The Savannah morning news., 1901-05-13
CLUE TO THE MURDER.
New Light Thrown on Mystery by
Montieth Magistrate.

clue that may lead to the detection
and arrest of the murderer of the man
thought to be Bernhard Muller, a Savan-
nah shoemaker, has been found, and is
in the possession of Coroner Keller. The
clue, however, negatives or at least dis
credits the theory that the body is that
of Muller.
Last Tuesday afternoon the mutilated
body of a man was found in Black creek,
near Monteith. The body was so terribly
decomposed that it was practically impos-
sible to determine the exact manner in
which death had been produced and the
flesh and bones of the face had been so
cut and broken away, for the evident pur
pose of preventing recognition, that exact
Identification was also impossible.
The body was buried near Monteith
The Morning News account of the grue-
some discovery in the creek and the de-
tails it furnished of the appearance of
the man and the clothes he wore, led to
the belief in Savannah that the body
was that of Bernhard Muller, a shoe
maker who had wandered away from
his home about April %, and had not
been seen by his relatives or friends here
since that time. The belief that the
body was that of Muller was expressed
by William Muller his brother, who lives
in Savannah. A telegram, received by
Coroner Keller from j. c. Lilienthal of
Charleston, a brother-in-law of Bernhard
Muller, expressed a like opinion of the
identity of the murdered man. The tele-
gram, however says that Muller was seen
last on April %.
The clue comes from Van r. Winkler
a justice of the peace at Monteith The
man to whom he refers may or may not
be the murderer, but, if he is, either the
statement that Muller was seen here on
April % is mistake or else the crime
had not been committed before the oc-
currence of the incident Oh which Mr.
Winkler bases his theory.
He says, in a letter to DR.. Keller, that
on April % he sent small negro on an
errand to Monteith. When the boy re-
turned he said he saw stranger, a
white man, coming out of the swamp at
a point on the road where it is unusual
for strangers to be. The unusual. charac-
ter of the incident led Mr.. Winkler to
question the boy closely and he obtained
from him, in this manner, the particulars
of his encounter with the white stranger
The boy said the man had red mus
tache and was wearing a black cap, blue
coat, trousers of what looked like black
jeans, but which were so fun of mud as
to prevent accurate statement as to their
material. old shoes, without heels, and no
necktie.
The boy was leading dog and the man
wanted TO know if it was a hunting dog.
When the boy said it was, the man want
ed to know where his boss was. A good
deal frightened by the aspect of the
stranger, the boy said his boss was not
far away-a little ingenious falsehood of
his own, to prevent trouble.
The man then told the little negro he
had lost his partner in the woods and had
been hunting for him. He was then look
ing, he seid, for the road to Atlanta.
Mr.. Winkler writes that the point at
which the conversation took place is not
200 yards, in an air line, from that at
which the body of the murdered man
was found, in Black Creek. He adds
that it is impossible for body to float
from the river to the point in the creek
at which the body was found, as it takes
a good oarsman an hour to row it.
1t is probable that the body of the
murdered man will be disinterred and
new and more rigid examination made,
to determine its identity and the manner
in which death was produced 1t is be-
lieved possible that in this manner new
light will be thrown upon the tragic mys-
terry and possibly some connection found
between the man murdered and the
stranger of Mr.. Winkler's narrative.