The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1903-03-09
POLICE DRIFT.
They Have Reached Starting
P0mt-in Burdfck Case.
Acknowledge That They Don't
know a Thing About 1t.

Buffalo, March 9.-The police identi-
ficaIion of the lone woman seen coming
from or past the Burdick house at 1:10
o'clock on the night of the murder, fail
ed. She is unknown The clues that
pointed to her possible identity proved
yalueless. The evidence of the police
fell away when they came to establish
who she was. Efforts to identify Mrs.
Gertrude 2. Paine as this woman
proved futile. Patrolman August
Meyer. who was the policeman who
stood at the corner of Ashland avenue
and Bryant street and saw the un-
known woman on her lonely way in
the dead of night. confronted Mrs.
Paine face to face, eyed her, scrutin-
lied her
Il can not say she is the woman"
is Meyers report to his superiors.
More than that, the business man,
whose friend the wei known Buffalo
club man, told of his meeting the lone
woman in the Elmwooa district, saw
two photographs of Mrs. Paine and then
got a glimpse of Mrs. Paine herself.
Mrs. Paine is not the woman said
this business man..
Neither Patrolman Meyer nor this
business man could tell who the lone
woman was.
chief Of Detective Cusaclx. after the
days work was done, made q frank
statement of the situation in the light
Of all the developments. He makes II
after a solid weeks work on the case.
after Clues IittQ4ltCs 7-AtA- AAdN BCCAA AA%zf
down and after the evidence thus fer
obtained had been weighed and sifted.
i Chief CusaCk said:
we haven't a thing We are precise
/ 1y where we started q Nzeek ago It is
all very we'll II have said that we may
i be satisfied as th VINO dia it, but the
plain truth today is that we do not
know who did it. in the sense that we
4 can arrest and convict. Let those who
talk Of making an arrest remember that
this IS not like a case where, on aC-
count of the general character of per-
sons roundabout, you can go out and
arrest or bring in and lock up a lot OF
them simply on general principles. This
+ is not crime in low life.
They have their lawyers. They arc
jealous of their rights, they dread no
toriety or some possible impression that
| they We're connected with the circle
Take the members of the ElmWooG
Dancing club for instance. There are a
lot of nice people, fine people, in the
club and as a matter of course they dc
not wish to be dragged into any sucF
affair as this or to have anyone get the
false idea that they were in the circle
Such people naturally prefer to say
| nothing. People come to us or we g
to them and we get suggestions, but nC
real information or valuable facts.
BY this I do not mean we have
abandoned the cause-far from it. W.
have not given it up. Our men Will keeI
RIGHT on working But the result of Oul
work to date is that we are right baci
where we started. Theories are all right
and clues are all right but they are no
worth anything unless you get the evi
dence. too I still think it was a woman
who did it. But it is hard case. {
mighty hard case. Yet is not half 50
mysterious as the Gibbs case, where W.
did not even know what we know of thll
case on the face of it. A long time passed
before the Gibbs case turned out, but j
did turn out at last. and it turned On
on Wornans s squealing.