The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1905-04-30
LAY MURDERED FOUR DAYS.
roviy KILLED WITH HAMMER
AND KNIFE FOR MONEY.

n.,,os seek bohemian BoardeF VINO Van.
,shcd I'm New suit on nay Of Killing
MYSTERY About German Mrs. Whelen,
whom the NeighbOrs Called = Miser
with her head battered In by FIVE OF six
hammer blows, any one Of which would
L.ys causcd death, and with two deep
Lrif wounds in her neck, a woman, only
identifed thus far as Mrs. Whelen,' was
found dead in her apartments at $50 East
,oIst street yesterday morning. She was
the victim Of murder, the sole motive Of
which apparently was robbery.
.Nrs. Wheen." as she called herself and
=. papers found In her apartment style her,
vas a thin faced. why woman about - or
~ years Of age. On April / she rented Of
Mrs. Annie Bishop, the janitress Of now
tenement house, between First AMI Pleas
ant avenues, an apartment Of four rooms,
second floor front, paying tii rent IN adj
vance. All she said about herself was
that she was Mrs. Whelen, that she had
lived in Lexington avenue, and that she
had a boarder who worked In a harness
shop in First avenue, between Ninety
second and Ninety-third streets. She was
afraid the boarder might not be able TO find
the new home and the janitress's little girl
was sent TO tell him where to go.
The woman, notwithstanding her Irish
name, was German, and spoke with a
strong German accent. The boarder was a
Bohemian. and he has been in this country
only since last January. He spoke no
English whatever.
The police are now looking for the
boarder He is 20 or % years old and his
name is Edward Picarz. The police think
he may be able to throw a good deal Of
light on Mrs. Whelen's murder, for he dis
appeared Just about the time when II is
believed the murder was committed. This
was as long ago as Tuesday last.
The crime was discovered about 0 o'clock
Yesterday morning. Mrs. Bishop, the iani-
tress had not seen the little old woman
Of the second floor front for 80 long. and
there was such an unbroken silence In the
new dodgers apartments, that she became
uneasy. She spoke TO Mrs. Blair and Mrs
Kelly and other tenants in the house. None
OF them had seen Mrs. Whelen. The last
time anybody could remember having seen
her was on Sunday or at the latest, Monday
Mrs Bishop then determined to tell the
police and Patrolman Click Of the East i04th
street station was called in. He broke
open the door Of the fat, and In back room
10 the floor and a pillowcase covering her
face and tucked under the back OF her
head Law the dead woman. DR.. Parmenter,
an ambulance surgeon Of the Harlem Hos
pital, examined the body. He said the
woman had been dead at least two or three
DAYS. On the bed beside the body lay
a heavy hammer, such as stonemasons
use. on the iOor close by the bed was a
keen edged knife, of the kind often used
IN pairing potatoes. Both hammer and
knife were stained with blood.
Coroner Soholer ordered the body taken
to the Morgue, where an autopsy revealed
that the only marks Of violence were the
terrific blows, which had crushed the skull
In several places, and the knifethrusts
In the neck It was believed that the pill
lowcase was thrown across the face to
oover Il from the murderers sight after
he had done his work, and possibly to stop
the blood from soaking to the floor and
perhaps getting through 10 the room be-
low. The dead woman was fully dressed
when found. The apartments were in
confusion. as they had been ever since she
moved In, and Il was impossible to tell
whether there had been a struggle OF
whether. the woman had been stricken
down without warning and with no chance
10 offer resistance. The squalid, ram
shaokle furniture was scattered about the
little rooms apparently iust where the
moving men had put 1t down, and the whole
suite OF rooms was in a state Of chaos,
Detectives soon found that the boarder,
Pcarz, had worked for a harnessmaker
named Schneider at 17s4 First avenue.
Scheder said that Picarz borrowed 50 cents
Of him last Tuesday, went away came back
soon after wearing a new suit OF clothes,
paid the 50 cents and went away again. He
had not been seen by Schneider OF any Of his
fellow workmen since When he paid the
50 cents he displayed roll containing
tlI or SIS. All the polioe could learn
about Picarz was that he had been
carried home to Mrs. Whelen's fiat on one
occasion heplessly drunk and that he stole
and sold a piece Of harness which Schneider
sent him after
In the cluttered up apartments Of the
murdered woman little Of any value was
found She had the reputation in the
house Of being a miser, and was believed
10 have money hidden away somewhere.
In an old waistooat, supposed TO belong to
Pioarz. the police found a dollar bill and .
fve-cent piece, and on a shelf were two old
pocketbOOks. one Of which contained a
dime and three cents. The stun in the
rooms was little better than old rags and
Junk