The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-09-22
THE BRIDGEPORT MYSTERY.


 THE BRIDGEPORT MYSTERY.
 Yesterdays Early Developments A
 Southington Girl Now Supposed to be
 the victim-An Arrest Made.
 Bridgeport, Sept. 21.-A promising
 clew to the solution of the Yellow Mill
 Pond mystery has been found by the To-
 cal police. As the result of informa-
 ton secured, a man is now held by the
 Hartford police. The local police have
 learned that the description of Emma
 Gill of Southington, who is missing,
 tallies minutely with that of the dis
 membered body. The missing girl is the daughter of Harry Gill of Southing ton. Gill and his wife are English, and
 Emma was their first child born in this
 country Gill is a cutler employed by
 the Southington Cutlery company. His
 and was employed as a domestic in the
 family of James H. Pratt in Southing ton. Even to the crease across the forehead and the pockmark near the left eye, her description corresponds with that of the girl whose dismem- | bered body was found in the pond here | last week.
 | The girls father has given the fol- | lowing facts to the police:
 | One month ago last Friday his daugh-
 ter started on a two weeks vacation, l Co vi thot Sh hn tn icybt | house Point, New Haven. After an ab- sence of one week she returned home ! for two days. Then she went away for 1 another week and came home at the ex-
 piration of that period.
 l Immediately upon her arrival home
 the second time she informed her em-
 ployer that she was unable to work for | him any longer, saying that she was
 i'll. She told him she was going away
 and asked to have her place left open.
 Miss Gill told her parents that she had
 a friend in Stratford, a suburb of this
 city, and that she had decided to visit ! her. Prior to her departure she asked l to have her mail directed to "J. Jones'
 General Delivery, Stratford, Conn" l Gill says he wrote three leeters to his | daughter, but that only the first two
 were ever answered The postmaster
 returned the third letter after ten days | had elapsed, as it had remained un- | claimed during that time. The first | letter the girl wrote contained the
 statement that she was i'll and was un- | able to come home at once. The last
 one, dated September ', was as fol- | lows:
 | Dear Mother-I can't come home | to-day, because I feel very sick with
 stomach trouble and sick headache Detective Captain George Arnold of
 the local detective force left this city
 early on Monday morning. It was said
 that evening that he had gone to Meri-
 den. It developed this morning that he | spent Monday in Southington conduct | ing an investigation.
 1 In compliance with a telegraphic re- | quest from Superintendent Birming- ham, the brother of the missing Emma Gill arrived here late this morning. He | proceeded at once to the office of the | superintendent. Both went to Culli-
 nan's morgue. On the way there Gill | told the superintendent that he could | identify his missing sister by many pe-
 culiar marks.
 | He then began to tell about a mole on
 her neck which he used to make fun of
 Tn the official description sent out by | the local police department no such | mole was noted. Arriving at the | morgue the young man, with tears in l his eyes, said that the head was un- | doubtedly that of his missing sister, | He was asked to point out the mole he | had spoken of.
 Without the slightest hesitation he
 pointed to the spot. It was on the left
 side in a direct line down from the ear, | severed from the neck The mole was | there but it was hardly observable The teeth were examined as we'll as
 the eyes and forehead, and young Gilrs
 belief that the head was that of his | sister was not shaken. Superintendent | Birmingham admonished the young | man to make positive statements only | and to scrutinize every mark with pre-
 cision. He said that he wanted no rep etition of the Marian Grace Perkins | Identification, as it resulted in the loss | of much valuable time.
 Prior to this morning Superintendent l Birmingham refused positively to be l interviewed or to make any statement | regarding the case. Shortly after noon | to-day he was met coming out of his | private office. He had just returned from the morgue. When approached | he was at first inclined not to talk, but | finally changed his mind Before a question could be put to him he said: q am positive we have identified the victim. As you perhaps know, I never was satisfied with the Perkins identiff- | cation. I said right along that there was plenty of room for doubt When | I say I am positive you know that my grounds are without a shadow of doubt
 Edward Mccarthy, an assistant at | Cullinan's morgue, said to-day: When | the body was first brought here I re- marked that it was the first one I had ever seen that had a corn on every toe" Miss Gill's mother has told the police that her missing daughter had a corn