New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1895-05-29
THIS MAY SHED SOME LIGHT.
,o1JrE THINK THEY HAVE A CLEw TO
THE MURDERERs OF HARRIS.

.,,rsr OF TWO SNEAK THIEVES on WHOM wEnE
,o,.xn EVIDENCES THAT THEY HAD BEEN
,,.rrxG A SYSTEMATIC TOUR OF
WEALTHY HOMES - A REWARD OF
$4,000 OFFERED BY MR.. BORDEN.
r,s mystery of the murder of Ferdinand Har
=. vho was second butler the hcme Of NJ.
n Borden. No 25 West Fifty-sxth-st.. and
~ was killed there Monday afternoon. may he
. little nearer solution.
ro aid the police far possible In the
...rch for the murderers Mr.. Borden yesterday
.u,horized the offer of reward of $4,000 he
~en, 70 Police Headquarters early in the day,
.,d said TO Acting Chief Conlin that he was
.-ruing 70 nav $4,000 II necessary to secure the
arrest and conviction of the men who had
-rurdered his colored butler. Mr.. Conlin con-
suited with Sergeant McCuskey. in charge cf the
De,ec,iye Bureau. and 1t was decided that $1,000
was q sufficiently large reward 10 offer.
Katie Murphy one OF Mr.. Borden's servants. ap-
~.,rea before Coroner Dobbs Yesterday and made
an affidavit reciiing the circumstances connected
NTH ,h. death Of Harris. She said that about
,.an o'clock Monday afternoon her attention was
attracted by the. ringing Of the basement bell
She was on her way 10 answer X when Harms
reached the door ahead of her. He had been
working in the front basement. packing up goods
nreparatory 10 closing the house for the summer
He opened the door and admitted two men, who
walked past him and entered the hall. il was
somewhat dark at the time owing to the cond
zion OF the weather. and she could not give an ac-
cura,e description Of the men other than that one
was short and the other little taller than the
FIRST.
She said that. after entering the hall the man
turned and faced Harris. and almost on the iS-
stant began firing pistol at him. She stood
almost paralyzed while two shots were fired
She then recovered her senses sufficiently to
turn and run back to the laundry and scream
and the other girls employed in the house came
toward the hallway
HAZY DESCRIPTIONS OF THE MEN.
The difficulty about the Is that the only
Trustworthy account OF the shooting is that
given by the servant-girl. Katie Murphy. and
she is not clear about the color and de-
rcription Of the men who visited Harris. The
murder occurred at the moment when the storm
Of Monday was at it's height and when the at
tention Of every one attracted to the at
mospheric condition rather than To the appear
ance Of any one who went through the streets.
and no one appears 40 have noticed the tw" men
who ran from Mr. Bordens house after leaving
the butler bleeding on the basement hoor MISS
Lena Ohliter who was doing some washing In
the laundry. No 80 East Fifty -sixth-st oppo-
site the Borden house and Charles Smith.
coachman Of Sheppard Knapp. who was driv-
Ing through Fifty-sixthst about that time
both think they two men hurrying toward
Fifth-ave., but how the men looked or what
they wore they describe IN very contradictory
terms.
snurderers intended robbery. and on fndng the
butler in their way when they rang the base
dnd then made their escape. In support OF 'his
theory the detectives argue that Harris 20 far
as can be ascertained mad no enemies. and there
was no one who had any reasons Tor Wishing
him out OF the way unless it could be a person
!n whose path he stood at the moment the cr'nl-
!nal or criminals We're engaged IN their w)Ik IL
Is also pointed out that the man who shot Harrls
visited the house just al the time when Ii might
be expected that no one but 1ne Or two women
were the premises. and when the coast was
IN all probability free for th"rl
TWO SUSPICIOUS CHARACTERS ARRESTED.
All day yesterday. therefore. the precincts
were carefully searched for suspicious characters
and toward evening two arrests were made whlch
the police hope may throw some Iight on the
crime The arrested men are Louis Dittmeier.
TWENTY-FIVE years old peddler. who gave MS
address as No s22 East Thlrteenth-st., and Ed
ward Butt a tinsnith. VINO says he lives IN
East Forty-eighth-st Tney We're captured as
they were leaving the house OF Jacob Lond>l.
No 4o2 East Fiftieth-st with $50 worth OF Mr..
Iondon's property. and were taken 10 the Last
Fifty -first-st. station house and LOCKED up on
charge of burglary. They had entered the nous.
BY means OF skeleton keys. and stripped II or all
articles Of value that they could carry away.
THIS MAY BE A CIEW.
While the prisoners were being searched AZ the
station house discovery made which led he
police TO imagine that they had at last found
clew which might enable them to bring home the
murder TO the two men before them. In Dtte-
meirs pocket was found silver card case. when
was identified az among the articles stolen from
the house OF Dr. J. B Bisse Of No. 10 East rliiy-
eighth-s;. a. 1 O'Clock yesterday afternoon Dr
Bissers house ia next door 70 that Of ex-Chief OF
Police Byrnes 1t was entered by thieves during
the afternoon and robbed OF a number OF articles
OF value The discovery OF Of these articles in
the possession OF the prisoners leads the police
20 believe that the two men have been making
systematic tour OF the houses Of the richer resi-
dents Of the neighborhood for the purposes OF
robbery. and they may be the two men VINO en-
tered Mr. BOrden's house az noon on Moiuas,
found the butler In the way Of their designs ana
used revolver 10 overcome him.
The Central ONCE detectives working on tne
were al once Informed Of the capture maze
uy the precinct police, and were quickly at the
station house questioning the prisoners Aoou'
what they learned rom them they were s'rlc,y
silent. but as they left the station-h house WIN
more vigor in their movements than they nad
displayed for several hours. II was concluded
that they thought something OF the Gle" 'n"S
obtained
Unless this capture can lead 10 more
definite disclosure the police will be more at
sea than ever and at present. therefore. they
regard this as their only hope Of solving the
mystery.
yAIJrRE or GLASS COMPASY