The times., 1901-05-16

| Ali accounts agree that Ayres was muir
| dered about-2 O clock yesterday morning
| in his room at the hotel His body was
! not discovered until o'clock in the morn
| ing, although there are several people in
the hotel who say they heard three
| pistol shots fired. one man who declares
| he saw a woman leave the room occupied
| by ANres. and climb down the fire escape.
i and an0t her woman. Mrs. -W0Olen, whose
room is directly beneath that of Ayres,
who states that she heard a slight scuiiie
| in the room above her, and shortly after
ward saw a shadow fit across her wall,
as though somebody was passing between
her window and the electric light glaring
4 outside.
Mrs. yoolen SAYS she at first attached
no importance to the incident, believing
possibly she was mistaken. but her state
| mcnt is now thought to give addluonal
color to that made by Thomas VI. Baker
Baker detailed many times yesterday ms
story of seeing the woman climb down
the fire escape from the fourth TO the sec
ond story of the hotel He is positive
that the woman entered window at the
second story, from the fire escape
DISCOVERY OF THE BODY.
Miss Mary Minas. an employe of the
! Census Office who occupied a room stu
ated next to that Of Ayres, on the fourth
floor Of the hotel, was the first to sound
! the alarm which led to the discovery OF
the tragedy yesterday morning. She told
/ the police and motel Authorities that she
| heard three distinct pistol shots, appar-
/ entity coming from the room occupied by
| the murdered man.
! Miss Ainas says that she was badly
| frightened; so much so that she dared not
! leave her room to notify the people in the
! hotel. or sound the alarm in any way.
/ She says she feared the presence of
! burglars in the hotel, and piled an as
| SortmCnt Of goods against her door to
1 prevent any possible invasion of her
1 apartment 10y iHtrudCrs.
! Finally, when she went downstairs to
I breakfast Miss Minas notified persons of
! the firing Of the shots, and Of the fact
that she had heard groans coming. up-
uaTcutly. from the room Of Ayres. An in
Vestigation was at once begun. resulting
! in the discovery of the tragedy,
The hotel authorities sent for Policeman
l Brady, of the Sixth precinct station, who
( responded and went to the room occupied
I by Ayres. The door. was locked. To-
! gether with the hotel people. the police
! man broke in the door. and CHASTITY
| sight awaited him. Lying on the floor
I with head resting against rocking chair
/ his head covered with blood. which had
! poured from the mouth was the body of
! Ayres. His body touched the wall below
4 the window sill Three wounds We're inn
mediately apparent about the body. the
! one in the chest, penetrating the right
! lung. another in the left forearm, and the
| third in the left hip.
MR. BAKERS TESTIMONY.
The police have been particularly i'm
pressed with the testimony of Thomas NJ.
Baker. who is employed in the Fish Com
mission. and who occupies room on the
second floor of Do North Capitol Street.
next door to the Kenmore Hotel. From
| his window the fire escape can be dis
| tinctly seen, and any figure descending it
would be brought out in bold relief
against the white front of the hotel build
ing. There are two bright electric lights
] on the corner of c Street, several hun
| dred feet away. while across the street,
in front of the quarters Of truck com
pany 4, are two bright gas lights.
| These lights so plainly illuminate the
| building as to make il extremely easy to
| detect any object upon the fire escape.
! When Mr. Baker went down TO the break
| fast table yesterday morning he told the
! story of what he had seen and heard to
| Mrs Lancaster. his landlady. He then
| went to his Office and only knew of the
| crime that had been committed when
| reporter called upon him and secured the
! first definite statement from him. He
stated that he retired quite early the night
before. but that ne was awakened about
| midnight by laughing and talking on the
first floor of the hotel. He thought at
the time that some one was quar- cling,
but of that he is not certain
| He again dOzed of and was probably
| asleep when he was startled by the report
| of a pistol shot, followed In rapid success
| sion by another shot. He jumped from
| his bed and hurried to the window winch
1 was only about four feet distant He
/ looked out, but saw no one. The street
was deserted. A moment later some one
I
down: Whats wrong down there2 No
reply was made to the first call. but when
it was repeated Baker responded that he
had heard pistol shots
After that all was quiet, and about
three, or possibly five, minutes after the
shots were fired he saw a woman's figure
come out on the fire escape from me WIN
dow on the fourth floor and slowly and
I cautiously descend the metal ladders 10
a veranda on the second floor, just above
! the street entrance. The figure turned to
] RI entered q
dow just beyond standpipe- Mr.. Baker
saw the figure distinctly. 1t was that OF
| a small slender woman, dressed in a
black skirt and dark stockings. Her hair,
which appeared to be black also, was
hanging down her back. As she de
scended she walked straight forward,
holding on to the iron railing with her
left hand. while with the right hand she
held up her skirt
AYRES II GOOD HUMOR.
Miss Mary Ninas, whose room adjoins
on the south the one occupied by Ayers,
has also given an excellent account OF
what she heard. She saw Ayres in the
dancing hall of the hotel the early pert
Of the evening and had something Of a
talk with him. He was in his usual happy
frame of mind, and when she called his
! attention to an article in The Times
| relative to the probable permanency of
/ the Census Bureau, he stated that he
| guessed he could remain in the service as
| long as he liked He was very much
pleased anc asked her for the copy OF the
/ paper.
Shortly after that some friends called
! 10 see her and she went to her room to
! entertain them. As they ascended the
( stairs she noticed that the lights on the
( fourth floor were exceedingly and unusu-
/ ally dim. ana apoloGized to her friends for
I the necessity of their having to feel their
/ way through the halls. They paid a short
/ visit and after they had gone she retired
I about 1890 o'clock. Some time after /,
I as she thought she was awakened by
some noise and heard three pistol shots
! fired in rapid succession.
I Then she heard three calls for help, the
! noise apparently coming from the hall
| way She was terribly frightened and
! head All was silent for a moment, and
/ then she heard means and sDbs. She Sc
cured her door and put on her dressing
| gown.
The cries and means were the most
pitiful / ever heard, she stated. After
/ then all was silent. ! at first thought that
II might be a nightmare, as ! am subject
l to dreams occasionally, but ! was too
1 frightened to think of sleep, and ! re
I maiHed up all night About O'Clock
( opened my door fully expecting 10 see the
body Of some one IN front Of 1t and find
/ ing everything in its usual condition
/ again believed that 1 might have been
/ dreaming, and determined not to mention
the matter downstairs until some one else
I should.
1T was shortly after o'clock when |
/ wenS down to breakfast and found sev-
| cral Of the young men talking OF the
pistol shots that were heard during the
| night. / then determined that something
! Was wrong. and told Dan. the ColUred
waiter, to go up and cali Mr. Ayers. He
went up. and receiving no response 10 his