The daily morning journal and courier., 1895-09-18
soMERVI11E MURDER MYSTERY.
Four More Arrests-NegrO Ministers Shoes
 r. It the FOOtDrintS,

Four More Arrests-NegrO Ministers Shoes
 jItthe Footprints.
 'somerville, N, J., Sept. 17.-Four more prisoners were lodged in the county Jail here to-day, who are held by the police while they are at work on the mystery surrounding the murder of Annie Beekman, the young mulatto woman whose dead body was found strangled near the tracks of the Cen tral railroad, about a mile from this place.
 Besides Jacob s. Johnson, the negro minister, who is accused of the mur- der, Mrs, Kate Johnson, his wife, Charles Hamey, Oliver Johnson, the eighteen-year-old son of Jacob, and Isaac Lewis, neighbor of the Johnsons, are also prisoners now. Since the murder these persons have been closely watched by the detee- tives at work on the case. Yesterday afternoon they were all questioned separately as to the movements of Jacob Johnson on Saturday night, when the woman is supposed to have met
 
 | flicting stories that the authorities con- cluded that they were trying to shield Johnson.
 Constable Moore late last night went before Squire Sutphin and obtained warrants for the arrest of the four persons mentioned. They were taken l before Squire Sutphin, who committed them to the county jail to await the results of the coroher's inquest, which l is set down for tomorrow. l The whole Johnson family are now in jail Mrs. Johnson, who is known as an evangelist, became much excited when she was taken into custody and bitterly denounced the authorities. The l prisoners are kept in separate cells and are not allowed to converse with each other.
 | It was the intention to bury the mur- l dered woman this morning at the ex. pense of the county, as no one ha6 claimed the body.
 Coroner Brady this morning received notice from County Physician Wagonel not to bury the body until further examination was made by the physi clans It is probable that the mur dered woman will not be buried unti tomorrow.
 Whether the body is placed in { lpauper's grave will all depend on tht dead woman's husband.
 Thomas Rogers, the aged husband O the woman who resides at 27 Loci lstreet, Newark, is expected at Somer vile some time to-day. The authoritie received word that the old man wa waiting to obtain the insurance of $16 before coming to Somerville to clain the body. The woman's life was in lsured for that amount.
 At the inquest tomorrow it is ex pected that strong evidence will b brought out to connect Jacob Johnson with the murder. This evidence, how ever, it is said, will all be of cir cumstantial character, as the detec tives have not discovered an eye wit ness of the murder.
 It is thought that the strongest evi dence against Jacob Johnson is tha furnished by Joseph German, the flag man at the Central railroad crossing who says he saw Jacob Johnson ant Annie Beekman pass over the railroad track at the crossing on Saturda, night, and go down Bridge street to ward the place where the woman wa found murdered.
 l Another strong link in the circum stanial chain of evidence against John son is the fact that the shoes he wor on Saturday night fit exactly the foot prints made by the murderer in tn ground where the woman was stran gled.
 Jacob Johnson still sticks to his orig inaI story of two white men havini gone away with the woman in tn direction of the place where the mur der was committed. Mrs. Johnson ha told different stories as to the move ments of her husband on the night 0 the murder.
 The first story was that she accom- panied her husband down the trac after he returned home at 10:30 o'cloc on Saturday night for the purpose 0 looking for Annie, and that when the failed to find thy trace of her the returned to their cabin and went t bed. Mrs. Johnson subsequently con tradicted herself on important point which tended to prove the guilt or in nocence of her husband, and this le to her arrest.
 Coroner Brady has possession of tn clothes and shoes worn by Johnson a the time he was seen in company wit
 the woman on Saturday night by Flag man German The officers hay searched in vain for trace of tn two white men who Johnson allege
 were in company with the woman o Saturday night.
 The body of the murdered woma is still at Johnson's hut guarded b
 an officer. After the doctors ge
 through with the examination to-da Coroner Brady will issue a permit fc the burial. Coroner Brady says he confident that evidence will be brough
 out to show that one of the person
 now in jail strang1ed the woman, tha the murder was planned, and that mor than one person was implicated in tn crime.
 Coroner Brady said to-day that ther was only one motive for the crime an that was to gain possession of the $4 , which the woman had in the purse i
 her bosom.
 
 Coke Workers Strike.
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