The evening world., 1904-05-10
Agspendedsinthe Branches, Sew
/ enty- five Feet Down the Gift
Qf Hook Mountain, Three
M~Hes,fromaNyack.
P0CKEISTNSIDE OUT
INDICATE ,A.ROBBERY.
Rroof'of>W Violence Impossible as
Man Had Long Been Dead
When Found-Giri's Picture
, May Cause identification.
Especial To The Even,n. vor,. =,

Especial to The Evening WORLDLY
NYACK, N. Y. May 1o.-The BODY OF
young man whose clothing. though
torn by the winds and decayed by the
rain, sleet and snow of many months
still retain traces of its fine texture and
excellent workmanship, has been found
suspended in the branches of a tree
projecting from the precipitous cliff of
Hook Mountain, three miles north of
here.
The position Of the body when found
and the fact that all the mans pockets
were turned inside out Indicate that he
was the victim OF foul play.
The body was discovered by the
merest accident. Shortly before sunset
Yesterday Harold Bedell, William Gar
rison and William Stern. three young
men of this town, were returning home
after a stroll over Hook Mountain. Ven
turing along a weed-grown path they
had never traversed before, they passed
near the edge Of the cliff rising 500 feet
above the river. CHANGING down the
wall-like incline one of the youths was
startled to see the form of a man hang
ing over the trunk of a small tree about
seventy-hve feet below on the mountain
side.
Rescued Body with Difficulty.
They made their way Immediately to
the village and notified Coroner Bittlg.
The Coroner with a party of men and
an undertaken went to Hook Mountain
o.A u,ttb r0na. drauy thA A1l.r an tbn
top of the mountain. The work Of Sc
curing the body took several hours. and
It was almost midnight when the Cor
oner and his party returned to town.
Any Identification of the body was
impossible owing to its ~decomposed con-
dition. An autopsy was performed at
once by DR.. Kline, but 1t revealed moth
Ing. There may have been marks OF
violence on the body weeks ago. but 1t
would be impossible for them to be
detected now.
The fact that all the pockets of the
mans clothing were turned inside out
10 proof positive that he was robbed
before being thrown over the cliff. 1t
IL a sheer drop of rs feet to the tree
where the body lodged. and no man
could have gone down there to rob the
body. 1t is not remarkable that the
body went so long undiscovered. 1t
could only be seen from the river, ana
the river has been closed all winter.
Relieved to BE y New Yorker.
In the summer Hook Mountain Is a
great summer resort and hundreds OF
neople from New York visit 1t on sum
days and holidays. From the general
appearance of the body it is believed
that 1t is that of a New York man.
The man wore a blue serge coat.
black trousers, a black and white
striped shirt, black laced shoes and
summer underwear. He appears to
have been about thirty-ive years OF
age. la brown hair. weighed about lbo
pounds and was five feet seven inches
tall. In the inside pocket or his coat.
the only pocket that was. not turned
inside out. a number of small articles
were found.
These were a black leather pocket
book. 4 silver penknife, with a pencil 4
ct n end, and a photograph of a very
pretty young girl, made on a button.
Around his neck he wore a scapula. A
number of people have examined the
photograph q! the girl, but no one re-
members to have seen her before. The
po~eketbook was empty and there were
no markings on the clothing or on any
Of the articles by which the identity Of
the dead man might be established.
That the young man was a victim OF q
Malta plot has been offered as a posi-
BILE solution of the mystery. Last fall
the Manhattan Trap Rock Company EN-
ployed a gang of Italians near where
the body was found.
The dead man is supposed to have
a foreman or overseer who incurred
the enmity of the Malta. The theory is
advanced that he WAS lured TO a saloon
neal the cliff. drugged, knocked on the
head and thrown over the side OF the
mountain: Coroner Bittig has announced
his intention of visiting the officers of
the trap-rock company this afternoon
making a vigorous investigation.