The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1896-09-03
COMPLETE EVIDENCE
AGAINST VAN HORN
Verdict OF Guilty Last Night at the
COrOners' Inquest.
is RAZOR WAS IDENTIFIED
1t Was Found in the Cellar Where
Mrs. WestcOtt's Throat Was Cut.
She Told Three Witnesses That
Van Horn Did the Deed..POlice
Efforts Hampered by Lack of Funds.

Van Horn Did the Deed..POlice
Efforts Hampered by Lack Of Funds.
By the verdict of the coroner's jury.
arrived at last night after hearing the
testimony of several witnesses, George
Van Horn is charged with the murder
of Mrs. Josephine Westcott, the Frank
lin avenue boarding house keeper,
whose throat was cut last Friday night,
and who died the day after at the
l.ackawanna hospital.
Though the evidence before the cOro-
ner's jury was entirely circum stantial.
yet 1t was sufficient, with the state
ment made by Mrs. Westcott to those
who We're present in the house after
the deed was committed, to hold Van
Horn responsible for the crime. Three
of the witnesses swore that Mrs. West
colt said, when they asked her who
did it, that 1t was Van Horn.
There was new evidence to corrobo-
rate Mrs. Westcott. The bloodstained
razor which was found on the dirt floor
of the cellar the night the deed was
committed was identified by Mrs.
been stolen from her husband by Van
Horn. John Medell, who sold the razor
to Coons, identified the razor found in
the cellar as the same one.
Chief of Police Robling was present
at the inquest and he had the razor
with him, but he had also two other
raZors, which looked very much like
the one that cut Mrs. Westcotts throat.
He got the two at Luxemberger Bros
barber shop before coming to the court
house, and it would be impossible to
pick the right razor out of the three
without having known it previously.
MIR. WICKENHOFFER'S TESTI-
MONY.
George Wickenhoffer, of $50 Franklin
avenue, which is just across the street
from the Westcott residence, was the
first witness sworn by Coroner Long,
street. Last Friday evening, he said,
after supper he took his pipe and to-
bacco and Il newspaper on the front
porch, and was just making up his
mind to retire to bed when he heard q
commotion across the way.
He ran over and saw Mrs. Westcott
standing in the doorway with her two
hands against her throat and the blood
streaming through her hands. She
urged them for Gods sake to get doc
tor without delay, that her throat was
cut and she had been murdered
who did it?' asked Mr.. Wicken-
hotter.
THAT fellow" she answered.
What fellow?" asked he.
George Van Horn" she replied very
distinctly.
The witness then busted himself get
ting doctor and procuring attendance
Tor her to assist her in every manner
possible. He heard her tell Others
who asked afterward, that Van Horn
was the person who cut her throat.
William j. Primble, a man who
boarded at the murdered woman's house
gave testimony. About twenty-five
minutes toS that night he went into
the kitchen for a drink of water. She
was in the kitchen about her house.
work. He went up stairs to his room
He heard unusual noises down stairs
and going to the head of the stairway
he heard someone breathing heavily
and making gutteral exclamations. The
wound on Mrs. Westcott's neck.
She was uttering that she had been
murdered. and he questioned her as to
who did it. She told him it was Van
Horn, and then ordered him to go for
doctor. He and Mr.. Wickenhoffer
first sought n doctor, and afterwar,l
went out hunting for the fendish mur
derer.
CALLING FOR HELP.
Mrs. Oscar Fetterholf was the first
to see Mrs. WescOtt after her throat
was cut. The witness ten minutes be-
fore left Mrs. Westcott in the kitchen
and went to her room. She was not
upstairs very long when someone called
out her name loudly. She ran to the
door of her room and saw Mrs. West
cott coming upstairs, holding her hands
to her throat and acting as If in great
pain. Mrs. Fetterholf asked her what
had happened and was informed that
George Van Horn had slashed a razor
across her throat. The witness after
that was engaged in assisting the
wounded woman.
William Heedler and Oscar Fetterbolf
VI tIit III GttUiHS Witness, Werp
sworn and they testified to seeing Mrs.
Westcott with her throat cut, but they
did not bother about annoying her with
questions concerning who did it and
what the cause of it was. They heard
others then present say that Mrs. West
colt charged Van Horn with the crime.
Wesley kresge, motorman on the
South Side stree car line, lives next
door to the house where the crime was
done. His back door is close to the
cellar door of the Westcott house. That
night some friends called upon him.
They We're sitting i'm the parlor, and
about ten minutes to s o'clock he heard
the clothes line. which is fastend to
the corner of the kitchen and runs
back nearly to the rear of the garden.
twanging SO as to be felt where they
were sitting.
He remarked. humorOusly, that some
one must be trying to hang himself on
the line and he went out to investigate.
He was told that Mrs Wescott a few
minutes before went down into the cell
lar and that some man had been hiding
down there and cut her throat. and that
he jumped over Mr.. Kresge's fence and
made his escape down the lot. The flee
ing murderer, Mr.. Kresge believes, ran
into the clothesline.
FOUND THE RAZOR.
Thomas Morrow. another person who
boarded with the dead woman, and the
one who found the razor on the floor of
the cellar, was sworn. He left the house
| soon after o'clock that night. he said,
and took a walk. Returning less than