The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1904-09-28
MARGARET LYNCH IDENTIFIED.
BODY DUG UP AND VIEWED BY
MOTHER AND SISTERS.
Grewsome Spectacle for the BENEFIT OF
Professional Mystery Makers-Face
Sufficiently Preserved TO he Recog-
nized-A Dentist Examines Teeth.

The body OF the young woman found In
the woods near Freeport last April, and
buried under the name OF Martha Lain
beer in the Greenfield Cemetery there,
was exhumed yesterday and identified by
the mother and two sisters as that of Mar
garet Lynch the Brooklyn girl. No pos
sible doubt could be thrown on the identi-
fcation, as the girls features were suf-
fciently preserved for any one who knew
her in life to recognize her.
That the body buried in the Freeport
Cemetery was that OF the Lynch girl has
been asserted by her family ever since
their name was brought into the case.
The elimination yesterday was more to
satisfy few professional mystery makers
that have been making life burdensome
for the authorities than anything else.
But for these mystery makers the dis
tressing scene in the cemetery would have
been avoided, IA the family's statement
regarding the girls history and the identi-
fication by one Of the sisters OF the dead
womans chatelaine bag made 1t certain
that it was Margaret Lynch.
District Attorney Nieman got the court
order to exhume the body after the mystery
makers had brought several persons for
identity He did not request the presence
of any Of the Lynch family at the grave
yesterday, and the arrival Of the mother
and her two daughters was somewhat OF
surprise. In order to make the identi-
fication the District Attorney had arranged
to have DR., John Shea Of Stuyvesant ave-
nue., Brooklyn, the dentist who had filled
eleven of the girls teeth, and Harry Van
Ripper, who kept the Woodclif Inn, where
the Lynch girl stayed with Mr.. and Mrs.
Oswald Maune, ST., two years ago, to look
1.-THE body. Van Ripper had failed to iden-
tify picture OF the woman taken when her
body was found
Mrs. Lynch and her daughters, Catharine
and Annie, drove up just before the body
was taken out Of the grave They were
in the deepest mourning. With Catharine
Lynch, the elder Of the girls, was a young
man to whom she is engaged. They waited
in a little house some distance from the
grave while the preliminaries we're gone
through with.
Oswald, Maune, ST.: in whose family
the Lynch girl lived for a time, was not
ing when he left his home in Brooklyn
that he was going to his office and was not
going to Freeport
crowd Of curiosity seekers surrounded
the grave when the coffin was taken out
mobiles drove into the cemetery and got
as near as they could and one smart drag
with several women on 1t followed suit.
They got out and joined the crowd while
the groom held the horses.
1t was found, when the top was taken
off the coffin, that the remains were in
fair state Of preservation. and then Mrs.
Lynch and her daughters were asked II
they wanted to look at them. They said
they did. and then Mrs. Lynch, supported
by her two daughters, came forward, the
crowd breaking apart for them.
AS the mother saw the face she fell Tor
ward on her knees and wept,
@Oh, my Matte, my poor Mattel she
said. Before any one could stop her. Mrs.
Lynch put out her gloved hand and gently
stroked the face. DR.. Denton. the Coro-
ner's physician, who was standing by.
hastily removed the glove and put it in the
coffin, for fear she would touch her own
face with It,
The two girls were as much upset az the
mother. While they were standing beside
the coffin Catharine screamed and toppled
over into the arms Of her fianoe. She was
taken to the carriage. where she tainted.
DR.. Denton went to her, but 1t was some
time before he could revive her. Dr. Shea.
the dentist, examined the teeth of the
dead girl He found one missing. The
others, he said, were those he had filed, as
near as he could tell. One of the sisters said
afterward that the missing tooth had been
extracted short time before they lost
track OF Margaret.
District Attorney Nieman asked Mrs.
Lynch and the dentist several formal ques-
tions and had the answers record ed to estab
lish the Identification, The body was then
lowered into the grave again. Before that
was done the medal Of a Catholic society
found around Margaret's neck was given
as one belonging to her which she had let
her sister wear. 1t was some time before
the Lynch family could be composed enough
after the scene in the cemetery to undertake
the journey back to Brooklyn. All the
way back Catharine Lynch had to be sup
1t is expected that one or more members
Of the family will be called upon to testify
at the resumption OF the inquest on Oct.
IL. With the body now formally identified,
no chance is left for any more mystery to
be manufactured on that score.
Although very few persons have any
idea that the girl came to her end by any
ones agency save her own, the county
authorities still refuse to say that the case
is closed. They admitted yesterday that
the body had been identified, and it seemed
to have taken a great load off their minds.
District Attorney Nieman said that in view
of the many conflicting statements that
had been made he had deemed his course
in having the body exhumed the only one
to take.
hltnOuRn tfle LynCn 1arully, ne SAID,
had declared the body was that OF Mar
garct Lynch, the fact remained that they
did not visit the morgue when the body
lay there, and consequently the identifoa-
ton was somewhat circumstantial.
Mr. Nienan said that he had not sought to
find Oswald Maune in connection with the
inquest and that the question as to whether
or not 1t would be anything more than
a purely formal affair would remain to be
seen. The only possible excuse for lay
ing bare any more Of the details OF the
tragedy is the assert ton OF Coroner's Ply
stefan Denton that the girl had a wound on
the forehead which could have caused
death by conclusion and that this wound
was made before death. He has said that
he does not believe IL was made by fall.
The girls movements however, have been
traced to Freeport practically She was
seen alone there, and everything else in
the case has precluded the theory OF murder.
Nevertheless, Mr.. Nieman said to-day
that in view of the doctors statement
he believed that the authorities should
get to the bottom Of the affair