The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1894-11-21
CRIME IN STRANGLER'S ROW
GREATEST MURDER MYSTERY IN
RECENT HISTORY OF DENVER.
Chrysanthemum Found in the Room
of the Latest Victim of the stran-
SIer May Lead TO His Cnpture--A
French Canadian Is Arrested.

DENVER, Nov. 1S-"Strarglers' Row
was the scene of another murder early
today. About Ills a. m. 1875 Markets..
was visited by the fiend whose strange
| hobby is to choke women to death, and
! when he left the place Kiku Oyama,
| japanese girl, who was in the place, was
| a corpse. with the marks of the strang-
| lers work upon ner throat. This morn
ing's murder was committed in the same
row of houses IN which Lena Taper and
| Merle Contassoit We're strangled. The
mode of her death, too, was exactly
similar. After partially choking her the
| job was completed by tying a towel
around her neck and Tightening the moose
| until life left the body.
The only difference between Kiku
Oyama's murder and the strangers other
| JOBS is that she was discovered while
her pulse was still beating. She was
| twenty-five years old and emigrated from
| Japan to Chicago with the racial repre-
| sentatives of her native land to the CO.
| lumbian exposition. There she made the
acquaintance Of Imi Oyama. and together
| they came to Denver last November. Imi
Oyama says he was the dead womans
cook. but the neighbors. say he lived with
her as her husband. He was the first
| person to enter the japanese girls room
after her death
In the room where the murdered woman
was found there was every indication
that desperate struggle had taken place.
The bed clothes were disturbed. and the
Whole spread of the bed was covered in
spots with blood. Turkish bath towel
had been used to choke her, and there
was another of a similar kind lying upon
a dressing table The first towel was
twisted into a rope, and there is every
he triT W.
her back upon the bed after the towel
had been placed about her neck and then
deliberately strangled. No money was
found in the room, and ii is believed the
woman was robbed.
Uni Cyan and several Japanese have
| been arrested on suspicion, but 50 far as
| known not the slightest evidence has
! been discovered to implicate them in the
| crime. The excitement among the women
| Of ill-fame inhabiting that part of the
| city where the murders by strangulation
have occurred within a few weeks rivals
| that produced by the crimes of Jack the
Ripper" in London a few years ago.
Police Surgeon Wheeler believes that
such a criminal exists in this city as
| Jack the Ripper" who so fOully muir
derad and hacked fallen women in the
| disreputable Whitech3pel district in Lon
| don. DR.. Wheeler is of the opinion that
| the villain who stranglsd Kiku Omaya
| tl.s morning also murdered Lena Tap
| per and Marie Contassoit. He does not
believe that the real criminal has yet
! been arrested.
DENVER, Nov. 1.-THE murderer of
| La,-s6. Iapper, the German girl who lived
| at 1911 Markets.; Marie Conassoit.
| French, at 1925, and the Japanese at 1906
| still roam5 about the city unshadOwed
and except by few, unsupported. That
! il is the work of a iend who has mania
| and insane desire 10 XIII women is held
| by most people as the correct one. The
| police are inclined to the theory that the
society of FTenchmen known as the
| Macquer1uz, is at the bottom Of il, but
| this is laughed at by tie French women,
| who say that almost every cent they make
| is turned over 10 the MacquerauZ, and
] that they are not going to cut off their
source or revenue by numbering these
| people on the row who kupport them.
! With the theory that 1t is the work of
| a fend. the investigation was continued
| in search for anything like a tangible
i clew that would aid in the capture of the
I fellow who is numbering these women and
/ after first carefully sitting the evidence
| that surrounded each of the murdered
| girls to see whether the theory that they
| We're all killed by the same person or not
! Some startling facts We're learned and
| some more pointers viii be kept which
| show the police have been negligent or so
! wrapped up in the other theory that the
! Macquer2uz caused the deed to be COM
| mitted that they would not listen to any
/ thing else. That there is evidence
/ against Demady, who is charged with
| the murder of Lena Taper the district
| attorneys assistant seems to admit In
| the case of Challoup, the same is the case,
| While with the japanese murder the police
are wholly at sea that would be Of aid.
The women on the henceforth
strangers row." living only a short dis
| lance from the place where these murders
! have been committed, let drop a hint that
/ may lead to the arrest Of the right man.
| In the room Of the little Japanese was
/ .ta,.r fI,s,,
! the question was asked who gave her that
| flower? No attention was paid 10 the
! matter and the women relaxed into
/ silence, being afraid of saying anything
| further for fear that they would bring the
! perpetrator of the murders down upon
| them next by aiding in giving some clew
! No one ever seemed to think or care who
gave the japanese, Kiku Ovama, those
| flowers. If the police ever considered that
! a clew lay behind that little incident they
| dropped 1t for some unknown reason.
Armed with determination to probe the
| matter 10 the bottom, If possible, and Gee
| whether there was absolutely anything
that could be of use. visit was paid to
| the row and the women from Nineteenth
| to Tw5m1ieth-sts. interviewed At first
] they would say nothing except to boot at
| the theory that it was the MacquerauZ The
| California women. in way, backed up
| that theory, but not French or an an
| erican woman on the row believes any
| thing Of the kind and loudly say So One
| woman was found who started the re-
! porter on a clue that had been limited here
! tOfOre. but nothing but hearsay could be
| obtained This woman again inquired
| about that flower and asked why they
| did rot run down the giver of that token.
| C.Osar inquiry followed TO find out what
| she knew about it and tangible clue
| obtained that seemed to start a thread of
| circumstances to unravel. Whether there
| Is enough to convict man behind that
| remains to be seen, but 1t is quite prob
| able that there is quite enough to start
| on and beyond a doubt a stronger chain
| than that upon which Demady and Charles
| ChallOup were he'd.
| For the past two years there has been
| German living in Denver who seems
| TO have a mania for women. This man
| formerly worked at one Of the Hotels
| md is described as being Of medium hight,
| sandy hair and a reddish mustache. He
| is a peculiar person and is heavy set.
| During the past two years he has paid
| the Market-st. district regular periodical
| visits and nearly every time has carried