The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1904-06-08
GIRLS BODY IN CHIMNEY
Mysterious End of a Case That Ex'
cited All New York.
Little Josephine McCahill, Whom ALI
Believed Kidnapped. Was ID cad With
in a Few Feet of Her Mother.

New York City.-Suldcn end came
to the search for little Josie McCahill,
six years old, when ten days after her
mysterious disappearance her body
was found crampcd. with the face
Scared, in a narrow chimney within
arms reach of the bed where her
mother lay grieving over her disap.
p~earance and refusing all consolation.
Only a wall the width Of a brick had
hid the mystery Of Josie's terrible
| fate from her mother. The body was
discovered fifteen feet down a chimney
and was taken out by detectives
breaking q hole in the brick side wall
of the apartment directly north Of
Mrs. McCahill's bedroom.
That Josie was suffocated to death
and not murdered was the opinion
expressed by Coroner Jackson after
an autopsy had been performed upon
the body of the girl at the Morgue.
Both the Coroner and Coroner's Ply
sician Schultz, who made the eXamin-
alton, said that absolutely no evidence
in support of the foul play theory
was found on the body. Coroner jack
son said:
THE girl was plainly suffocated.
No marks or bruises Of any kind were
found on the body and there were no
traces Of poison in the stomach. 1t is
my opinion that she was sitting on
the top of the f1ue and slipped and fell
in when she tried to get up. She could
not have lived long enough to make
any cutlery. Death evidently came to
her in a few minutes" The police
share the belief of the Coroner that
the girls death was purely accidental.
Not in a decade has the city of New
York been aroused to such general
sympathetic interest in q case as has
been developed by the tender feeling
for the mother Of the little girl who
had been missing for ten days, and
when it was learned that the mystery
Of her disappearance had been solved
and the body found a crowd Of fully
5000 persons gathered in front of the
house, blocking the street for hours.
Rewards of $4,000 offered by 'Sena-
tor Frawley and other men great polit-
ically in the district, mass meetings,
the employment of private detectives.
the service of volunteer ones Of all
ages-all these things stirred up Har-
lem.
The facts essential to an understand.
ing Of the case are briefly as follows:
Josie McCahill, a pretty, light haired
child. went out into the street in
front of her home, 1889 Third ave-
nue.. to play with her doll about four
o'clock on the afternoon of May 2. In
the street she met one Of her play
mates, Mary Williams. who, attracted
by a street band, left her about five
o'clock. Josie went upstairs to her
mother then, and begged to be allowed
to play for a little while longer. then
went from the room, a black pet cat
following her. Mrs. Bridget McCahill
never saw her child alive again. The
police were notified, but careful search
Of the neighborhood developed no clew
whatsoever, and the circumstances OF
the disappearance ~warranting a theory
Of kidnapping, the entire district be-
came interested in the case. 1t was
the odor from the decomposing body
which directed attention to the CHM
ney and resulted in the finding of the
body. -,