The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-08-25
did UNION MEN KILL DENNY?
HIS FELLOW WORKMEN THINK
HE WAS MURDERED.
Ills widow Says He Fought Other Unions
which Used Sam Parks Methods. and
That Men Had Threatened HiDi---1Iabor
Leader was Drowned In Erie Basin.


That Men Had Threatened Hini--Labor
Leader was Drowned In Erie Basin.
Little was done yesterday by the Brook
/ Ign police to make clear the circumstances
! OF the death Of John 4. Denny, the labor
man and representative Of the Knights OF
Labor at tho John n. Robins Shipbuilding
| Company, Erie Basin, whose body was
found near the Long Dock there on Sunday
morning. The police held the theory
/ from the start that Denny was accidentally
killed, although his wife and fellow-work-
men suspect that he was murdered.
Denny had frequently told his wife that
threats had been made against his life
because he would not let his union become
affiliated with the International Boiler
makers Union. Furthermore. he was
open in his criticism Of Sam Parks and of
the -I'm-Sam- Parks--see-me" methods
When Denny's body was found alongside
: of the Long Dock about II o'clock on Sun
day morning his wife remembered these
things. There was an ugly cut on his right
cheek bone, and. according to some YER
sions, a cut or bruise on the back Of the
neck. There was also a bruise on the
chin.
Although the body was found on Sunday
morning. not until last evening did Coro-
ncr's Physician Charles A. Phillips make
an autopsy. DIR. Phillips Is positive that
Denny was drowned. There was no cut
on the back of the neck, he said. and the
wour uLder the eye could not have been
fatal.
ut is my duty to find out what caused
DEATH" said Dr. Phillips. There is no
doubt that Denny was drowned. 1t is
now up to the police to run down these
stories that suggest foul play. Denny
may have been pushed OF the dock for all
know
Denny was treasurer of the local branch
OF the Knights of Labor in Brooklyn. He
was very popular with the Robins nveters,
over whom he was assistant superinten-
dent, and they spoke yesterday Of offering
a reward of 81 600 to fix beyond any doubt
Just how Denny came to his death. They
all knew of the threats that had been made
against him, and the Majority OF them said
openly yesterday that they thought he
had been killed.
Three of Denny's fellow workmen. when
they looked at the body yesterday, said :
They killed you, Jack! We knew they
would
MY husband said Mrs Denny was
not drinking man, and when ne left home
on Saturday night he gave me all his pay
except 80. He was in good spirits and
johed with me about few gray hairs IN
his head, saying he was getting old.
For over a year he often spoke TO me
about the threat against him. He was a
powerful man in h'a Union, and the Int err
national Boilermakers' Union had tried
to get his men mao .heir union. He said
| that the other union was made up OF
foreigners, and he thought the Americans
could take care OF their own affairs. When
ever the members of the Int ernational Union
tried TO get work III his shop he always
threatened TO call his men out.
About May ! a delegation from the
other union called on him and tried to
| induce him to bring his men over to their
union, but he refused Since then he
| ten spoke of threats against his life.
| I tried to induce him TO quit where he was
! working, but he always said: What's the
useR I'm happy, and 1 can take care OF
myself
threats. he said: II only one comes after
| me can take care Of myself, but if there is
| two or three suppose they'll do me.
| "Mv husband was against Sam Parks,
and he had no hesitancy in saying so. He
| often said that it wouldn't do any harm
| If Parks went to jail. In his opinion Parks
!
| man"
So far as could be learned yesterday 4,
/ when Denny left his home at 1853 Beard
street, Brooklyn. on Saturday night, no
! went to barber shop in Van Brunt street
| He left there about 10 o'clock and went to a
saloon at Columbia and Sackett streets,
| where he played cards until about midnight
with John Lynch and William Cowlev OF
| 4O5 Van Brlnt street. 1t was impossible
| yesterday to trace Denny's movements
! further until he was seen with another
man walking down the Long Dock, which
| is about six blocks from Denny's home,
| about t.3O on Sunday morning. Jim Ryan,
the Waterman at the dock, says he saw
| him.
Ryan says that Denny's companion WAS
bigger and taller than Denny Ryan says
| that the man was a relative Of Mrs. Denny,
that he recognized him, but that he doesn' t
| know the mans name. He SAID he had
! frequently seen the man with Denny. Ryan
didn't see this man leave the pier, although
he sat at the gateway for two hours after
, ward
Il couldn't say Denny had been drinking,
for he certainly didn't show any signs Of
it," said Ryan, The man with him was
not drunk, either
Mrs. Esther Stacey, who lives a short
distance from where Denny's body was
found, says she heard cries of Murder!
Help" and pistol shot about o'clock
on Sunday morning. No one else in the
| neighborhood heard them, although sew
eral persons live nearer to the pier than
| she does.
1t was pointed out that Denny might
| have been pushed OF the dock. Floating
In the basin near the pier are number
| of logs. The body was resting on those
| logs. One leg. from the knee down, WI
entirely dry. Whether the head had been
in the water and was dragged out nobody
| seemed to know.
There were 81. 10 in the pockets. showing
that robbery could not have been the mo-
| tive, if Denny had only 80 when he left
home, "a bis wife says he had
! A man who could tell much about Denny
labor troubles is Edward Powers, who lives
| In Van Brunt street. He was away on an
excursion on Sunday and did not hear of
the finding Of the body until Yesterday,
| Powers went out of town Yesterday after
making a call at Denny's house and had
| not returned last right.
| 10 D(lO- MEFE RAITMAH PLANNED