The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1893-10-13
CHARGES BLACKMAIL
Mrs. Sandau Accuses Her
Husband and Frank
Shielded.
PUTUP JOB ON WEALTHY MIR. MERRITT
To Earn Money for Her Sick Hus-
band She Listened to the Temp
ter-Neyer Did Wrong.
PUTUP JOB ON WEALTHY MIR. MERRITT

Judge Lippincott will tomorrow listen
to an argument by Senator W. D. Daily
on an application for the Court to hear
testimony with a view OF ascertaining if
there is sufficient evidence against
James G. Merritt to warrant the continu-
alton of legal proceedings against him.
The readers OF THE JERSEY CITY NEWS
will remember that on October 3 Con-
stables Boland and Hogan arrested Mer-
rift at the West Shore station, In Hobo
ken, on a cHpias TO answer to Frederick
d. Sandal In a suit TO recover $20, 900 for
the alienation of the affections Of Sau-
dau's wife.
This case bids fair to develop a vas,
anon Of perjury somewhere, aud when
in the court for trial will show either a
determined effort to blackmaiI Merritt or
The wrongs that have been inflicted on an
Invalid husband. Both Mrs. s indian and
Merritt deny the allegations of Sandau
that they were intimate, and they claim
that Merritt was stated to be a victim of
blackmail by Sandan and his friend
Frank Shielded. The affidavit made
by Sandau under which the proceedings
were begun which led TO the arrest of
Merritt, sets fortn that he and Lille
Eudora Cole, both of Hoboken, were
married June 80, 1891, and that they
= IVY Ah0A OOPHOAAO0A
10, 1893. Since then.tne couple have been
sepal ated, but nave lived III Hoboken,
THE HUSBANDS STORY.
Sandau claims that his wife went to
the Putnam House, New York, with
Merritt gu July Z Of the present year.
and also on September Is. besides at
otner times between these Two dates. As
described by Sandan the visit to the Put
nam House Oh September Is was q de-
cidedly interesting one.
He learned that mis- wife and Merritt
were there. and. taking Frank Shielded
and William Hunt. q private detective,
with him, went To the hotel In search OF
them. SRndau ascertained that Merritt
and Mrs. Sandau had registered as Mr..
and Mrs. seymour, Cold Spring. N. Y,
and had been assigned TO room 269. The
husband and his companions sought this
room, aud while in the corridor leading
TO 1t they saw, 30 SaDdau claims, Merritt
and Mrs. Sand au leave the room. San>
dau became so excited at this that he
shouted to Merritt Us he made Il rush at
hlin:-
! You rascal, you ~scouudrei. you mod
ern ldgo, you worse than a traitor, had |
your Wretched carcass u west at this
present moment | would blow your head
off,"
Sandau swears he used just this Lam
| guage. but some people do not believe 1t.
They say That an irate husband would
have talked differently and that the
speech. il made at all, was a carefully
prepared one. This speech the injured
husband says was heard by an elevator
boy. d chAmbermaid, james Brown, a
guest Of the hotel. and Hunt the Getec-
tive. Sandau adds thas when Els wife
heard bis reproaches she cried, and turn
Ing to Merritt, sobbed:-
"1t's all out now, anu Pll lose my In
%surance," naming Il So. 600 insurance pol
icy that she held on Sandau's life.
Merritt reassured her and the party with
ont further words separated. Mrs,
Sandau went to her home on Washington
Terrace. HobokeD, ana Merritt returned
to mis- family at Highland Falls, N. Y.
II WIFE TELLS HER TALE.
The story that Mrs. Sandau tells is
very much different. She said that for a
long time her husband has been ill from
a nervous affection about the head, and
that she had supported him, To do his
she had been compelled to pawn iewelry
and other articles fiom time to time.
While driven almost frantic by her i'm
poverished condition. aud expecting
| daily to be thrown out on the street by
the landlord. she was prepared to do
almost anything to gain money for her.
self and her husband. While IN this ulen-
tai condition. she says Frank Shielded.
husbands, called on her. After a social
chat in which he expressed much SYM
pathy for the womRn's poverty aud
prospects. Shielded. so Mrs. Sandau says,
told her that he knew a rich old fellow
who lived In Highland Falls, who would
be glad to render her financial aid.
You are only twenty-seven years DID,"
said the tempter, land are very good
looking. Merritt is about fifty, but he is
a slave to q handsome woman. Ii you
will consent to be his friend. you can
give your husband d home filed with all
the necessities. he requires"
Mrs. Sapdau says that when Scheidei
first made this proposition to her she felt
like throwing him out OF ths house, but
that he assured her that what be said
WAS for her good and chat she knew that
he. a bosom friend of her husband, would
not advance it. if he did not waut to
assist her. He ~ins1nuatsl that the hus-
band need not know anything about the
affair aud finally, Mrs. Sandar says. II
consented to meet Mr.. Merritt at the
Putnam House on September Is. That
was the first time that l ever met him."
She says that Shielded introduced her to
Merritt when they met and that Merritt
secured roo N No $50.
DIDN'T ENTER THE ROOM.
but / never went into the room
with him." abe says. "We stood outside
of the door. talking. hesitated aoout
keeping my promise. aud while we
talked my husband and the other people
G6hlC buCAp 0bo M4 duSh0u0 uGEdu w
abuse Mr.. Merritt. / had don nothing
criminal. bnt had my husband not inter-
rupted me | might have been tempted"
Mrs. Sandau, in telling her story, says |
further that she is now convinced thai
Scheidel and her husband had deliber- |
ately consp1red 10 blackmail Merr iGt, |
and that she had been made, innocently,
the tool of the conspirators. She says
that she became more thorou ghly coy
vinced OF this fact, when, after tue s cen
ut The hotel, Scheidel visited her and
epdeayored 10 persuade her to demand
IS, 900 hush money from Merritt, aud to
threaten him with legal proceedings if
he did not give her the money. Mrs.
Sandau indignantly refused to accept
the vile propo ,ition, she says. aud
Scheidel left the house in a very angry
mood.
When convinced that she would not aid
the couspirat rs in their black railing
scheme. Sandau BIZ gan the sui for the
ii enation OF his wlf " affections, aud
caused Merritt to be arrested aud lodged
in he County Jail III default OF $1,000
bail.
WANTED MoNEY.
Mrs. Sardau says thai her husband did
this hoping thereby to force Merritt to
COMPROMISE by paving him a large sum
OF money. Merritt Is well known in
Orapgs county, N. Y, and although his
character IS 10. the best in respect to
morality, he could easily furnish loSds
in any sum there, hut hers in another