New-York tribune., 1901-08-12
CAR DRAGGED CORPSE FAR.
MYSTERY SURROUNDS BODY WEDGED
N TRUCK AND CARRIED BACK
AND FORTH For HOURS.

wedged between the floor and the top of the
forward double truck of Franklin-ave. car OF
the Coney Island and Brooklyn Railroad, the
body of a man WAS found yesterday morning at
$40 O'Clock. 1t had undoubtedly been there for
hours, having been carried back and forth be-
tween Coney Island and the Broadway ferries, in
the Eastern District. How it got there is a
mystery. Various theories are advanced. one
Is that the body was placed there after death by
some one who wished to conceal crime. A
more probable guess is that the man was run
over.
The body now in the Raymond-st. morgue
and unidentified up TO a late hour last night.
was discovered under car No. 534 Of the Frank
lin-ave line when it stopped at the Park Circle
Coney Island and Fort Hamilton aves.. on its
way 10 Coney Island. Frederick s Roberts. an
inspector. happened 10 look under the front
platforr and there saw the body. covered with
dUst and CRIME II was lying over the forward
truck head down, and the arms were thrown
over the front axle. The legs extended back
over the pony axle used for the small wheels
Of the truck
When the body was dragged out il was seen
that the shoes and parts Of the socks were
gone II looked as though they had been worn
away by friction with the street pavement The
ends II the toes had also been worn away. The
tips of the fingers. which had dragged on the
ground in front TO the bone. Al
though covered with dirt, the face in A
good state of preservation Both arms seemed
10 have been dislocated. The front Of the lower
part Of the body was mass Of bruises and
dirt
All who saw the position Of the body declare
that il would have been an inpossibility for the
car to have picked up the man, dead or alive
How the body got where il was is a puzzle The
car. il was said by the company, had been in
almost continuous service for twenty hours. The
round trip from the Broadway ferries 10 Coney
Island and return takes two hours and twenty
minutes The crew Of the car when the body
WAS found was making its second trip to the
island on that swing" II consisted of Ber-
nard Tarpey. Of No. 255 Stone-ave.. motorman,
and Henry Rosenberg. Of No. 345 Powell-st-,
conductor. Both were arrested and locked up
in the Parllviue station 1t is thought. how
ever that the body must have been on the truck
for some time before these went on duty.
At the morgue last night the keeper expressed
his belief that the man had been dead nearly
twenty-four hours.
At either end Of the line there is a loop so that
there is no change Of fender. The body might
have been discovered had II been necessary 10
adjust the fender. That the man might have
been an emplOye Of the company. who had
crawled under the truck to repair or inspect IL.
and had died from apopleXy or had fallen asleep
and been killed when the car was started, was a
theory advanced by the police. but none OF the
employees Of the company who visited the morgue
last night could identify the body.
The dead man was probably a pane; Ihe
hagen on his white shirt was the laundry
mark 10 Y" The coal and wastcoat are Of a
black and gray mixture. The undershirt has
half sleeves and is blue with white stripes.
With a turn down white collar was worn blue
ii with white dots. The hair and mustache are
brown, complexion dark. The was about
thirty-hve years old. weighed 100 pounds and
Was feet inches high.