New-York tribune., 1903-07-12

who had said she had seen Robinson sneaking out
of the house died in her bed. Robinson was ac-
quilted went to Texas and died afterward.
No Al stood vacant a great many years. and was
of the first buildings in this street to be torn
down. 1t stood at the northwest corner of Thomas
and Church sts."
"Well. the Burdell house had a similar history"
said a younger detective, whose black mustache
just beginning to show streaks of gray.
You weren't alive the time Of the Burden muir
DER" interrupted the veteran who so loved to tell
of these tragedies that he seemed afraid some one
else might take up the narrative.
mo. but I remember the house. No 81 Bond-st.,
which torn down.
I'm October, 1885," the veteran broke in again.
Yes, and if you ever noticed, the present No. 81
is the only new business building in that row. The
houses each side OF and across the street are
old-fashioned red brick two story and basement
structures. which long antedate the Civil War"
Didn't they say old No 81 was haunted and
Haunted? Why, of 1t was" broke in the
veteran Nobody would live in the place for a
long time after the murder. and then when family
did in some curious fool from out of town
that was seeing the sights would ring the door
bell and say:
rs this the house where Burdell was murdered? :?
"Old No. 81 couldn't shake the hoodoo, and at
last they tore it down"
Were you alive" asked the with the mus
tache, winking at a fellow detective. when DR..
BurdeU murdered?'
Alive? I guess I wasr' exclaimed the old man
proudly as he threw back MS shoulders. ''Dr.
Harvey Burdell killed January 30 1857.
was a boy then, but I remember all about that
crime if it yesterday The doctor was
dentist, and owned the house. People called him
a miser. He used a couple of rooms for his Office
and bedroom and leased the rest of the house to a
Mrs. Cunningham"
Mrs Cunningham! The boldest woman New
York. but the speaker who had ventured this
remark was cut short by the veteran, as he con-
tinued:
Lyant hOar
what she called them, and among others there was
a John J. Eckel. Both Eckel and Burden became
attentive to the widow, and BOnd-st overheard
many a between the rival suitors. There were
many quarrels that finally the doctor decided to
get another tenant He put 'ad' in the papers
and the next day women poured in to inspect the
place. At the sight of the newcomers Mrs Cum
nngham was furious, and fairly threw one of she
women into the street.
''Dr. Burdell went out to dinner that night About
1880 o'clock citizen living across the street heard
what he thought was a scream. He looked out but
nothing. The next morning the boy who made
the doctors fire in whIstlng, but he tried
to open the door 1t struck something By deter
mined push the lad broke into the room. There en-
the floor was the body of the doctor. Another
glance and the boy ran screaming out of the house.
He had seen all-the stab wounds. the black and
blue mark around the neck the blood stains and
the long, narrow dagger lying near by.
Mrs. Cunningham found with her boarders
at breakfast in the basement. When the police
told her the doctor was murdered she fell as IN a
fit and tore her hair. Eckel, who sat near. acted
If he neither surprised grieved Both
were arrested and taken to the Tombs
"At the coroner's inquest it was shown that the
fifteen dagger wounds had been made with the left
hand. Mrs Cunningham left handed.
Ezekiel was soon released. and the widow was
accused Of the murder. Then it developed that she
had been secretly married to DR.. Burdell and the
District Attorney, A Oakley Hall. tried to prove she
had committed the crime get the doctors money.
But there was direct evidence against the woman
and she acquitted"
Tell the rest of it," said the man who had been
smothered once before for volunteering a remark.
why, of course" the veterans rejoinder.
Now comes the boIdest act of all. Not satisfied
with having been acquitted OF the murder or
with getting the one-third of the dentists estate
which was due her his wife, she laid plot to