Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-09-23
Detective Price Confident of
Catching the Suspect.
LARGE POSSE ENGAGED
CLOSING IN ON SPITZENBERG
MOUNTAIN.
Indications That the Fugitive Knew
of Other Murders Than Gussie
Pfeiffer's.

NEW YORK, September 23.-With posse
of two score men who know the neighbor-
hood Detective Sergeant Sam Prices best
aids are swarming over Spitzenberg Noun
tain, near Peekskill today in desperate
effort to hunt down Joseph Girard, the sus-
pect in the Pfeiffer murder case.
The police said last night that they had
found in Girard's room indica fions that he
knew something of two other murders, that
OF Elizabeth Davis, whose body was found
in the Waikiki river on March 80, and that
of James p Hemmitt, soldier of Company
l, 18th Coast Artillery, whose body was
found in Westchester creek last July.
Detective Sergeant Sam Price said this
morning after he had sent off some OF his
best men to Peekskill:
Il am confident that we shall have Girard
today Maybe / shall have definite news
to give out a little later My men are
securing Spitzenberg Mountain with the
help of all the local constabularies. 1t is
the best clue l have had yet. / am almost
certain Girard is there"
Closing in on the Mountain.
As head Of the Bronx detective force
Price has assumed the direction OF this case
and is sparing no effort to capture Girard
The seuths who are going over the Peek
skill district with microscopes have learned
that a man answering the description or
the fugitive got off a train at Centerville
Thursday and talked with John Buchanan,
an oilcloth manufacturer. Buchanan says
he promised the man job. The trail leads
to Mrs. William Mackay's boarding house
and then Is lost on Spitzenberg Mountain.
Only one road leads to the top. Local Chief
Seaburys deputy sherfs are posted at the
foot of the mountain and today they will
close in on the upper part of the height
There Is an old deserted house at the very
top, where Girard may be in hiding. If he
Is In that neighborhood today will doubt
less end the long hunt.
Girard Fond of Murder Stories.
The detectives have learned that Glrard
has taken a strange interest In the subject
of murder. In his room were found yes
terday such volumes as might well serve
for text books I'm that art A story en-
titled THE Wilful Murder was marked
with a pencil. showing that the reader had
studied with special detail those passages
that taught how to evade the police after
the commission OF a dark deed.
The Last Laugh and THE Mystery of
Black Peter were other tales in Grard's
gruesome library
Even more suggestive finds were copies
of newspapers which contained accounts of
the finding OF the bodies of Miss Davis
and of the soldier. When Mrs. Mahon was
questioned after these discoveries she ad-
mitted that Girard had been away at the
time when these crimes were reported. She
said he came back wearing such a heavy
beard that she did not recognize him. He
asked II Joseph Girard his brother lived
In the place. Then he laughed in the wo-
mans face. and said:
why. don't you know me? I'm Girard"
He told her he had been serving a term
on the island for intoXication
The Murdered Soldiers Cap.
1t has come to light also that Hemmitt's
cap was found in front of the coal yard
where Girard worked on the day after the
soldiers body was found. Nobody attached
any significance to 1t at the time.
The vessels going into the sound were
thoroughly watched at the time of Girards
escape. The police do not think the sus-
pect went to sea, although the fact of his
having been sailor would suggest such an
idea.
All the tangible clues lead inland, how
ever. William n. Hoyt of Mount Vernon
has told the police that he driving near
Mount Vernon two days after Gusse Pfeif-
fer disappeared, when he passed man
walking north. The driver OF Hoyt's rig
spoke to the man on foot and afterward
told Hoyt-that his name was Girard.
More Rumors About Girard.
Chief of Police Seabury of Peekskill today
detailed Sergt. Burke to accompany two
central office men from the Bronx TO go to
Montrose and Verplank to investigate ru-
mors to the effect that Girard has been
seen in that vicinity. Chief Seabury says
that he has received word from different
persons in various parts of the country
who claim to have seen Girard at about
the same time.
The two central office men arrived at
Peekskill this morning and started for Ver-
plank and Montrose. They said they heard
that Grard was in hiding in the mountains
in that vicinity