The evening times., 1901-05-17

NEW YORK, May 17.-Rev. Edward
s. Phillips, rector Of St. GabrieTs Rp-
man Catholic Church, at Hazleton, Pa,
and known over the world as the coal
miners friend" was found Gead last
night in the apartments of man call
ing himself DR. Kirk Stanley, in the
rear of No. 80 Ninth Avenue
The priest had been dead probably
seven or eight days, and the police are
now of the opinion that he was Iured
| to the rooms by q woman who had lived
for a year past with Stanley as his
wife, and who is said TO have been
frequently seen at night, unescorted. in
the vicinity of Fourteenth Street and
Third Avenue.
The priest, who recently came to New
York and succeeded in averting the
threatened strike of the miners of
| the Pennsylvania Coal Company by
! pleading with J. Pierpont Morgan, left
Hazleton on April 2S last. The next day
he was registered at F'itzgerald's Hotel.
| Eighth Avenue and Fiftieth Street, and
/ disappeared on May s.
Stanley admits meeting the priest at
midnight May 8, and the Iandlady Of
| No 730 Ninth Avenue says the woman
who posed as Mrs. Stanley left her
| home on the morning Of May 9 and has
not since returned.
The police believe that the woman in
| the case met the priest on the street
and that he went to the apartments
where ne died; that Stanley, with the
| body on his hands, did not know what
| to do. so hid it behind a portiere and
left it there to decompose or until such
a time as he could safely dispose Of it.
! Stanley was arrested at 100 o'clock
! this morning. DR.. O'Hanlon will per
/ form an autopsy TO determine the
| cause Of death, if possible, and the or
gaDs Of the dead man will be sent to a
! chemist for analysis. The coroner
strongly suspects that the priest was
killed by chIoTaI hydrate or some other
/ poison.
If this is true, the case viii bear a
! striking resemblance to that Of the
! priest who was drugged and killed in
/ Philadelphia last winter, and fer whose
murder several young men and women
are now on trial for their life in that
! city.
/ Stanley is a professional masseur. He
/ also gave hot air treatment for rheu-
/ matism, enclosing his patients in a me-
/ taIIic casket and heating their bodies
( to a temperature of some 400 degrees.
! He was born in San Francisco thirty
/ three years ago and came here eighteen
months ago.
| Stanley. when resident of San Fran
/ cisco. lived in excellent style at the Pal
| ace Hotel. and was thought to have
money Since he came East he fire.
/ qlGeafil received checks for 500 each,
which wen. mailed him from Alameda.
/ Cal He dLa not pay his bills with this
( money. i is claimed, for Mrs Singer
/ said this morning that he suddenly dis
/ appeared from her house owing her $g7.
/ Mrs. Edward O'Brien. who lives at
! T2S Ninth Avenue. stated to a reporter
/ this morning that she saw Stanley
about the yard of his home yesterday.
wearing only a pair of pajamas. He
was washing bed linen and undercloth-
/ ing and hanging them out to dry She
! saw him leave the house at 1:30 clock
/ in the afternoon.
An unusual feature of the case is that
Stanley has been quietly eating, sleep
! ing. and washing his clothes in the
room in which the body had lain for
week. The story which ne tells, at the
most a wildly rambling one. does not
| explain away the inference that the
priest was murdered.
The house in which the body was
found IS two-story affair in the rear
of the four-story fat house at 730 Ninth
Avenue. About a month ago, Mrs
Catherine Bernius. who is the agent
for the house. decided TO let the upper
floor Of the rear building. In answer
to an advertisement, Stanley took three
of the rooms on the second floor Of the
rear house and an auburn-hair wo-
man, about thirty years old, came TO
live with him BE said that she was
/ his wife
About week ago Father Phillips,
according to Stanley's story. came to
the little house with himself and the
two women. Then the auburn haired
woman disappeared. Mrs. Bernfus saw
her walk north on Ninth Avenue past
the fiat house and she never came back
Stanley left the house about noon yes
terday-
Late last evening Mrs. BerniUs look
ing down from her room on the top
story of a fiat house, saw 4 quilt hang
ing out Of the bedroom window Of the
little house In the rear She told her
daughter that as it might rain she had
better go back into the little house
and take the quilt in The daughter
went into the ESuse. through StaHIey's
apartment, and opened the bedroom
door There on the floor at her feet lay
the dead priest fully dressed, with his
( overcoat over his frock coat and his
derby hat beside him.
The siTI screamed. George Bernius,
her mothers husband, came TO her as
sistance and in q moment Policeman
Williams was there. Word was sent
at once to the West F0rty-seventh
I Street station and detectives located
and arrested Stanley on d street corner.
There We're no signs of a struggle and
no signs Of violence on the body Of the
priest There was no outward indica-
ton that he died of anything but apo
plexy-
| When Stanley was arraisned before
| Sergeant shibIes directly after his ar
] rest, he said that he had lived at 26S
West Forty-third Street. at 246 West