The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1905-07-16
ROB WOMAN; TRY TO BURN HER
vICTIM SAYS SHE WAS DRCGGED
AVID HOuND TO HER RED.

ply slcian Finds Her Screaming In Her
Room and the House on Fire Ola.
mOntis Taken From Her Ears and Rings
stolen Detectives at work Oh the case
The police OF the East 10th street sta
ton are Investigating a robbery and fire
which occurred yesterday morning In the
apartments Of Ms. Bertha Cohen, who
lives on the second floor OF the Hat
ut 1852 Fifth avenue, and who when found
was apparently bound to bedpost In
one Of the rooms. with her hands and feet
tied with pieces Of q sheet that had been
taken from the bed. while another strip
had been bound around her face.
A pair OF diamond earrings, valued at
$3.50 and two diamond rings. worth 500,
we're missing Mrs. Cohen had fhe ear
rings In her ears when she lay down
DR.. Macmillan l.. Loeb Of 2 West llSth
street, whose Office Ia around the corner
from the womans apartments, was the INST
to discover Mrs Cohen. He said II he had
not arrived when he did Mrs. Cohen would
have been suffocated; that when no got to
the place the room adjoining the one where
she WIS found was In flames and she was
unconscious.
DR.. Loeb said to SUN reporter last
night:
II had occasion to 60 to the rear OF my
apartments and when looked out OF the
window I saw smoke coming from one Of
the windows OF Mrs. Cohen's apartments.
I ran around to her house to learn what
the trouble was. l tried to get into Mrs
Cohen's rooms. and when the front door
wouldn't open pushed it in with my fist.
found Mrs. Cohen sitting on the floor at
the head Of the bed in the room next to the
parlor, with her head, face, hands and feet
bound with pieces Of sheet.
"The rooms were Allied With smoke. and
the one adjoining the dining room WIS on
fire Some of the women In the house
rushed In with buckets to try TO put 1t out,
but told them to go out and turn In fire
alarm.
Mrs Cohen was in a semi-conscious con-
dition. and carried her down to Lilienthal's
drug store at 1lsth street and Filth avenue.
where restoratives were applied. sug-
gested calling an ambulance, but when l
recognized the woman as former patient
of mine had her taken to my house, and
after working over her for several hours
she WAS able to talk"
To others Mrs. Cohen said che had been
drugged with chloroform.
Detectives Teevens and Mccormick, who
were sent out on the case, saw the woman
at the physician's house and she said that
she did not remember anything OF. what
had happened. She could not tell whether
robbers had been in the house or not.
She said her husband, Jack Cohen, left
the house at 7:3O o'olock in the morning to
60 to the store at Fifth avenue and 125th
street and that she had laid down to rest.
She said she dreamed she was undergoing an
operation.
DR.. Loeb told the detectives he had
unfastened the pieces OF sheet when he
first found her.
The firemen found the fire was in a room
Some of the tenants in the house said
they had seen two men hurry out OF the
house a few minutes before Mrs. Cohen
was found, and that one of them dropped
a bundle Of clothes in the hall, which the
we're Identified tile, as cohens, and his card
was found in one OF the pockets of coat
After the detectives made an investiga-
ton they reported the case to the Fire Mar
shal, and he ordered DR.. Loeb to appear ,,
knew about the case. =.
Mrs. Tipner. who lives at 1s West 1l8th
street, said that two men had called at her
place and asked IL she could tell them where
the Cohens lived.
DR.. Loeb said that the whole affair was a
mystery to him, and that he had no theory |
to advance. The Cohens have no children.
He said that Mrs. Cohen had contemplated
having an operation performed. but that |
she had delayed having 1t done,
The police made a careful search Of the
rooms to see II they could find any traces |
of thieves. but they could not. The locks
on all the doors were intact.
The contents Of the apartments are in
sured for 81, 200. the police say.
Capt Burns said last night that knots
in the strips OF muslin with which Mrs. |
Cohen was tied were very loose and might
have been tied by anybody. In the general |
made by Detective Teevins
he learned that four years ago there had
been fire in the apartments Of the Cohens.