The morning call., 1893-05-26
ANOTHER MURDER MYSTERY.

ANU TEX uOSDEN M . ENf.
Just a month ago the telegraph an
| nounced that two convicted murderers,
named Koehl and Pallser. had ESCAPED
from the penitentiary at Sing Sing, New
York, and were at large. Two guards tes-
| titled that the convcts had taken them by
surprise. overpowered them, and disarmed
them. The usual search failed to develop
a clew to the missing men. though boat
drifting bottom up in the Hudson led to
surmise that they had escaped in that d.
rection. few days afterward the body
of one of the men was found in the river; :;
the skull had been crushed in by blow
from a heavy instrument. and was per-
forated by bullet. Shortly afterward
the other man wa also found in the river,
and with pistol bullet in his head. In
his pocket was revolver, which he had
taken from the prison guard: all the cham
bers were loaded. The East is wrestling
with the puzzle, How comes it that these
two men Who were so near the shadow Of
the gallows make their escape only to
meet death so swiftly afterward?
A general idea prevails hat the two men
could not have escaped without the con-
nivance of theiI guards. One of them has
rich relations. who may have been willing
to ray a large sum of money to guard to
allow himself to be overpowered. Thus
far, theory can be built up without COM
ing into collision with the pOssbil ties.
But after the fugitives had got clear of the
prison grounds, whose interest was it TO
kill them? Those who did blow those
holes into the heads of Roehl and Palliser
must have known where to find them-in
other words, must have been privy TO
their escape. They must therefore have
been either the friends who furnished the
conyicts with money or the guards who let
them slip through their hands But II is
not conceivable that a man should help
convict to escape merely in order to kill
him after he had escaped; nor can we
reconcile with ordinary proba bility a
theory that guards VINO had violated their
duty would have attracted attention to
their derelcti0n by giving chase to the
fugitives in the open country, where they
were likely to meet persons who knew
them, and should have engaged in battle
with desperate men who, as they knew.
had the guards revolvers in their pockets.
When the first body was found it was
surmsGd that he had been killed by his
ish the chances of recapture. This seemed
pretty reasonable hypothesis. But when
the second body turned up that theory was
shaken. 1t Implied a duel between the
two men. in which each put bullet in the
head of the other, and one of the two fin
ished his antagonist by bastering him over
the head with an oar or fence rail. Hav-
ing done the deed, the murderer then sue
I, in Nd hot ,,
fell into the wateT-the scene of conflict
having been wharf at Sing Sing.
improbable as it appears, this theory
seems more plausible than any other which
has been suggested. 1t is almost incon-
ceivable that they could have been killed
by guards from the prison. If they had
been met, called to halt by outsiders and
shot on refusing TO obey the homicide
would have told lis story to the police next
day. No court could pronounce such kill
ing murder. Yet some ono must have
killed the dead men.
A writer of fiction might conceive a
dramatic scene to account for the facts
We may fancy that the two fugitives. hav-
ing made good their esrape, found them
selves on wharf at the rivers edge. By
the wharf lay boat, which they would
board and shove off. In the stream, they
would find that the oars had been safely
slowed in the boathouse. and that they
had to paddle with the thwarts. This
would aggravate tempers already wrought
up to vicinusness by the scramble to es-
cape. The night was dark and windy,
with snow squalls. These two men were
alone, covering in that boat, and wonder
ing what they would do when they reached
the Jersey shore. One of them had money,
the other none. A division would probably
he proposed. and would be likely to lead
TO quarrel, tight. One might naturally
strike the other a heavy blow with the
thwart he had in his hand. Then bo. h
would draw their pistols and fire smu-
taneously. each shot taxing effect in the
head. In the grapple the boat would be
upset, and in due time the two bodies
would be found floating in the river. This
is perhaps far-fetched hypothesis. but it
ismore easily reconciled with the facts than
any other which has seen the light. If it
is sound, :he world will never know more
| than it knows now about the fate of Roenl
] and PalIisar