The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-06-29
JRDERER HID HIS TRAIL.
A BLIND HUNT IN THE HEADLEss
BoDY MYSTERY.

The Atrfn OF OttGl0th ana y HrOken Finger Nail
the slight C,ue. the Poiico Worked ON Ye.-
- - = -. -. v..
Cat Up ~ Sh''"' s'A"a'' ""' VIII 'h''s' ON
the Theory or Foul Piny-Tho Victim Proba-
bly, n Jew-A Ruah OF Idsntiners at the
Morrue. but None or Them Throws Light on
Phil r..
The murder OF n man. n part OF whose body
was found in the East River at Eleventh street
on Saturday, and another part on a ledge Of rock
in tho woods near Washington Bridge on Sun
day, with the head. a part Of the breast, and tho
legs still missing, presents to the police a mys-
tory as difficult to unravcl as any In the history
OF crime In New York city.
Besides the portions OF the body there is q
broken finger nail and q strip Of oilcloth for the
detectives to work upon. The nail is similar to
that on the hands OF hundreds OF men. and the
strip OF oilcloth Of n kind sold in nearly every dry
goods store in town for moro than six months.
These arc absolutely tho only clues, and tho
finding Of a needle In a haystack seems q COM
paratively easy task to the running down Of the
unknown murderers Of an unidentified man
with such slight data.
s,,our c,rrs To wopp rpox
e., 49, no.. oddoa N ~ oo.o ro.,.rdov hv
the discovery that at least q part of the body
nhQ DGen DluCeu IN DOlllnR WHLGT, pTOudDly Win
the idea of destroying It, and that fact suggested
the equally horrible probability that tho missing
head has been similarly treated In order to mako
Identification impossible. Slight as are these
cluos-the broken nail and the strip of oilcloth-
and hopeless as the task seems OF finding out
anything from them, they arc OF interest be-
cause they are the only clues.
The broken nail is on tho forehnger Of the left
hand. The loft side Of the nail extends almost
to the top of the finger. Then there is n diugon.
al cut running downward for a quarter of an
inch, the outer edge of the cut being on the right
side OF the finger. The nail on the right side ex-
tends out a little beyond tho finger itself. 1t Is
thick and hard, showing that the injury, what
ever may have caused 1t, was an old one; prob
ably moro than two or three years old. 1t is
such an injury as might have resulted from the
removal Of a felon, or it might have been caused
by a knock or a bruise.
In spite Of stories of other marks and bruises
on this hand, the injured finger is absolutely tho
only thing out Of the ordinary about 1t. There
Is not another scar or a bruise or a mark of any
kind on either the hand or the arm. There is
not a scar or a mark on any OF the pieces OF the
uou' 10 "'o ~ - !" !. 10.
80" - ~. ~ -
""' Wa 'eo wv
THE PIECE OF oiLcLorH.
Now, as to the oilcloth. Tho pattern of this
ClOIu "hS 4 luliS Al linz Y yOolSiuhSs
The color is red and the figure on it is traced in
gilt. The description was recognized by the
makers Of the oilcloth, A. F. Buchanan of
Buchanan g. Sons. so Leonard street. Mr..
Buchanan said that the piece was from a lot Of
500 rolls OF table oilcloth made between the
middle Of June, 1896, and the last of December
Of the same year. There were 12lo yards in
each roll. SO that altogether there is or was in eH-
istence about 8 1000 yards of the material. 1t was
in two lots. One lot, which was sold untrimmed,
went to Henry Furstein, a jobber of 100 Stanton
street. BY Furstein it was sold to some twenty
or thirty pedaiers and retain dealers Inc other
lot, which was trimmed, was sold TO wholesale
dealers generally. and by them was distributed
10 .neif le aA customer ai.h . ane ary sooas men not
only Oh new YORK c'ty, put OF the surrounding
means cloth with the rough selvedge cut from
at tho Morgue yesterday and found that 1t was
trimmed. showing that it was bought elsewhere
dealer who kept a record of his sales, the value
WHAT THE BODY ITSELF SUGGESTS.
AS stated before, the drst part OF the body
found was floating in the East River near
Eleventh street on Saturday afternoon. The
up the river. 1t was the upper half OF the
D Dsas; s saa the ,s o Mss nf spe was s' ties with, TN a 'r n5soa
pSt1t nanah . " 10. ~ ta~ our r , .o.s re- n
ott"lhe such a . useo ior curtain cofu. Inc
fragment was taken 10 the Morgue' where on
$500 ...s-ht a. -. "a -. - -.
that he thought the man mad been dead about
twenty-four hours.
The second part of the body found, that is, tho
lower part of the trunk. was similarly wrapped
in red oilcloth; but there wasn't quite enough OF
the rod oilcloth IN on around and N niece n,
s ~s, teo oT Uic,1,n ~ 70 ths go oom nro umoi,t anu va a piece o.
Wnlte oncioth OF tho same quaity was USED 70
help out. In addition to the brown paper and
oilcloth there was oheesecloth about both narts
Of the body.
q snndav morning DAINTY Coroner O'Hanlor
ms1s y mnrs carefni erapmiSatioD of The hnSv
than had been previously made by the Coroner
man ma has not been een ND dead nd ,no mneS than e9lt twen otSt ong
hours. This would make the Killing not esrIiei1
than il o'ciock on Satnrday which 1xaa oniv =
few bonrs bofore the arst mart Of the bodv wa
disooyered in The water A further amin tior
made by The Deputy Coroner yesierday. and ar