Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1897-09-07
No Glue Yet to Identity Of the Muir
dered Woman.
SEARCHING WOODS and STREAMS
The Authorities Have Taken No
Steps Yet.
WAS A WOMAN'S BODY

| at the bringing to light of one of the most
| remarkable murder mysteries in the his
| tory of crime. All Laurel Is sitting on
| door steps and hotel porches, wondering
| While the populace and the officials are
| thus benumbed, SO to speak, the newspa-
| per men are wide awake and active in &C
complisnins almost superhuman acts in an
| effort to ferret out the murderer and the
| identity of his victim.
| Developments have proved conclusively
| that the case of the finding of the body
| Sunday in Kellogg wood was one of muir
| der. The suicide theory. to all who have
| follow ed the proceedings carefully, has been
dispeIled.
AT the suggestion and expense of the
newspaper men. the remains, that had been
| inferred Sunday, We're exhumed late yes
terday afternoon and a careful examination
made by several physicians. They declared
| the body was that of woman. Although
badly decomposed, the formation of the
| pelvic bones left no doubt to the sex.
Then again the careful scrutiny of the right
| side of the body showed that the corpse
was not that of a man from the appear
dnCe of the breast.
| While the officers of the law were think
| ing the matter over today, Messrs. Carpen-
| ter and Downey of the New York Journal
and a Star reporter. with a number of paid
assistants. were searching every clump of
bushes and nook and corner and stream in
i
theory of the searchers is that after muir
dering the woman the murderer removed
| all clothing from the body and made away
| with it. in order to render identification i'm
possible.
1t is not thought likely that the man car
ried away with him the clothing. the
| finding of sucil a bundle in his possession
would have proven his guilt ccnclusively
| i'll the event that ne should have been ar
rested soon after the commission of the
crime. The newspaper men searched The
clump of woods most thoroughly i'll the
hopes of finding the clothing of the wo-
man. They are convinced that 1t IS hidden
| somewhere in The locality. After every
inch of the woods hal been scrutinized
move made to a small branch of the
Patuxent river. about six hundred yards
| from the woods, the suppositon being that
! the murderer might possibly have secreted
| the clothing beneath the surface of the
| branch, which> is lined on both sides by
a dense growth Of bushes.
On the way to the water something dark,
| almost covered with mud, CHANGED to be
seen by one of the party. 1t was lying in
a cabbage field, and proved to be a portion
| of a stocking. The foot was missing. The
| mud carefully removed. and it was
then seen that the stocking was turned in
side out, as would naturally be the case II
ii was drawn from a persons limb. 1t was
somewhat torn. The stocking was of good
material. This find encouraged the search
ers in the belief that the clothing of the
murdered woman was to be found in the
branch.
Searching the Streams.
With rakes attached to long poles the
little stream was dragged most carefully
| for the distance of mile. The rakes were
also dipped into a suspicious-looking place
| near the banks of the Patuxent. Nothing
was found. Late this afternoon, the,search-
ers directed their endeavors to another
stream on the other side of the woods, in
| the neishborhood of which it has been
learned the man who is suspected of the
murder was seen by several persons. The
search is to be continued as long as any
hope exists of finding something tangible
that may lead to the solution of the mys-
terry. The country is such. however, that
the closest character of search, long con-
tinued, might not result in the bringing to
light of anything that may have been hid
den by the murderer.
The belief entertained by some that the
body had been where it was found for a
number OF months and possibly. since early
spring is disrroved by the fact that the
carcas of COW, left on the edge of the
woods July 81. is more decomposed and in
far worse cordtion than the human re-
mains discovered Sunday morning The
indications are that the murdered woman
and the one who ended her existence be
| long to a respectable class. The witnesses
| who saw the parties in the woods say
| the young woman seemed to be well
| dressed
The man had on no clothes when seen in
tHt "oodSr Dul WiieH he appeared III Town he
| did not seem to be tramp. He had what
| is described as a hard face and an evil eye
Thought Remarkable.
1t is really remarkable that the body
| could have remained at the spot it was
| found for two months without attracting
| the attention of some one. The wood is
within thousand yards of the railroad
| station at Laurel and within 500 yards of
| A row OF residences About twenty feet
| from one edge is dumping ground that is
frequently visited.
The body was found In the most open ma rt
| of the wood, beside a well-defined path.
| Forty feet to one side of it Is a corn field
| In this field two weeks ago colored man
was at work, and he saws he noticed an
odor from the direction of the woods and a
| large number of buZZards in the trees. He
did not investigate, however. The residents
| here say that the wood is seldom visited,
| except by hunters and those in search of
| wild grapes and the like
The fact that pair of trousers were
| found hanging on the limb of tree near
the corpse. with a hat on the ground. would
| Indicate that the murderer attempted 10
| leave the impression that the case was one
! OF suicide, and that the body was that of
| man. .
| 1t Is not likely that the murderer depart
| ed from the scene without his hat or
| trousers, and it is not plausible that he
| carried any extra baggage Therefore the
conclusion Is reached that the clothing
| ID,
| clue is now being followed. 100
| More Evidence of Murder.
| That the case is one of murder ia
| strengthened by the fact that Saturday.
| August I, man was seen in the woods
| with woman. The following day another
| person saw the same man there, but the
| woman was not visible. The man was
| without clothing. AID was apparently care
| fully washing himself. 1t is believed that
| he was removing the stains resulting from
| his bloody work.
Careful measurements of the remains
| show that the victim was about five feet
two inches tall, and weighed about lao
| pounds. One of the hands and one of the
| feet were missing and the skull was com
pletely severed from the trunk In the
| opinion of the doctors. the head was not
| torn off by birds or animals, but was cut
| from the Eody at the time of death or
| shortly afterward. The few strands of
| hair that were sticking to the skull were
| short, dark brown and very fine. The del
| ioate hand indicated that the person was
unused to manual labor. and the finger
nails showed she was probably a woman of
some refinement.
| The Inquest.
Last night the jury of inquest recon-
| vened, and soma sensational testimony was
H..