The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-10-10
BOUND HER H~ANDANDFOOT
MFSTERIOUS ATTICK on MISS DiES-
TEL IN LONG ISLAND CiTi.

Young Man FINDS Her Alone In the .ao"'c'
and After Choking Her and Tying n manu-
L.rch,er Tightly Around Her Neck. binds
her rnd shoyo- Hcr Under the Fisno.
Nellie Dicstel. tho ls,year.old daughter OF
C,,v Constable Conrad Diestel Of Long Island
City, was attacked in her home NJ 800 WON
ster avenue in that city on Friday afternoon
nv n strange man, who, after binding her hands
and feet with n cluthoslino and almost choking
her IN death with q handkerchief, showed her
under the piano in tho parlor ana ned' Inc
man made no attempt to rob the house OF toih'
1ure the girl, and his motive is n mystery 10 inc
police. II Is thought that no may nave IN
landed to rob the house. but that he was fright
ened away. The Diestcls do not believe this'
however. as not a thing in any part OF the mousse
was disturbed by tho stranger. There were u
number of small things OF value In the parior
and in the dining room that he could have taken
without delaying his flight in the least none
of these things was touched. however.
The Diestels live in II two.story frame house.
Tho neiehborhood is sparsely settled. There
IA a house on either side of them. but each is
about seventy. five feet away. There are TWO
houses on tho opposite side Of the street, too,
but no others within a block.
Mrs. Dicstcl came to this city on Friday
afternoon, leaving her homo a few minutes
before . o'clock. Her daughter was ironing
IN the kitchen at that time. There was mo-
body else in the house.
Miss Dicstcl heard a trolley car stop at the
corner and then go on again, and know that 1t
had stopped for her mother. A moment later
the kitchen door opened and q young man.
whom Miss Dicstel describes assbeingof athletic
build, with a smooth face, black hair. black
clothes, and a derby hat, appeared.
Are you alonei' he asked.
'No, ] am not. My mother is upstairs.' re-
pIied the young woman, who was badly fright
encd.
"You lie, " said the stranger. THAT was your
mother who just got on the car at the corner
Then the young man shut the door and dis
appeared. Miss Diestel, convinced that the man
was going TO rob the house, left her ironing
and ran out in the hall and toward the front
door, meaning TO call in one OF the neighbors.
Just as she turned the knob Of the door some
body on the outside gave a violent push and she
was knocked against the wall. Before she
could recover herself a man came into the hall,
and after shutting the door behind him, stepped
dim light Of the hall Miss Diestei was unable to
build she thinks it was tho same man who
spoke to her in the rear of the house a minute
before. The police think there were two men,
Miss DIestel tried to scream for help when the
man attacked her, but was unable to make a
sound on account OF his clutch on her throat.
She struggled to free herself. but the mans grip
was firm and she hadn't strength enough TO
shake off his grasp, She. finally sank to the
n nOi a and SSnd Ike aSef s sns tiss 9 Is sisbt her, a es%lod
her throat. She remembers all OF this dis
tinctly. She says. she had hard work to
breathe. She saw the man go out on the stoop.
tied the girls, arms:together. Then he bent her
body forward and bound the wrists to the
ankles. Without removing the handkerchief
from her neck, he dragged her into the parlor
and pushed her under the piano. Then he went
away.
1t was a few minutes before 8 o'clock when
Joseph Baker. Jr., a. son of the janitor of the
Long Island City Hall and an intimate friend
Of the Diestel family, came along, and seeing
the front door open, thought he'd drop in and
see Miss Diestel. He walked into tho parlor
and not seeing the young woman. called her
about to leave when he saw her under the piano.
Thinking that she was dead or had tainted,
be became very much alarmed, and ran to the
house on the left, where he Mrs.
Christy. The woman. with her son, went back
with Baker. They drew Miss Diestel out from
removing the handkerchief, went to work to re-
~Puscitate her. Miss Diestel was hardly able TO
breathe. When she recovered she told her
story. but the police were not notified until
yesterday morning: Mr.; Diestel did not come
Two young men were arrested on Friday
night for robbing a saloon keeper in Long Island
City, and 1t was at first thought that they
might have had something to do with the as
sault on Miss; Diestel. They proved that they
Friday The police are now rIing to find the
Diestel was tied. 1t Is about thirty feet long
and full Of knots.