The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-11-08


well go with him to the morgue. These
men had difficulty in identifying the
trunk and arms as those of Guldensuppe.
They had known him for years and had
daily seen him stripped to his waist at his
work. Where the skin was cut from the
breast Guldensuppe har carried the tattoo
marks which would have made identifica-
tion easy, but it was evident they had been
removed to prevent their serving such a
purpose. 1t was then early in the morning.
The reporter had been working all night.
He hurried back to Mrs. Nack's house with
two of the b&thhouse attendants. They
found her rooms torn up and men packing
her goods. In six hours she had determined
10 leave the country and so back TO her
home in Germany. She answered all ques-
tions plausiby, but was discovered al
most Immediately, lied unhesitatingly. She
pretended she had message from Gulden-
suppe as late as Saturday. the very day his
dismembered body was lying in the morgue.
Her lies helped TO weave a network of
damning evidence around her Other re-
Dorters kept watch on the house, so that
the midwife might be tracked wherever she
went, and then the story was given to the
police, who were still tloundering in the
dark.
Mrs. Mack was arrested and her husband.
from whom she was separated, was cap
tured by reporters while he was driving a
bread wagon. He, however, established his
innocence sufficiently Well to procure his
discharge.
BY this time it was learned that Gulden-
suppe had a rival for the affections of Mrs.
Mack in one Martin Thorn, barber. Both
men had quarreled about the woman and
had threatened each others lives. Gulden-
suppe had disarmed Thorn on one occasion
and put him out of Mrs. Nack's house.
Where was Thorn? He had disappeared
completely as if the earth had opened and
swallowed him. call for his arrest was
sent out by the police authorities who We're
now forced to accept the murder theory,
and for days the public waited anxiouSly
for his capture. 1t was believed that he had
shipped for Germany and that he would be
taken into custody on his arrival there.
Meanwhile the missing legs were found close
to the navy yard in Brooklyn. They We're
tied up in oil CLOTH paper and cheese cloth
similar to the wrappings of the two bundles
previously found. The bath attendants
made the identification more positive as
they easily recognized the nmbs as th0se those
of Guldensuppe on account OF his having
overlapping toes. The limbs fitted exactly
to the lower part of the trunk found in the
woods and as it fitted to the upper portion
of the BODY first found nothing was left
to perfect the Identification but the head.
AT last came the arrest of Thorn The
man had never left the city. He had mere
ly shaved off his mustache and with this
simple disguise he rubbed clothes with the
officers who were looking for him. Had ne
held his tongue he could probably have con-
tinued to live in this city unmolested
THORN BETRAYED HIMSELF.
Thorn however, liked his beer and was
fond of company. His terrible secret was
too much for him, and so one day he un-
burdened his mind to an old friend and fell
low-barber, John Gotha. Gotha he swore
to secrecy, but the secret was too much for
the latter also. He would at least tell his
wife all he knew. Mrs. Gotha, once in pos
session of the dreadful story, could not and
would not rest until the police had also
heard it, Her brother was a police officer
and to him she told the story of Thorn's
admission. The detectives at once wa walteu ss
ON tIa md hn
his wife. The arrest OF Thorn followed
Gotha made an appointment to meet him
at -hundred-and -twenty-IItn street anu "a
first and expressed himself as anxious TO
meet Gotha in more lonely and untre-
lieve now that Thorn had regretted having
committed his secret to the keeping OF MS
friend and resolved to kill him also. Gotha
induced Thorn to meet him at night on the
corner mentioned and as soon as Gotha
walked towards him Thorn was surrounded
by detectives and thus his arrest was ef-
Thorns story to Gotha was to the effect
that Guldensuppe had been brought by
Mrs Mack to a cottage in Woodside l.. L.
which she had rented for the purpose of
starting a baby farm, and that he (Thorn)
Law in wait for the bath-rubber In closet
reached the house Mrs. Mack told him to
go upstairs and examine the rooms Whle
She went into the yard. Guldensuppe nesl5
tated, but finally went upstairs and passed
from room to room, peering into the clos
cts, until he reached the one in which
Thorn was hidden. AS soon as the unsus-
pectng man opened the door Thorn shot
him in the head and then dragged him to
the bath tub, into which he threw him.
If Gotha's story be true Thorn acknowl-
edged that while GuldenSuppe was yet alive
the barber drew a knife or razor and cut
his throat The division of the pody was
next made and two of the bundles were
dropped overheard from a ferry boat In the
East river. Another he left in the woods
having driven there in company with MRS:
oa1y 11es nd n
paris and sunk it in the East river. Mrs.
Mack had helped Thorn make up the bum
dies. and it was she who purchased the OIL
cloth and other wrapping material. Gotha's
statement has been proven to be correct in
many particulars save that as to the dis
position of the head Thorn S reasons Tor
killing Guldensuppe were revenge for his
having once beaten him and desire TO be
free to live with Mrs. Mack.
EVIDENCE BY REPORTERS.
Reporters continued their work and dis
covered the woman who sold Mrs. Mack
the oilcloth and the man who rented the
Woodside house to herself and Thorn, and
these two positively identified the prison
ers. People in the neighborhood of the cot
tage were found who had seen what they
considered to be bloody water flowing from
the drain pipe of the cottage on that Fri
day evening The drain pipe in question is
the only outlet from the bath tub in which
Thorn is said to have cut the murdered
Hleu tnIOdt. III lH0 IOuSe ilSSlI DlOOo
stains were detected and bullets were found
embedded in the walls.
Since his arrest Thorn, 1T is alleged, has
made confession and the authorities in
Long Island City assisted by the New
York Journals reporters again. discovered
the compromising letter which he tried to
swallow. The letter showed an intention
on the part of both the man and woman
to cheat the law by committing suicide.
While they were confined in the, Tombs
Prison it was impossible for them to COM
municate with each other, but since they
were transferred to the Queens County
Jail they seem to have been able to eX-
change correspondence. District Attorney
Olcott, of this county, and District At
tOrney Young, of Queens county, after due
deliberaton, decided that it was better TO
try the case in Queens county, as the
murder is alleged to have been committed
there, although the plot was .concocted in
New York.
Thorn it is said, told a fellow-prisoner
that he would have completed the Job"
as he termed it, beyond the possibility of
detection if Mrs Mack had not been
too hurried about the disposition of
the various portions :. of the. body,
Mrs Mack, in a letter to her parameur
had told him that he talked too much. An
instance of his talking capacity is given in
statement made by Frank T.. Clarke,
who was Thorn cellmate in the Tombs
According to Clarke the alleged murderer,
Clarke, became so communicative as to
tell him that he had thrown Guldensuppes
head, which has not yet been recovered,
into clump of bushes near the Woodside
cottage, that from there it was removed
by friend of Thorns, who afterwards
off Long Branch, from the fishing boat
j. B. Schuyler, which, by the way. was