The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1902-11-15
GARDENERS MAY HOLD SECRET
NEIGHBGRS SAY Mrs. HAMILTON
KNOBS MYSTERIOUS SLASHER.
. 0iice Think the Assassin May Have Been
seeking the Niothcr Of Gardner. who
Recently Won a Suit Against the Reia.
tiyes Of Her Deceased Second Husband


r Gardner's home in Bath Beach on Thurs
day night and who slashed three Of the
neighbors who went 70 Mrs. Gardner's
assistance. has not yet been caught and
tho police, after a hard days work, have no
ono as TO his identity.
rhey have, however two theories as to
what the man was after. According TO
both theories the intruder is neither
lunatic nor thief and he was not trying
10 find Mrs. William X. Gardner, the young
woman whom he scared half out of her
wits.
One Of these police theories is that the
man was looking for his own wife, who
IN him to live with man named Gardner:
nut not the William r. Gardner of Bath
avenue and Bay Ninth street.
The other notion. and the one which
the police think is the more reasonable.
Is that the slasher was looking for William
r. Gardner's mother, Mrs. Ann Hamilton.
of 2ls East Thirty-first street. Manhattan.
who recently won a 500 600 law suit against
the relatives Of her second husband.
Capt Leavey of the Bath Beach police
station. his two wardmen and Detective
Sergeants Mulvey and Price of the Brook
lyn Headquarters worked on the case all
day yesterday. II was SO much Of a foozle
that Inspector Mclaughlin went to Bath
Beach himself to investigate. But none of
he police officials could get at anything
really tangible. Nobody at the Gardner
household gave them any assistance They
Gro convinced that young Mrs. Gardner
~ telling the truth when she said that
had no idea of the intruder's identity
,hy he should come TO her home
N the other hand he detectives thought
., Mrs. Hamilton might have thrown
Line light on the queer case If she had been
80 inclined. The neighbors agreed with
them.
Frederick Folster, a son-in-law of John
Mcmahon. the neighbor who was danger
orIsly wounded while trying 10 put the
mysterious stranger of the Gardner prem
ses. said;
We can't help thinking that, inasmuch
.~ three of the neighbois were seriously
hurt while trying to protect the Gardeners
tic family ought to help the police all they
can in running down the assailant. In
stead of doing that, they persist in saving
hat they don't know thing about IT,"
Mrs. Hamilton went so lar as To tell the
detectives and other inquirers tia; she had
never been engaged in any lawsuit and
knew Of nobody who had any grudge against
her.
The man who has made all the trouble
and who has given TO Bath Beach a mys-
terry was in the ncighborhood once before
That was about four weeks ago. On that
occasion he went first to the house of a
neighbor. Mrs Goldng He told her that
he wanted TO find Mr.. Ann Gardner
Mrs. Golding said that she knew no such
person, but told him that there was "A Mrs.
Nora Gardner living in the corner house
Then the caller described the woman he
was looking for as person about 10 years
old. tall, and vii h gray hair. The descrip-
ton fits MIR. Gardners mother, Mrs Hamil-
ton, and Mrs. Golding told him so. Then
the stranger left TO go to the Gardner
home.
There was something about the man
that made Mrs. Golding suspicious. He did
not help matters any by picking up st one
on his way to the Gardners' front door.
When Mrs. Golding saw that. she ran round
10 the back door of GARDENERS house and
warned Mrs. Gardner not to answer the
bell
After ringing and knocking for ten min
utes the man went away. Mrs. Gardner
had seen him through the blinds on that
first visit and recognized him when he ap
peared again on Thursday night. He
Jaw her on the piazza on his first visit ,
bu, paid no attention TO her. He KEEP,
insisting on seeing Mrs, Ann Gardner
That alone satisfied the police that he was
not seeking Mrs. Gardner, but the other
woman, whom he had described 50 ac-
first name he was familiar.
The weak spot in this theory is that tho
fellow evidently did not know that Mr..
Gardeners mother had married again and
that he second husband was Hamilton.
This second husband vas George Hamil-
ton, a ScotChmau and a well-to-do contract or
and tuiller. He was found dead in his
hathtub about three wears ago al his home,
us East Thrty-hrst street. He left no
will and the relatives Immediately began
- tpbt for his fortuna pt snmpt hing ~ a
$1,000. The widow claimed everything. on
he ground that most Of the property be-
ionged 10 her before she married Hamilton
The first decision was in favor OF the heirs
in Scotland, but Mrs Hamilton carried The
case TO the Court of Appeals, which reversed
the decision and gave 10 her tn" whole
estate II was Just after this decision of
The Court Of Appeals that the mysterious
stranger made his first visit 10 Bath Beach
in search of Mr.. Ann Gardner
Mrs Hamilton went TO her sons house
AT Bath Beach Yesterday after the excite
ment of the night before had died out a
little.
The neighbols connected the 'front.'
porch stabbing Incident with the lawsuit
and the strangers knowledge Of the older
Moman's personal appearance, age and first
name. Then they jumped t. the con-
c!i-ion that the visitor Wa somebody who
wanted 10 satisfy a personal grudCr for
not getting part of Hamlton- fortune.
The police questioned Mr.. Hamilton
closely. She strcnE' h"nrd their impression
that she might know who the man was
by her emphatic denial that she had ever
been IN a lawsuit and by her Frequently
repeated assertion that she didul kuuN
anything ahOul the case George Gardr T.,
who, according 10 In" ncighhor-, j. the
fivorite grandclid who viii receive the
bulk Of MI~. HaIDiton'~ money, slr,r'-
ou,ly backed NJ ui- grandmother III all
h,r denldl~.
After a long interview with the mclu-
hnr- Of Ia" family Detective MmlNry said:
Il hci"vo that Mr.. Gardner !, telling tn.
tIuh when she saws that she doesn't know
the man I think that Mrs. Hamilton j. Il
very ShrCwl woman"
Mr. Gardner l. about ~ YEAR old SIN"
Wa married 10 William X, Gardner, a,
his second wife, about seven months ago.
Before that -h" WoIked with him in ltur-
graphing concern Ia the PuCN huiidiug
At houston and Mulberry streets, Man
haitian.
tIh BurkmUllcr John McMaLDu and
Frank McMahun. who We're cut bv the
stranger. are all doing we'll The natur" of
tn" ga i'm John MCAlahvn's abdomen
and the cut un Frank McMahpn- face in
uicatc that Ia" Hssaiant used a razor.
The police have been able To trace The
!uan as Tar A. the Union station AT Thirty
siNth street, Sputh Brooklyn, where he left
the surface car, which h. had boarded
In front of Inc Gardner lpll,p uitpr conf