The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1895-12-02
BURGER TO The A
Ehgelbrecht Murder Trial
to Be Begun Before
Justice Lippincott
on Wednesday.
STORY OF THE MYSTERIOUS CRIME
The Most Extraordinary Case Tried
in This County for Years
Accused Mans Counsel.
STORY OF THE MYSTERIOUS CRIME

GUILTY. LOT years. I'll ludL iOiiihiA
Frank Berger, or Burger, a carpenter,
win be placed on trial for the killing OF
John Engelbrecht, formerly a saloon
keeper of Secaucus. Engelbrecht was
found lead in his saloon on the morning
of May 6 last, with his throat cut from
ear to ear. The crime was as peculiarly
mysterious as it was brutal. and robbery
was, without doubt, the motive.
1t was about five o'clock on that morn
ing when a driver for the Peters Brew
ing Company visited EngeIbrecht's sa-
loon, which is known as the ~unnysi
Hotel, and is situate near the Paterson
Plank Road. He found one of the doors
leading to the saloon open, but not tnlnk-
ing anything OF. this. entered the place
He was mortified to find Engeiprecpt ~,
his throat cut from ear 10 ear. BESIDE
the dead man was a broken shotgun,
The driver Immediately, left the saloon
and notified George Engelbrecht, a PROM
er of the dead man, who IS a constapie
There was blood spattered all oyer the
place, which indicated that Engeiprecnt
had made a fierce struggle with ms
murderer before the latter succeeded IN
cutting his throat. That he made a
ner in which his clothes were torn. The
gun, which lay beside him on the hoor,
was of no use to him, as the trigger
would not work.
An INVESTIGATION disclosed that the
murderer evidently meant robbery ana
Engelbrecht's v~aluables as well as the
money in the cash drawer We're stolen.
The police Of aobok ken m m51rder no propl
ably occurred several hours before En-
gelbrecht's body was discovered. AS
soon as the case was reported a Wateh
was put on all roads leading out OF Sc
caucus, but no trace OF any Stranger
was found.
of his victim and his saloon, 1t IS be-
lieved. fastened to Hoboken and left TOT
New York in a ferryIboat He had p ne1ics
BEAT HIS BRAINS OUT. TOO.
caucus an hour later and found a bloody
razor near the body beside the gun. Inc
Coroner also. ascertained that LOUIS
and lived in an attic over the saloon,
was. asleep during the struggle between
E nap knS% an and his a Rorder I'll; and murd daa
After cutting Encyclopedias throat the
was on the floor and beat his victims
head, as his skull was also crushed: IN
the road leading to H spbo Wga vas to oSnra
turned inside out.
Against a 100 leading to the attic
where the old man Hahi 6auer r ileea W we're
evidently put there by the murderer IN
order to prevent the old man from COM
gle. A revolver. which was owned by
Engelbrecht. was found in it's custom
airy place behind The pare t Enge I'D @as
not able to reach it in time to secure
the pistol to defend himself.
murderer and his victim, and there were
no guests In the hotel the preceding
night. sr-s,narzn
The police Immediately made a thor
ough investigation. questioned every one
three eng men nei We're arrested on suspicion Of
being Engelbrecht's murdererS- They
were at once locked up at Lewes' Halt
made for a Frenchman who just after
daylight had been seen washing blood
from his hands at the pump in front or
Meanwhile Policeman .Buchmiller.. of
the North Bergen police, had ascertained
drinking in Engeibrecht's saloon the
night before, and they, were questioned
regarding. their Whereabouts after leav-
p BE E FIVE F 9Gf Xfs9Sst G SSefeS Work.
The local police were baffled They
as near ear the aU" un "a elm Of the n myster-
gan. ,Prosecutor g; +; Winfield they
case. That astute officer worked all
one one DAY hagora and migI With h s psd s 3 gSo d f fai1 !
tlLdl apCIO1O iN5A - ~ AAo Ich~S
man against whom suspicion not, only
pointed but direct evidence marked him
as p the fHth0f Fe es eve 0iH in~Ssgst dgsai re-
vealed the fact that the murder and
robbery Of the seca1cus ~saloon-keeper
ders, but that it was the work of some
one thoroughly familiar. with the prem
ises and also familiar, with Engelbrecht's
private affairs. Robbery was the motive
% 'ps No 3 ssT1fRANeER's WORK.
M r. ----- - 49, AhAN Arsl 49, - To-
hand Wf that fpi Engeibrechft. When he met
his death. had no weapon in his pos
fssf r. This %his. v 5Oge alh,ssneg yi Il IT the :. f fact
the whereabouts sof. which was only
known to a few. leads the authorities to
BY some one well known to Engelbrecht,
who. when discovered in the robbery,
committed the murder to escape the
that the dog. which was in the store at
the time. raised no outc.ry, bears out the
was F X BuR "a Efs R rs
Detective Feeney,s searching inquiries
penter living in S~ecaucus. Burger tended
bar for Englebrecht the day before the
murder. He knew where the u was
kept and he knew how much money
there was in the place and where it was
kept. He was the last one to leave the
Before going he gave a druggesd drink t.
Louis Bauer, the old man who lived
above the saloon. The dog knew him
and obeyed his call as 1T would that of
its master. Chairs were found piled in
front of the door of Bauer's room so
have been done by someone who was
familiar with the premises and who had
carefully planned to rob the place. a
stranger would not nave known of the
presence of Bauer in the building. On
the evidence Mr.. Feeney felt justified in
placing, Burger under arrest, He took
him before Judge Iippincott to secure a
commitment His Honor refa1Sa6 If a G
he had not even heard OF. the murder.
Judge Hudspeth committed him as q
witness to the County Jail.
BURGER SECURES COUNSEL.
While the accused mai was in iail
Mr.. Feeney continued his Investigations,
Winfield to lay the matter before the
Grand Jury, which body indicted Burg
er for murder in .the first degree. He |
secured as counsel ex-Judge William T |
Hoffman and James Furey, but on Satur-
day morning Mr.. Furey told Justice Lip
pincott that Mr.. Hoffman could not try
the case and asked for a substitute Of
Otto Grouse sitting In court, assigned
him, so that, Burger will at least have
one Of the ableSt lawyers in the county
to conduct his defense.
From the peculiar circumstances sur
rounding the case 1t is likely that the
trial will last more than q week.
NO ALIM0NY FOR MRS. WESTOOTT
Application was made to Vice Chancellor
Emory this morning on behalf of Mrs.
Emma Wescott for counsel fees and ali
mony pending her Suit for divorce against