The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1896-11-28
MEADOWS MYSTERY
Headlesss Skeletnn of a Man
Found in the Swamp
By Boys.
MURDER AT FIRST SUSPECTED
Chief Murphy Now Believes That
the Man Died Natural
Death Months Ago.

The police were startled this morning
by a report from the Sixth precinct K
the effect that the headless body of {
middle-aged man had been found on tht
Hackensack, just east Of Snake Hill
The head lay twenty feet from the body
and a short distance from the head {
butcher knife covered with blood was
discovered. The conclusion was quickly
arrived at that the murderer or murder.
ers had used the knife to chop off tht
head of their victim.
The report further said that there was
evidence of a fierce struggle having taken
place, that the ground was covered with
blood, and finally that the condition OF
the blood would reveal that the murder
had only been committed short time,
perhaps three or four hours before.
Chief of Police Murphy at once ordered
1the reserve men Of the Third and Sixth
precincts out to scour the meadows and
railroad yards for suspects.
All THE Heaquarters detectives were
sent scurrying out to the scene with in
stfuctions to exercise their best ability
III ferreting out and running down those
who had committed such q foul murder.
The police of Newark, Hoboken, kearny,
Harrison and East Newark were also noti-
fed
The first intimation the police had that
a murder had been committed was OBJ
tanned from Benjamin Woods, of No. 13s
Broadway, and George and Edward Henry,
of No. 1854 Delaware avenue. They led
the police to believe that they had dis
covered the headless body this morning.
Investigation has revealed something
quite different
The boys were out cunning on the mea-
dows yesterday and were walking about
ware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad
tracks. between the Penn Horn bridge
crossing and Snake Hill when they came
across the body. Curiosity prompted
them to look for the missing head and
after a short search they found It lying
beside the trunk of an old tree twenty
feet away Returning to their homes
they told their parents of their
chastity find. Their parents apparently
d not think it of sufficient Importance
notify the police until this morning
1en the information came from Benja-
I'm Woods
The Chief was of the opinion this
sorning that the man was the victim of
silroad thieves, gangs of whom infest
ae meadows in and about the neighbor-
aed where the supposed tragedy oc-
n---d.
ashe body is badly deeemposed and
has, it is supposed been lying on the
meadows exposed to the elements for
some time. The body was taken
in. charge by the police of this
city and removed in morgue
wagon to Speer's morgue A search
of the mans garments failed to
reveal anything with which it will be
possible to secure an Identification of the
body. When the police first arrived on
the scene some of the bluecoats were in
clined to the belief that it was either a
case of suicide or that the man had been
struck by train.
Both theories are secuted. Suicide was
out of the question, as the head had be-
yond dispute been severed from the trunk.
Accidental death by being struck by a
tnain was also out of the question, as
there We're no marks or bruises on the
body that could be seen which would in
dicate contact with a locomotive or car
The scene of the supposed muir
t-stt ~ NAihA1CsFD NlEllta Is
within a stones throw of, where Bernard
Altenberger brufally murdered Katie
Rupp, the girl ne had deceived.
Within me last stwo months the rail-
road tramps and thieves who infest the
meadows have been committing .depreda-
sion{ of all kinds Freight cars have
eerf broken open and looted, men held
Rcaten and robbed, and it is only re-
Gently that victim of tramps was beaten
into insensibility. robbed and his body
laid upon the tracks of the main line of
the Pennsylvania Railroad, apparently
with the intention of having it ground to
pieces in order to prevent the victim from
Informing the police in the event of his
recovery.
This afternoon Chief Murphy. after max
ing careful investigation of the case,
announced that the body had been lying
on she meadows for SIX months and per-
haps a year. There was nothing but a
skeleton, only traces Of the mans gar
nents remaining. The Chief is now in
clined to the belief that the man wandered
iato the meadows while sick or intoxicated
and died there, The flesh had been torn
from the bones, he believes. by dogs
The knife found near the body. was un-
opened.