The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1897-09-21
AwLBANESIUS' BLAZE
The Fashionable Dentist
Placed on Trial for the
Burning of His Home
HIsFlELvs SEVERE ARRANGEMENT.
Wife and Ex- Witness Watches the
Procsedings-Court Room
Crowded.
VlBFlELDS SEVERE ARRANGEMENT.

,asaaa and .snectators. The draWins cav
uo. tee nrosnsctiye trial of Otto H. Al
banesfus. the wealthy dentist Oh oen'
syen,,a for the serious crime or arson
.h.,t : eeora Of women were in the au-
sianee The case has been in apeyance
s,,ca Ianuarv 1896. 1t was set down LOT
t~t.1@an two. nreyious occasions but was
nostponed. The first time was on account
- H. ahsance of important witnesses.
The second p-ostponement was MAUI
essary because the defendant was unaDie
to be present He was convaiescihs y
a severe attack of pneumonia
Alhanesius was on hand promptly al
fan O'clock this morning. His couIsei,
ex-Juage William T. Hoffman, AieAan,
der simpson and Q A. DENIM, Jol
him shortly afterward, and the oeleiuan'
and his counsel withdrew Tor cohsuiF@
tion. Prosecutor Winfield and ms as-
s,stant. Joseph NJ. Noonan, awaited then
return with commendable patience.
The attendants wife was in court anu
cccupied a seat at the rear OF the rooli-
She was stylishly dressed and wore q
conspicuous white feather IN her p"
velvet bonnet. Her maiden naHe Wa"
Ii,l;a straub. and would have been an
;mnortant witness for the deIence ~
for the fact that Albanesius elHlihateu
her from the case by making her MS VIZ
shortly after his Indictment. Mr.. aio
Mrs Albanesius had a falling out re-
GENTLY and she left him for a short tilne'
hut thew have become reconciled.
II was 11:aO when Prosecutor W1nileiu
r,ora5 +be case and Court Crier BoWley
haean to call the jury. The defence chai-
lenped ten of the jurors called ana lne
state five. The jury finally selected are
p,do,nb Sailer. John Duncan, Cornelus
p sturgis. Thomas Woods, Elmer Brand
Edwin D. Lewis, Thomas Mansfield Johh
Rr;odv Richard Cahill, John Dawes
rboua. ]. McCabe and James Capp.
Prosecutor Winfield made a strong
onanins for the State. He said IN part
.sThis defendant is indicted for setting
Ere shortly before midnight on January
% 1905 to a building on Central avenue
ia Rowers street. owned and occupie py
him At the time the fire broke out the
defendant was in a saloon in Central ave-
me where he had one shortly pe1ore.
Tbere were a good many things ABOUT
this fire so suspicious that they made an
;mnression on the public and on the Grano
Turv The Grand Jury found an lnolct-
ment- The motive for destroying the
h,,;,d;np was not so much the money ne
would have got from the insurance COM
nanies as to. get rid of the building. II
was. an expensive establishment to keep
IN. He kept . dentists office there. he
was unmarried, lived there alone and ne
fo,na the paace too expensive. Shortly
hefore the Are he told one witness that
If the house was not there he would put
NJ a fat. retain part of 1t for an office ana
rent thu rest. He intended to live IN
Rutherford. This burden was on MS
hands. therefore, and he thought that the
easiest way to get rsd of 1t was % tnro"
Il off ON the insurance companies. There
was a lady living next door, a Mrs. Bent.
This man the day before the fire, mace
an effort to get her property insured
without her knowledge or consent. lie
evidently anticipated injury to that wom-
ans property. After the fire he made no
further effort to get her property insured.
At the time of the fire, when the fire.
men were at work trying to e1-
tinsuish it. the defendant stood
around and did nothing. He stood there
making no effort to get into the house.
some one asked him to open the door;
He said. No it's too hot In there lot ule.
He turned away, and Immediately allea-
ward an explosion occurred. sumo nS
men were injured. A can used to CON
tain powder was found in the building.
The night before the fire a bale OF nay
was placed in the stable. After the nTe
q trail of straw leading from the stable
to the house was found, and straw was
found in the house saturated with keI0-
sene oil. Preparations had evidently
beer made by somebody to burn tnat
house. The gas jets were turned on put
were not lighted. The defendant had some
fierce dogs in the yard. They made no
noise. showing that no Were
around that night. Shortly before the
explosion the defendant said, VIII not
90 near it, when he was asked to open
the door he said, No, it is too hot for
me. After the fire the defendant pro-
drced a set of teeth he had made for
Amelia Lunger. He had them in ms
pocket. Why did he have them there!
He told Inspector Lange that ne FOUND
them in a closet. That is improbable, as
fhe teeth had no marks of fire or smoke.
He said to a man, They have done it this
time He pretended to have received
letters threatening to burn his house.
When we come to investigate we find that
he wrote the letters to himself. He wrote
these letters both before and after the fire
occurred"
MI. winfield urged the jury to do its
duty.