New-York tribune., 1902-12-12
Roy MURDER MYSTERY I.
Police BqHed by the Central Park
.Stranghng Case.
soDY WAS WARM WHEN FOUND

Recas Michael Kruck was the neWsooy Nllo
murdered the spot where hrs oody was 4osLd -,
in the bride path in Central Park at Elshty-nLIh
et near Fiftn-ave., Wednesday nlsht' me
bod,, was identified yesterday by the parents. ana
later Coroner's Physician Higgins. after an au-
.onsy declared that there was no DOUBT tnat the
lad had been murdered
The identification was made by the boys father
Henry D. Kruck tailor, living at NO 81 20
.,,rnhus-sve who has a store at No. $50 Centfal
Park West Mr. kruck said that his sen was d
schoolboy After school hours it had been MS Gus
tom 10 sell pers He always home for dinner
Wednesday night he did not return. and When tle
stories were published in the morning papers MT
Kruck went to the Morgue to view the pody-
Later the father and mother went to the cofohels
office. in the Criminal Courts Building. They told
Coroner scholer the story b1r. kruck had told at
the Morgue The mother was hysterlcaL ana noth
were positive that their son had been murdered
DR. Higgins performed autopsy on the body
of the boy in the Morgue- He found tnat death
had been caused by asphyxiation or strangulauon'
The great artery of the heart, the aorti had ouis'
from the shutting off Of circulation at tie throat
Dr. Higgins said death had been due to violence.
There was no sign of starvation or lack of nutrl-
tion.
When the body was found at 119o o'clock. a
bundle of evening newspapers lay beside IL Ihefe
were several marks the right side of the boy S
recl inst hack of the ear. Nine Of these marks or
wounds were found. End they appeared 10 nave
Ieen made by fingernais- On the other SIDE OF the
neck there also marks, as II MADE py hu-
man thumb giving the impression that the hoy
had been strangled to death On the right cheeR
was circular mark. red. and as large as ho-cent
niece Close inspection disclosed three indentatohs
in the centre of this mark, the punctureS lookligs
as if they had been made by teeth: he 1dd q
cents and three streetcar transfer tickets. one OF
the transfers was the Eighth-ave. line, one
from the Crosstown line that goes through the
Rark at line One of the transfers had been
Punched at o'clock that evening. . ,
The body found by Patrolman Coster, or
the Central Park squad, who at once called an am
bulance from Presbyterian Hospital Dr. Van
Ingen who accompanied the ambulance, found that
the body was still warm, and said the boy had not
been dead very long. He took the body to the
Arsenal, where examina ton disclosed the
wounds
1t was at first supposed that the boy might have
fallen from a car. and while injured ana trying
TO make his way through the park had been been
attacked by animal. A more careful examl1a-
tion however. convinced the police and the am
buance doctor that the marks had been made by
human hands
Three detectives assigned to the case. and
they searched around the spot where the body was
found but could not discover any clews. Ihey Cld
not find even footprints They are now looking
for the conductors who gave the boy the transfers
None of the boys outer garments were OF the
same material. He had glove of heavy cloth
and a small black mitten. which the police think
he took off previous to being attacked, as 1t was
found beside the body.