New-York tribune., 1903-07-12
MURDER MYSTERIES.
Noted Ones Which Haze BaHed
Detectives Ingenuity an This City.

Murder will out" Yet in spite of this ancient
proverb many tragedy has been enacted in this
city which has passed into its criminal history as
a mystery. The finger of suspicion may often have
pointed at one but the finger only
shadow. Conclusive evidence wanting. The
police may have felt certain in cases that
they had caught the murderer but the twelve
men who pondered the testimony set the
prisoner free At other times clews that might have
only limited at the guilty one have been lacking.
Like the wild beast which seeks to wash away the
scent of its steps from the hounds by swimming
a river, the murderer covered his tracks and
baf1ed his pursuers.
The fate of the old Nathan house, at No. 12 West
Twenty third-st., recalls a murder mystery which,
though committed thrty-three years ago, has never
been solved. The owners of the property now con-
template building in its stead modern Office struct
For many years after Benjamin Nathan was
found dead on its second floor No. u was regarded
by the supersttious haunted. 1t became
tenanted, and porters of the Fifth Avenue Hotel,
opposite, told many story of a sheeted shape
which fitted from window to window Friday
mornings just before sunrise. Real estate brokers
tried to rent the property a private dwelling
house, but wished to test its traditions by
sleeping within its walls, Finally it was remodeled
into business building. The brownstone steps
and ponderous stoop, the heavily ornamented case
ments and cornices were torn away Instead there
faced on the street five broad rows of plate glass
windows. and over the central doorway, with its
threshold flush with the street, painted in huge
figures, mo. 12.
The report of the destruction of the Nathan house
started a group of sleuths at Police Headquarters
the other day to talking about the many murders
which the Detective Bureau has been unable to
TO the ground
'And a peculiar feature of all these unsolved
crimes" said veteran detective, '1s that house
cannot long survive a murder when the murderer
escapes punishment. People get supersttious about
such house They seem to think that the spirit
OF the dead demands vengeance, and that it comes
back again to the scene of the murder to help
mortals solve the crime. It's different with place
where the murderer is caught and punished.
Don't know but what you're right" said a
younger man. who had just changed clothes after
coming in from shadowing pawnshop. Don't
know but what you're right, though never thought
of it myself"
The conversation drifted back year after year
and the oldest member of the group recalled the
murder OF Doras Doyeu, or Helen Jewet. The
CRIME was committed long before the white haired
became a detective, but he told of it as he
remembered it from his predecessors.
This murder" he said. was classed by Chief
Byrnes first his list of mysterious murders. 1t
was committed a Saturday night, April u, 1885,
at No. Al Thomas-st You all know what the
character Of that part of the city at that
time and how it has been transformed by the north
ward growth of business. 1t was inhabited by
questionable characters. and when detective was
after a crook in the early part of this century he
kept eye on ThOmas-st.
"Doras Doyeu dark eyed black haired girl.
who known as adventures of the most dar-
ing type. Her swarthy complexion often led those
who her TO the belief that she born in
some tropical country. On the contrary her birth
place Augusta, Me Doras had many admirers,
but cared only for young fellow by the name of
Richard Robinson, clerk in a Maiden Lane store,
who was known by the men about town Frank
Rivers, Robinson had saved her life from the at
tack of a ruf1an. She loved him, and had hoped
to marry him, when she learned from some over
heard conversation that he was about to marry a
rich young of good social standing. In her
anger she reproached the Maiden Lane clerk. and
is said TO have even threatened his life should he
marry another. At last like all women, she for
gave the she loved for his treachery, and
after good cry told him she herself to blame.
Robinson called at No. il Thomas-st the next
night. He wore a long Spanish cloak. which was
fashionable for the dandies Of that time. About
midnight others in the house noticed the smell of
smoke. and discovered the room of Doras in flames.
! The fire put out, and the girl found dead
the floor. Her head split with an axe. A
! search resulted in finding the in the back yard
and not far away Spanish cloak. negro woman
in house in Worth-st. said she had just heard
a in her cellar and then saw him running
down the street On top Of this information watch
men, the police then called. hastened to
Robinson's house. Instead of catching him red
handed, as they expected. they found him appar-
emily sound asleep with his roommate James Tod.
His clothes had been carefully piled on a chair, but
the knees OF the trousers and the elbows Of the
coat were smeared with whitewash. The back
fence Of No. IL Thomas-st. had been recently white
washed
The trial attracted the attention of the whole
country. The prosecutor was certain Robinson was
the murderer, and produced the cloak and the
whitewash smeared clothes evidence. But the
roommate stuck TO Robinson. and he had
been IN bed with him all night The negro woman
witness mysteriously disa appeared. Anoth& woman