The sun., 1905-11-06
WOMAN KILLED WITH IRON BAR
MI RDERER DASHES FROM Low
RESORT AND VANISHES.


VINO Is Probably innocent Victim a
Notorious Character Often In Tolls
of the Law Robbery Not the Motive.
GussIe Leicher, low type of Tenderoin
oreat,ra, wa- brutally murdered in room
IN the second floor Of 1O2 West Twenty
evt,h street yesterday afternoon Her
head was crushed, and beneath her body
when It was found lay an eight inch iron
har wrapped in a newspaper and covered
with blood,
The murdered girl was 23 years old and
. Russian. She was we'll known to the
Tenderon police. She had been arrestcd
numerous times as disordery person and
for robbery. Only few weeks ago she was
arrested along with others, for "creeper"
game that was pulled of in Il fiat on Fortieth
street, and through which a certain man
was robbed of 1928, The police failed to
make out case against her or the others
mixed up in the affair.
The place where the murder occurred
Of class that the police and Tenderloin
habitues call STABLES" 1t is on the second
Aoor over O saloon at the corner of Seventh
avenue The entrance is on Twenty-eighth
street and up one flight is n series OF rooms,
In small one Of these in the rear the mur-
der took place,
Marie Henriette, French woman, rents
the rooms as harbor for craft such as the
Ieicher woman was. About 4:aO O'Clock
Yesterday afternoon she heard loud talking
in the Leicher woman's room. a man was
cursing and so was the woman. This didn't
disturb Nine. Henriette in the least-she
had heard rows in her rooms before, A few
moments later however, the Leicher woman
was heard to scream and then the Henriette
woman thought it time to do something,
She sent Marie Girard an old French
servant, to tell the couple not to make so
much noise. As the old woman tottered
down the dark and narrow hallway she was
brushed aside by man who had darted
out Of the room. He bounded down the
stairs and fed to the street.
The Girard woman continued down the
hallway and peered into the room. Seeing
the Ieicher woman st tretched out on the
floor and covered with blood she made
her way to the street and told a small boy
10 get a policeman. He found Policeman
Clarke around the corner. Clarke sum
moned an ambulance from the New York
Hospital, and the surgeon on arriving at
the place saw at a glance that the woman
was dead News Of the murder was carried
to the Tenderon police station and Cart.
Dooev hustled out all his sleuths. De-
tectives from Inspector Schmittberger's
headquarters also rushed over to the place.
A great crowd OF the characters OF the
neighborhood gathered in few minutes.
Among them was lsador Leicher, who had
visited the woman earlier in the day.
Although the servant, Marie Glrard, could
not identify him as the man who had fled
down the stairs, the police decided quite
suddenly that Leicher had committed the
crime. and he was locked up as a suspicious
person
Leicher is no relation to the woman. He
explained his visit to her in the morning
He makes his living by selling cheap jewelry
and clothing TO the women OF the Tender
loin. He sells on the installment plan and
Is familiar tgu"e in the district. Accord
ing to his statement, when he had seen the
woman in the morning he was irving to
induce her TO buy fur coat. She had
hesitated, he said, over the price and the
amount Of time he was to give her in which
TO pay for IL. Leicher says the woman had
told him that she would think the matter
over and would have decided when he called
again later in the day.
The police also arrested Marie Henriette
and old Marie Girard and hearing that Lot
tie Williams of 23O West Twenty-fifth street
had been talking freely of the murder, they
went TO her house and she too was locked
up. The Williams woman was reported to
was, but she was blankly ignorant of any
thing pertaining to the case when taken to
the police station. The three women were
detained as witnesses.
Assistant District Attorney Garvan visited
the station house last night and examined
the four prisoners. He said he was salts
fed that Lecher was innocent and that
the police had made mistake in arresting
him. Detective Sergeant Frank Peabody,
who was detailed on the case from the
Central Office, also was Of the opinion that
the arrest Of the itinerant merchant was
case Of police hysteria and bungling. Pea
body took another course in the investiga-
ton and is looking for a man with French
name,
The Henriette and Girard women are Of
little use to the police as witnesses. They
hadn't seen the girl during the afternoon.
The murdered woman didn't make the
room her home, but stopped there occa-
eionally. She had another room on Twenty
fifth street and still another on Fortieth
street
Robbery was evidently not the motive
for the crime, as $40 was found In the stock
ing Of the victim. The Leicher woman
was accustomed to parade on Seventh
avenue and frequented cheap saloons and
dives, She was one Of the class that give
up most of their money to such beings as
Gerdron, who was killed by Berthe Claiche
0 few months ago.