The sun., 1897-04-23
DIAMOND FLOSSIE KILLED.
A TENDERLoIN WOJIhN sTRlNGLED
ron HER JEWELS.

In the flat which she shared with FREQ mur-
phy at 22s West Twenty fourth street, Florence
Reilly. known to Tenderioin fame as Diamond
Flossic," was strangled early yesterday morn
ing The murder was apparently committed
without any struggle by the victim. for the
neighbors heard no outcry, nor was there any
evidence OF fight for life in the bedroom.
where the body was found. An ordinary clothes
line fastened TO tho bcdpost, and drawn tight
around the woman's neck in two loops, shows
how she was killed. When the police reached
the place. having been sent there by Murphy.
the jewels which gayo the woman her nickname
proved to be missing. This would soem to indi-
cate that robbery was the motive for the crime.
Murphy is under arrest.
For nearly aix wears Diamond FlosBie and
Fred Murphy. whose full name is Alexander
Frederick Murphy, have kept house together.
The girl was OF that calling which tho law has
yainly attempted to stamp out, and tho man
lived on such part OF her earnings as he
could extort from her. He calls himself a
'longshoreuan, and he may havo been one
formerly, but since his acquaintance with
tho woman work has seemed to him an unncces-
sarily hard way OF making living. His princi-
ral occupation about the fiat was that Of "chy-
ing" tho opium pills which tho pair smoked.
both being devotees OF the pipe.
Visitors to Diamond Flossio's fiat were or
dinarily frequent otherwise she couldn't have
worn diamonds. and Murphy would have had to
pay for his own meals. As II was, she had been
stinting him lately. so Tenderloin rumor snid.
and he had been hard up, a circumstance whicl,
may be important as showing a motive. should
other evidence tend to fastcn the crimc upon
him. Tho mon with whom he played pinochlo
nightly soy that he seldom had moro than 25 or
30 cents in his pocket. and the women who know
him as Flossies friend say that he frequently
l. ta hann n.,f ho tIn0a NJ
his allowance.
Murphy left the fat at about o'clock
Wednesday night. At that hour tho woman
was dressed for the street. and woro all her jew
elry, a pair OF hve-cnrat diamond earrings. n
diamond marquise ring. solitaire diamond
ring, n turquoise set In diamonds, and an en-
erald set in diamonds. the valuo OF the lot being
between 800 and $500. According to his state
mont she told him that she was going out to
meet friend at Twenty-third street and Seventh
"it 5 the Dutchman." she added. Hell be
coming bs;k SO soon He's too sting to take
away. Probably III BE- back about ! o'clock.
%",Thatil be all right said the woman. =, ,,,.
very much 10 know: Murphy says he knows tho
hesr him by
II is not even certai In that hc met Diamond
Fossie, but II SO, she had loft the fiat again by
half-past 10, as a woman known as white
chapel Nell - saw her about that time at the
broadway Garden. All her jewelry was on At
out, but whether she went home alone is one OF
tho important points yet to bo settled.
playing pinochIe in the United States Exchange
saloon. ut lOa West Twcntyninth street. There
he stayed until the call S oT at o'clock
others good night, l, might have been five min,
PeGeemen ,ae hoadrssaH ss and WSe at
man running toward them along Twenty.fourth
Come quick!", he easped; robbers in my
down here; III show you. They did her. guess.
The dismonas are are gone worth nth thoHsand dol
q rope--on the bcdstcad. can't tell you. Fol-
There was more of this in breathlcss incoher-
wildly excited talk OF man who had lost his
had been robbed. They followed Murphy up the
long flights OF stairs to the top entered the fiat
nS ase npe seans ease than an
Lying on her right side. on the floor was the
woman, clad only in q chemise and her stock
ings. Her head was lifted slightly from tho
which was fastened to the bed post. The rope
bitches, a style Of knotting much in use among
sailors and longshoremen. scarcely known Of by
Sn readily gstened sH
cellent knot by which to strange person.
aRS snes SaSes Murphy
.'she didn't do 1t herself, did shel She couldn't
haye done It, think the da
monds on her when she went out. There wasn't
has money there, It's robbery,
One q the policemen sent in an ambulance
report the Hs In the es
quietly slipped away: having said something
getting girl thS great fHa friend Of
after tho first excitement was over, remembered
that they blamed themselves.
He. won't como back. they said.
girl Ida Carr: She couldn't throw any light on
while Detectives Perkins and Devine. who
sn had come up from nth the station e. examined mine the
% oGG w1s S noS no least Sd trace bsse
helpless or unconscious when tho strangling was
done. In corner of the room was found
"Ihs! 5 the ont, she kept the. diamonds in,"'
cried Murphy. Whoever got them threw it
They wero taken and the woman killed
without ba any 5 TeIaPsed PerGins
paraiysed s Suggested Msrphy. % S %as 'ef ehyins @
pills for her early in the evening. Somebody
It's the 'ss s ths as Clothed hna
This was true, and Il an outsider did the
2 stranger would hardly 60 to the roof Of an un.
known house after rope. Further evidence was
not found. An ambulance surgeon from the
New York Hospital said that the woman had
was put under arrest, protesting that ne knew
nothing more of the matter than any OF the
others. He was remanded at Jefferson Market
Court yesterday morning.
An autopsy made in the afternoon showed that
the woman had died of strangulation. The
stomach was sent away for analysis to
late last night Coroner TuthiI went to
the West Twentieth street station. and
not he obtained any information OF value.
vallely OF, the Central ONCE was also there.
Afterward Capt Walsh said that his men were
going to work on some clues. but that no In
formation sufficiently definite to be made public
had been obtained.
Three theories now present themselves for
police consideration. AS there is but one prison
or tho first concerns itself with Murphy
and tuDposes that ho Is the guilty man.
tolls are weak. Why did it take him
from 1903 o'clock to :25 to get from Twenty
ninth street to Twenty fourth street, How
did did he know % that tho rope Ground the womans
not true that, as Is said by some OF the Tender