The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1896-05-10
UNDER THE THIRD DEGREE.
THE TRAPS LAID o PRISONERS
At POLICE zDQUdRTERs.

nO
"Thc true story has always remained q legend
around Police Headquarters simply because
there were circumstances which prevented the
Chief from making II public at the time said
a retired Central ONCE detective, as he chowcd
the end OF an unlighted cigar renectively. He
referred to the arrest Of a murderer which
gained fame for the former head OF the Dotcc-
tive Bureau at the beginning Of his career.
"Tho murder was one of those ordinary incl
dents Of life In the Italian quarter. and there
was nothing of any great interest in tho
cause Of the crime and the manner in which It
was DONE" he continued. at was a mystery,
however, from the fact that there was not tho
slightest clue to the identity of the murderer,
and you can Just bet tho Chief made us hustle.
l have a clipping here Of the story tho newspa-
pers printed about the murder the dry after
1t occurred"
The ex-Centrnl once man pulled out his card
case and handed tho reporter the clipping. 1t
read as follows:
Giuseppi Cassella, qs years old, of 2t7 Mott street,
while standing at the corner OF Mott and Houston
streets at II 80 O'Clock last night was stabbed and
fatally wounded by q stranger. Casseila, who had
only been in the country two weeks, was talking with
a friend named Domenico Murano, when a strange
young man who was very drunk happened along. The
Italians laughed at the young man. and he turned
suddenly and attacked them.
In the nsht Cassclla was stabbed in the left side. lie
dropped to the sidewalk. ana Murano remained TO at
tend to his friend. allowing the strange young man to
make good his escape When Murano discovered that
Cassclia was badly cut he shouted for help Pc ice
man ltowley OF the Mulberry street station heard his
cries. ana when he arrived at the scene found Cassella
in a dying condition lie sent in q hurry coil for an
ambulance to ST. vInccnt's Hospital. but Cassella died
before the surgeon arrived.
Murano, who Is detained by tho police as a witness,
cannot describe the murderer. Us he says he was too
much excited to remember what he looked like. He
kept repeating in answer to tho questions OF tho DO
lice that the young man was an Americana" Con.
trail onice detectives arc working on the case with
little hope OF succesa
THAT was all any Of tho newspapers printed
about the case the first day. AS soon as the re-
port of the stabbing was sent in from the stn-
tion house the Sergeant at the desk in the Cen
trail Office 'phoned to the Chiefs house and told
him of tho facts. He was told to send out tho
two emergency mon and any others that came
in during the night on the case. The next morn
ing the Chief was around bright and early, and
when we assembled for roll call he talked to all
hands about tho case in a general way, and
said that no effort was to be spared to hunt
down the murderer. Then. before we left. four
Of us were told that we were wanted in tho
Chiefs private Office. Two were Detective Ser
geants, the star men in the office. and my siie
partner and myself. who were anxious to be-
come Sergeants. The old man. as we called tho
Chief. had an admirable way OF getting at the
meat of q case. and when we entered he did not
waste any time in telling us what he wanted.
1.-Two had a talk with this fellow Murano,
who was with Cassella when the stabbing oc-
Cured. and I'm satisfied that he had nothing to
do with it. the Chief began. Both the man
that was murdered and Murano carried stilet-
tos, but these were found sheathed in their
pockets. Now. all l have been able to learn ms
- . H. Jao,riptt los nj t1a G . rn {, zoos ,l,- Ny,,..--
says did the stabbing Is that he wore a blue
bingham jumper over a red undershirt. The
jumper was open ut the throat, showing tho
shirt. He Is u stout, we'll built young man OF 25
or 26 years with dark hair and n smooth
shaver face. That's tho best description
l could get from Murano. | want two
of you fellows to drag the saloons around the
Bowery and the other two to take this fellow
Murano with you aud see II he can't run across
the stranger. I thought at first it might have
been one OF those Italian vcndcttas or a Malta
scrap, but the Italian priest, who knew both
men, assured me that 1t was nothing of tho
kind. and / would not waste any time on that
theory. The motive was not robbery. and you
needn't bother with crooks either. 1t was a
simple fight, and 1t will be a hard Job. but you
want to SEQ what you can do
1--WE paired of. each of the Sergeants taking
one of US novices. My boss took Murano. and
we started on the hunt. Murano was n stupid
fellow. and l don't think that II the murderer
was brought face to face with him that day he
could have identified him. We certainly saw
every tough in that precinct before dark. but
Murano gave us no hope. The other fellows had
no luck either. and we settled down to make a
systematic inquiry through the district. We
knew nearly everybody In the district that
ran a joint such as the fellow described
would frequent. but our questioning was of
no avail. 1t was a tough job, and we
seemed to be working in a blind alley. Tho re-
porters had a lot Of fun with us for a week or
so. and then the story died out. We kept up tho
search day by day for three weeks without get
ting anything satisfactory. nni finally some
thing turned up which Obliged the Chief to take
and myself had it all to ourselves. We had
given up ali hope, ~ ever doing anything,
that We had the case ourselves, took to soldier
finally decided TO lot the case drop among the
mysteries. We had tried everything. We got
tho chief to give Murano his liberty. and We
ing anything which would seem suspicious.
1T was the custom To- send IA couple OF our fell
island boats 'osS during the he sumner. We We're S" az.
signed to this job one sunday and went owa to
the most crowded and the best for the pick
pockets to work their trade on. We didn't sea
anybody wo knew. and went up on the upper
deck and finally anchored in a little recess in
the stern, where we sat smoking and enjoying
the cool breeze. ! called my partners attention
to n young couple who were spnOning in another
recess to windward of lis and we took an occa-
siOnal peep at them.
1.-THE wind carried snatches Of their CONVEX
satiOn to MS. and while we did not pay nuy par |
ticular attention To 1t we could not help hearing
1t. There was one thing said which made NE
sit up straight and almost yell right out. The
young woman had apparently asked the man "a
question, as we heard him say:
"'Iie's been under cover at Hackettstown ever
since he did that dlgo.'
"'But ! should think that was settled by this
said the young woman.
"'Oh he's as safe rs n church on that thing, |
he's leary about it still. and we can't get him
TO come back
81 turned 10 my partner and found him sit
ting In the same position as myself, with his
Dyes fairly dancing with excitement. Our
italian murder mystery occurred some nine
previous and we had quite forgotten II,
but the conversation We overheard brought IL
mp afresh. and could hardly hold my partner
still. The couple changed their conversation n
moment later. and, although We did our hest TO
listen. we heard nothing moro about tn" dead
when he boat reached the city "" were
right up alongside the Young couple and followed
them ont in the crowd. We were 50 excited that
had not exchanged a word from the time W.
IA anrd tho bit NJ tulk thar ~ y 4. ne IA anl