The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1894-05-24
FIRST STEPS TAKEN
Coroner's Jury Decide Bern
ard Altenberger Guilty
of Murder.
MANY WITNESSES EXAMINED.
A Complete Chain of Evidence
From Which he Cannot
Escape.

w the jury, Una that Katrina hupp,
| died on May is, at Christ's Hospital, Jersey
City, from result Of two pistol-shot wounds
which she received o May IS at Snake Hill,
| We further find that said Wounds were in
Hicted upon her by one Bernard A~ltenberger,
and therefore hold him responsible for her
death"
Such was the verdict of the Coroner's Jury
last night, which was empannelled by Cor
| oner Volk to inquire into the cause of the
| death of Katie Rupp, and who was respon-
| sible for it. This inquest was an unneces-
sary one, but the law demanded that it
should be held and the law was obeyed. The
| hearing took place in Roche's Hall, and the
| room was filed with spectators who APP
| peared to take an unusual interest in the
| proceedings, although but little, IL anything,
was developed which has not already been
| told In The JERSEY CRY NEWS.
A deposition made by Charles q. Rollins
of Rome, N. Y, the last employer of Katie
| Rupp, was read. 1t set forth that Rollins
| had fully identified the murdered woman at
the Morgue.
A deposition from County Physician Con-
| verse was also read by the clerk, in which
| DR.. Converse described the wounds and said
that in his opinion death resulted from them.
YIN L. OAt1lO II ~ VI " O@oAoA
| ant at No. Ill Montgomery street, when
called as a witness, said that he saw the
body of the dead woman at the Morgue, n
that he saw Altenberger after his arrest. at
| Police Headquarters, and that they were TO-
gether in his restaurant about ten O'Clock on
| Sunday, May ID. He did not hear any con-
versation between them.
Mrs. NJ. Cannon of No. 141 York street
| repeated the statement published in THE
JERSEY CITY News, about Altenberger and
Katie Rupp calling at her house and engag-
ing a room for n week. She said the
| woman told her they were not married, but
| would be before night.
DRANK WATER FROM HER WELL.
Mary Thompson, o colored woman, better
| known as the wife of Old Black Tom, testi
fed that on May ID, in the afternoon. q man
| md woman went to her well to obtain a
glass Of water. She subsequently saw AL
| tenberger at Police Headquarters, and iden-
titled him as the man who was with the
woman. She did not see the body of Katie
Rupp at the ;norgHe.
Julia Jordan, a small colored girl, testi-
| fed that she saw Aitenberger and Katie
| Hupp at Mrs. Thompson's we'll She had
identified Aitenberger at Police Headquar-
| woman with him, from a photograph which
| was shown her by Chief Murphy.
Mrs. Robert Ryan, matrOn of the Aims
| house at Snake Hill and wife of the warden,
| testified that when the injured woman was
| taken there she said her name was Katie
Rupp and that Katie told her she had been
shot by Bernard Altenberger, her lover.
Katie did not tell her why Altenherger shot
her, and did net appear to know. Mrs.
| Ryan said she never had seen Katie before
| she was brought to the Almshouse.
Dir. George w. King, Medical Superinten-
dent at the County Lunatic Asylum, testified
that he was informed about seven o'clock on
| the morning Of May IA by two men employed
| at Snake Hill that they had discovered a
and rocky spot OF the southern por-
ton OF Snake Hill. The woman told
the men that she had been
| shot. DR.. King said he Immediately went
with the men to the spot, and when he saw
the woman he caused her removal to the
Almshouse. where he made an examination
and found two wounds on her. One was in
the abdominal cavity and one in the neck.
He dressed the wounds. Th woma was at
the time suffering intense pain and was in a
| state of collapse. He kept the woman at the
Almshouse until the next day, when she was
| removed to ChrisS's Hospital. The
| told him she had been shot by Bernard Al
tenberger, but gave no reason for such ac-
ton. She said she was shot the first time
about half-past seven O'Clock, and shortly
afterward was shot q second time. She then
| became unconscious. When she recovered it
| was dark. She remained there crying for
help until morning. Tn wound in the abb
doininal cavity was sufficient to produce
death.
Warden Robert Ryan of the Almshouse
| testified that the deceased told him that
Bernard Altenberger shot her, that he had
$500 that belonged to her, which he obtained
before they came from New York, and that
| he took $50 more and her gold watch, giving
her his silver watch. Her name was on the
| case of her watch.
Elmer Doremus, an attendant at the
! asylum, declared to the Coroner's Jury how
Almshous5 from tho place where she was
shot, and tnot she told him her name was
! katie Rupp. She said she was shot by
| Bernard Altenberger. She did not assign
any reason for the shooting.
Theobold Reilberger and James Doyle,
who discovered the injured woman in the
wood on May IA, testified that they were
| walking in that direction and heard groans.
| At first they thought the groans were made
| by one of the lunatics in the asylum. Then
| it occurred to hun that some one might have
fallen and broken a leg, and they assembled
the hill to investigate. They found the
woman and she told them she had been shot.
! Neither of the men asked her who did the
| shooting.
DIR. Masted Of Christ Hospital testified
that the wounded woman was taken to the
hospital at about fifteen minutes past eleven
| O'Clock on the morning OF May ID. She was
| given every attention. The doctor asked
no questions.
S. Hartshorn, a matchmaker on Fulton
street street, Now York, told the Coroner
how Altenberger had him put a new case on
| a gold watch in place of one having on it
the name of Katie Rupp. Altenberger paid
him S14.5 so for the job and sold the old case
to a workman in the store for So. Coroner
Volk showed witness the watch and old case
and he identified them. He had Unidentified
Altenberger at Police Headquarters.
TESTIMONY Of THE DETECTIVES.
Detective Doyle described how he brought
Altenberger from Utica to this city, and
also the gold watch and a revolver which
the Chief Of Police had taken from Alien
berger.
Detective Dalton testified that at Christ's
Hospital,, in the presence of DR.. Converse,
Katie Rupp told him that Aitenberger had
shot her, and he related these facts to the
Grand Jury, which indicted the accused.
Chief Murphy read the statement made by
the prisoner, as interpreted In English by
Inspector LANCE on the night of his arrival
here from Utica, in which he confessed that
he shot Katie twice, but said he did not
know why he did it, and that he did not
shoot her because he wanted to kill her
that he only took from her his watch and
did not take any money. This statement
was signed by A~ltenberger.
Coroner Volk gave the case TO the jury
with but little comment, and after a short
| consultation the verdict before mentioned
was rendered.
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