The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1893-10-02
And lowed MONEY
Did Andrew Mcdonald Be-
come DiSheartened
and Suicide?
HIS COUSIN HIS SWEETHEART.
Former Boarding House Mistress
Wanted the Amount Due Her
The Finding OF the Body.
HIS COUSIN HIS SWEETHEART.

Whether Andrew Mcdonald, q book :
keeper employed iu Perlmutter's estab.
lishment. whose dead body was found
over a week ago floating in the North
River near the foot OF Fourteenth street.
New York, committed suicide. was
accidentally drowned or met with foul
play, will probably never be definitely
known.
When the body was found it had been
in the water almost a week. and was
80 badly ~decomposed it was impossible to
detect marks of violence except such as
the body might have. received while
n1ating around for days In the North
River. The scalp was partially torn
away and the head and face and other
parts of the body otherwise distgured.
The clothing and an injured joint of the
left elbow brought about by an accident
when a child. which made the left arm
slightly shorter than the right. led to his
Identification.
The theory of suicide is the one gsuer-
ally accepted by those acquainted with
his private affairs.
HIS ACCOUNTS ALL RIGHT.
1t is known that he exhibited signs Of
worriment for some days before his dis
appearance. Ii Is known that he was
threatened with litigation Of soma sort
because OF an unpaid board bill OF sew
eral hundred dollars, which matter had
been placed In the hands of a firm of
lawyers. How such q bill could be con-
tracted. II contracted at all. will be ex~
planned a little further on, II is known
that he was addicted to the habit of
playing cards for money, but this appears
to have been his principal vice. Mr..
Perlmutter. with whom he was last
employed, told a reporter for THE NEWS,
Saturday night, that Mcdonald had been
in his employ for q number of months.
Since his disappearance. two weeks z
last Thursday, his books had been ex-
amined and found straight as u die. Mr..
Perlmutter said his Department. was
exemplary In every respect. He said u
womau called on Mcdonald several times
ana tnreAtensd to sue him Tor a board
bill. Tbis seemed to worry Mcdonald a
great deal.
LOVED HIS COUSIN.
1t Is known that for several years at
least McDonald's department towards d
certain estimable young woman, q second
cousin by the way. VINO now lives in
West Fourteenth street. New York, was
such that he desired to marry her, and,
so far as could be ascsrtained, the only
obstacle to the match was his own hest
tation to take the matrimonial step with
no prospect before him. but hat of earn
ing a very moderate salary.
Mcdonald for the past eight or nine
months occupied apartments without
board in the home of William Biruey,
NO. $50 Grove street. It is within q
stones throw of the Park House. He
was at one time a member OF the No
Laughlin Association and a frequent
visitor at the McLaughlins' headquar-
tors. He has not been ssen around there
for several months.
HIS DISAPPEARANCE.
Mrs. William Birney was seen by a
reporter of The NEWS on SATURDAY. night.
When asked IL she could tell the reporter
what she knew ABOUT Mod DnaId's disao-
pearance and the Identification of mis-
body. reluctantly said in substance:
"He has been occupying apartments IN
this house for n number of months. Hs
seemed to be a perfect gentleman. We
all liked him. l do not know much
about his troubles and would prefer TO
say nothing about his disappearance. I
believe he asked Mr.. Perlmutter for a
few hours leave Tuesday afternoon about
two weeks ago. He remained at home
that evening and most OF the following
dav. saw him once or twice, and he
said he was not feeling we'll that day.
About nine o'clock In the evening he left
his room. He left the light burning, as
though he Intended Co return iu u short
while. His watch, too. was found under
his pillow, and 1t woaId appear that he
took a notion to go out after having
begun preparations for retiring.
"When found he did not return next
day. nor the next. l wrote to a young
lady in New York, a relative Of his,
whom he visited regularly several times
a week, and asked her IL she knew any
thing concerning the whereabouts of
Mcdonald. As soon as she rec eived the
lpttQP Qha ga ma nWar Inn m aniara1u RI
lake further inquiries. IL was the
Saturday night following the Wednesday
OF his disappearance. She aud | Il the
young man who came over with her went
to Perlmutter's and the station house in
Seventh street In quest of Information,
woman was grief stricken. Several days
later l read in the New York World
about the finding of q body in the River
near the foot Of Fourteenth street. /
Immediately went over TO the morgue,
but the body was SO decomposed | could
not identify it. then went up to see the
young lady in Fourteenth street. To-
fed the body by a popularity of the
elbow joint of the left arm, which |
understand was the result of an accident
that befell tho poor fellow When a child"
THE WOMAN WHO BOUNDED HIM.
McDouald was so we'll known in the
e AUOIuOJu EAob L N1o EASILY dSC6E-
tanned that he had previously boarded
with Mrs. Jane O'Donneil, who for years
has kept a large and well known board
ing house OF Pavonta avenue, just below
Henderson street. She is a motherly
looking woman, aud during the reporters
interview, to which she somewhat re.
l~uctantly consented, mingled kind words
with reproaches concerning her treat.
ment by Mcdonald. In part she saId:--
cit Is true that Andrew owed me a big
His father wal from Scotland. AS his
house for him.. ! also in a certain sense
very we'll to do. Andrew was u child
Sometime afterwards l married and
came to this country. That was about
eight or nine years ago. Misfortune
eral years ago Andrew came to his
almost the same as il he had been my
good style and had been given a good
curing work aud did nothing for almost
a year. When he did secure work he
made no effort to pay me what had been
year and a half. His second cousin also
dressmaker, was thrifty and industrious.
Andrew and she thought " great deal Of
each other. ! advised andrew to marry. He
decided I had done all and more
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