The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-07-27
WOMAN, S1RANGLED, IN SEWER
su0rsrRING, TIED AROUND NECK,
CUT INTO FLESH.
an. ncdy, Found ON viaduct on tho Out
skirts OF Mount Vernon. Probably
loNercd by n Rope Into big Pipe,
which Had Been Broken by Murderer.

,ouered by a Rope Into big Pipe.
ur,ch HAD Been Broken by Murderer.
Tho body Of a woman, apparently a
n.,,,ar about 20 years old, blonde and
I'D looking, WAS found yesterday after
ION in a sewer pipe on the outskirts OF
wo,rt Vernon. A black knotted shoe
.,r;ng was tied tightly around her neck
,hrce times and covered up with che neck
hand Of her waist. On her throat there
we're finger marks and bruises as II she
had been strangled.
Tho sewer pipe was broken and 1t is be-
geved that the body was lowered into the
bols with a rope. Coroner Weisendanger,
,ho examined the body, said the woman
Rad NOT been dead over twenty-four hours.
The body was dressed in a blue and white
rolka dot shirt waist and skirt, large white
.,raw hat trimmed with blue and white
lvbich was found some distance away,
h,ack stockings and patent leather ties.
The part of the city where the body was
found ia known as East Mount Vernon.
Al the end Of the street the sewer emptles
into the Fast Chester Creek. Isabel knlght
NJ AZ Union avenue and Ethel Mullen OF
~ South Fulton avenue, young girls OF
Mount Vernon, were out hunting for apples
,hout o. clock in the afternoon, and while
wandering along the sewer they saw
bundle of clothing through hole in the
nine. Going closer, they peered into the
dark hole and discovered the body OF
woman The girls ran screaming from
the place and told ex-Alderman A. A. Ultcht'
who lives about quarter OK mile away,
what they had seen.
Urcht notified Chief Of Police Foley,
who. with Detectives Lynch, Atwell and
Walters, drove to the place. After max
inc brief examination Chief Foley notified
Coroner Weisendanger. and he hurried
over from Yonkers and personally super
ylsed the removal Of the body
The Sixth street sewer extends from
Columbus avenue eastward to East Chester
From Sixth street the pipe runs through
a salt meadow and is held in place by
retaining wall and viaduct 20 feet high
and is feet wide. About 100 feet from
sixth street and for a distance OF rs feet
The fve-Yoot pipe is uncovered, there
being broken section in the brick Gaping
The pipe IL about six feet below the
surface Of the retaining wall. and in one OF
the cracked sections a piece OF the brick
covering L feet long and feet wide had
Lean crushed In with a crowbar or sledge
hammer,
Through this aperture Police Surgeon
Van Patton thinks the body was lowered
with a rope, head first, the woman's skirts
being about the upper part Of her body.
She lay in q cramped position on her left
- 4 atnJ in
Her left arm was doubled under her.
Coroner Weisendanger thinks the mur-
t,erer strangled the woman to death and
then carried her to the sewer. He says
he must have had assistance, as the woman
weighed lat pounds and he could not have
placed her In the pipe alone.
Chief OF Police Foley and his detectives
were inclined to believe that the body may
have been thrown into manhole 100 feet
north OF the excavation. and that the recent
rain washed it through the big pipes to
tho opening. Against this theory was
tho discovery on the clothing OF freshly
broken pieces Of mortar, bricks and sand
from the roof Of the pipe, which seems
70 show that very little water, ii any, had
passed through the pipe while the body
WAS there.
No footprints were found in the roadway
leading to the viaduct or in the sand banks
ON each side OF the pipe. 1t is believed
the woman may have been strangled IN the
woods in the neighborhood and carried
through the salt meadows by the murderer
and his confederates to prevent the police
from tracing the footsteps. The finding
Of the woman's hat in the salt meadow at
the foot OF the retaining wall gives reason
for this belief.
A piece OF tar rope rs feet long was found
hy Detective Walters in the edge OF the re-
tanning wall. twenty feet above where the
hat Law. The body could have been lifted
out Of the meadow with this rope and then
carried about fifty feet to the sewer.
The woman 8 hat was OF rough straw
with indented crown. 1t held two Large,
plain hat pins, which ran through the crown
IN two places, showing that it had been
forcibly torn from the woman's head.
Strands of hair we're found around one Of
The pins, while the other pin ran through
q black velvet bow.
Near the rope Detective Walters picked
up large lead pencil and another hair
how. No jewelry Of any kind WAS found
and there were no marks on the woman 8
clothing which might lead to her identity.
There had evidently been a ring on the
middle finger Of the left hand, and bruise
an the second joint indicates that the ring
may have been taken on.
Coroner Weisendanger learned last night
from Rudolph Streal, who lives at 420
Durham avenue, that no saw the straw hat
lying in the salt meadow Mt o'clock on
Saturday afternoon. He saw no one about,
and thought that the wind had blown it
Of some woman's head.
Or. Van Patten crawled about twenty
feet in the sewer pipe and said afterward
that he was sure the body had not been
washed through the pipe, as the pipe was
blocked In some places by pieces OF timber
and bricks.
The body was removed TO Davis's city
morgue, and Coroner Weisendanger or
dared prs. Van Patten and Banning to per-
form an autopsy. On the throat near a
knot in the shoestring the iJnprints OF two
fingers were found. In addition to this
there were abrasions on other parts of the
neck.
Late last night Coroner Weisendanger
asked the police OF all neighboring cities
10 ascertain II there was woman missing
answering the description of tho woman