Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-09-25
SUITCASE MYSTERY
Battles Strenuous Efforts of
Boston Police.
MURDERER AT LARGE
SENSATION EXPECTED FROM
MOST RECENT CLUE.
Physicians Making Up Description Of
Mutilated Body-Of1cial Re-
pert Of Autopsy.
MURDERER AT LARGE

Special Dispatch to The Star.
BOSTON, Mass. September 25.-The Win
throp Beach suitcase murder case was
really this morning as much of a mystery
as on Thursday, when the headless and
iinrbless body of young woman was found
crushed into a suit case in the water off
the Winthrop Yacht Club house. This, it
is said. is the real fact, although the police
have made much of few slight clues that
have led to nothing, and although there
have been several men ana women who
have come into mushroom prominence by
announcing that they could identify the
suit case.
The latest of these created something of
sensation this morning and told a story
in which the police were inclined to place a
little confidence, although the man had not
even seen the receptacle that had contained
such gruesome freight He lives in Win
throp and comes of a good family. He said
that from photographs he had seen of the
suit case he was confident that 1t was one
which he had loaned an eccentric and we'll
known Bostonian about two months ago.
The suit case in an old one and has pecu-
liarties of lock and covering which ought
greatly to facilitate its Identification.
Borrower Was Eccentric,
The man said that the person to whom he
had loaned it, in his opinion, had not been
responsible for his actions for some time
The case had been recently repaired, ex
perts say, by cobbler or harnessmaker.
1t has been traced to the firm of Cummings
& Son, who say that 1t is one of five made
a number of years ago Such clues as have
been found and followed up promise a big
sensation If they can be backed up by real
proofs. One theory concerns the move
ments of a physician who until recently
lived in Winthrop. and of a woman who
had been nurse at an institution he had
been conducting.
The police are following the movements
of certain other men and women who have
recently left Winthrop.
physicians are going to try to make up
synthetically a fairly accurate description
f--the~ woman whose mutilated torso was
found Under such gruesome circumstances.
A thorough search continues, not only in
the vicinity where the torso was found, but
throughout the entire town, for the miss
ing head and limbs.
The lack of success SO far in this direc-
ton leads to the belief that the murderer
or murderers have not yet disposed Of the
head or limbs, unless, perhaps, they have
buried them.
Report of Autopsy.
The official report of the autopsy. made
public today, declares that the victim died
from septic peritonitis following crimina,
operation. Stress Is laid by the medical ex-
amner on what he believes to be fact
that the body of the woman was dissected
by a person unusually skilled In surgery
The medical examiner also gives 1t his
belief that the woman was between eighteen
and twenty-five years of age.
The woman's hair, the medical examiner
says was of a light brown color. The long
hair from the head found on the oilcloth in
which the torso was wrapped also showed
that she was a blonde. The removal of the
womans head. arms and legs was accom-
plished by cuts cleanly made, and after
death. Two incisions found In the torso
itself and made, possibly, for the purpose
of determining the cause of death were
also made after life had become extinct.
The weight of the torso was 80 pounds
ounces. The appearance of the skin and
torso in general indicated that death and
dismemberment had occurred not much
more than twenty-four hours before the
discovery of the trunk 1t is regarded prob
able that the body had not been in tae.
water more than ten or twelve hours. and
improbable that the suit case and contents
sank and remained under water any length
of time with the head and limbs absent,
the lungs would give a buoyancy to the
body inconsistent with any continuous sub
merging The stomach and practically all
the intestines had been removed. The
waist measurement of the woman was 20h
inches. In conclusion, DR.. Harris said:
Everything shows that the knife was IN
the hands of a skilled man. familiar with
anatomy and surgery; indeed, of man OF
rather unusual ability"
Police Have Little Hope.
The mystery of the womans death has
not been lifted in any way since the finding
of the body. Chief Shaw of the state police
summarized the situation today by saying
that there were just two things to work
upon-the attempt to secure an Identified
ton of the suit case and the attempt to ind
the womans head. There Is absolutely
nothing else" he declared. 1T seems to ME
extremely doubtful that the guilty person
will soon be located" The discovery that