scuf-