The times., 1898-12-31
AT WORK ON A cLEw.
Detectives Have Trace of tn
pc;souar ~ Mrs Adaus

Detectives Have n Trace of the
Poisoner of Mrs. Adams.
New York, Dec. 30.-The first tangible
clew in the poisoning OF Mrs. Kate j.
Adams came to light today and the entire
detective force of this city is now engaged
in running 1t down. IL throws no light as
yet on the identity of the persons who sent
the bottle of cyanide of potassium and the
silver holder to Harry Cornish, OF the
Knickerbocker Athletic Club, on Saturday
last but with the start the authorities
have now obtained there is every reason to
believe that the poisoner will be run down
ultimately.
The manufacturing jewellers who made
the match or toothpick holder which came
in the box with the bromo -seltzer bottle
and the cyanide of potassium have been
found. They are Lebkuecher & Co., Of
Newark. N. ]. Frank A. Lebkuecher, the
head of the firm, has identified the holder
as product of his factory.
1t was one Of nineteen. one Of which was
sold to Black, Starr & Frost OF this city.
another to Moses Straus. OF Brooklyn. and
the balance to jewelry houses in various
parts of the country. Black, Starr &
Frost, at the request of the police, have
made a thorough search of the stocks in
their stores in this city but have not been
& Co. sold them in 1896. They do not re-
call the purchase. but in view OF the fact
| that Mr.. Lebkuecher's books show that he
sold them such am article, they believe that
| they had il at one time.
| Since il is not in stock now they think
/ that ii must have been sold. At the re-
quest of the police the firms employees also
searched through the books to see if they
| could find some record OF the sale. They
| of of pf
| holders and similar articles, but no entry
| that they felt at all certain referred to the
J holder that came to sir. Cornish.
On the theory that the holder was pur-
! chased in this city, a belief which the
! police have held from the first, the holder
! that was sent to Mr.. Cornish is the same
| which was in the stock OF Black. Starr &
Frost in 1896. Mr.. Straus. of Brooklyn,
] still has his holder in stock Only these
two holders were sold in New York; all
! the rest of the nineteen are accounted for.
| The one other important development in
| the case today was the locating OF the box
| in the general postofice in this city in
which the package addressed to Mr.. Cor
nish was mailed. The postal authorities,
| at the request OF Captain McClusky, ex-
! amined all the clerks who were on duty
| in the postoffice on Friday. week ago,
| when the package was mailed, and they
I
! one OF the city package drops on the
Broadway side of the postofice on Friday
| afternoon.
| Just how this discovery was made neither
! the postal authorities nor the police will
! tell. but Captain McCluskey said in the
! afternoon that he knew everything about
/ the mailing save the identity OF the person
who mailed it. Beyond this the head of the
| detective bureau refused to discuss the
matter He would not say whether he had
description of the person who mailed the
| package or whether il was a man or a
woman.
! II the police are to be believed, they have
I no particular person or persons under sus-
| pieion at present. No one is under police
[ surveillance and no arrests have been
made. Captain McCluskey made these
these statements in a hesitating way late
! this evening. From his manner it was
/ evident that he would have qualified them
I II he could without giving the impression
| that he was keeping back important infor-
nation.
| Late tonight Captain McCluskey got q
lead on the Cornish poisoning case which
he thinks will result in an arrest before
noon tomorrow. The clew. as he under
stands it. is the best yet discovered, and
may result in the unraveling Of the entire
mystery. Captain MeCluskey and his mer
are working on the case all night.