The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-12-03
DEAD BABY CASE A PUZZLE.
NO CLUE TO IDENTITY OF INFANT
ABANDONED ON CORNER.
Cane Bearing Name OF Gassert Proves an
Unfruitful Lead-Curious Articles no
PerambuIato or --Contrast n Clothing
Suspects o Theory-Autopsy To-day.

Five lengths OF heavy cord, carefully
unravslling, q ak inch stump Of yellow
candle, a cane with a peculiarly engrossed
name plate, and a name thereon, a dilapi~g
dated baby carriage and a dead baby witnf
blood fiecked lips, which were found Satur-'
day evening outside a saloon at Ninety-'
Of a puzzle picture of crime upon which
the police and detectives are now at work.
The detectives are working on the theory
that some time either on Thursday or Friday
the baby was strangled to death. Them
there passed many hours in which those
responsible for the crime took counsel how
best to rid themselves Of the evidence ~
their work. They chose the simplest way
Washing the body OF the babe and dressing
it in its best clothes, they wheeled it In the
p~erambulator to the corner Of Ninsty-ninth,
street and Third avenue early Saturday
night and left it there in view Of the hurry
ing Saturday night Grove
Until Coroner Physician Philip o'Hanlon
performs an autopsy on the body OF the
infant this morning the police cannot be
certain that a murder was done, Coroner
Hamburger, after making a brief examina-
ton Of the body. assisted by DIR. Ginsbergs
an ambulance physician Of the Harlem
Hospital, announced his belief that strangu-
lation had caused death. There were
no marks about the ohild's neck, nor was
any cord tied there. It's lips were bloody
and the veins about the throat swollen.
Aside from tie scauty clues offered by
the clothing OF the child, the p~erambulator
and the strange collection Of cord and
candle found under its clothing in the
bottom of the carriage, the sleuths have next
to nothing to point the way toward a solu-
ton of the problem Though perhaps
two hundred persons passed and repsssed
the baby's carriage standing in the anglo
behind the glass side entrance to Peter
Lemons saloon, on the northeast. corner.
only four persons have been found whose
attention was directed toward the ragged
rattan psrambulator and the muf1ed bur-
den it bore.
Inez Rivero, q oolored girl. Is years olds
who lives at 2O3 East Ninety-ninth street!
told the police yesterday that about .
o'clock Saturday night she saw q IA and q
woman bend over the baby carriage and
apparently kiss the face Of the child. The
man, she said, was tall, well dressed in q
long gray ulster and black felt hat and
did not seem to DO the kind of man who
belonged In the district around Ninety
ninth street. The woman who was with
him the oolored girl described as being
short, somewhat stout INC heavily yelled.
After they had each kissed the baby, so
Inez Rivero said, the man and the woman
walked around the corner in the direction
Of the uptown elevated station.
A. Faver, who keeps a news stand on the
corner opposite that where the baby car
rage was left, and his wife, we're standing
in front of their stall on Saturday night at
the time the perambulator was standing out
of the eddy of the crowd. 1t was Mrs.
Faver's feminine curiosity which led to the
discovery.
THAT baby carriage had been there for q
pretty long time, she said to her husband.
Then she sent Vernon Stout, a colored boy;
who was playing near, to go and find a
policeman. Before the policeman arrived
Mrs. Faver dared to ra Use the ~coverlet and
touch the white face. Her screams first
warned the crow that they had been
passing where death was.
No one could be found yesterday who
had seen the man and the woman noticed
by the colored girl push the baby buggy
into the angle by the side of the saloon en-
trance. How long the body had remained
there just outside of the zone OF the jostling
crowd could not be learned.
When the little body was taken from the
chilling winds into the East IO4th street
police station il was white and pure. Within
an hour signs of modification were induced
by the warmer temperature of the police
station. So rapid was the change and so
marked were the indications of decay that
DR.. Ginsberg, who answered a summons
from the Harlem Hospital, declare that
death had preceded the finding of the body
by forty-eight hours and possibly more.
The cunning of those who sought to
cover the evidences of their crime fell
short in Just the most important feature.
Though every precaution had been taken
TO remove from the dress Of the a every
mark that might give the detectives a clue;
the persons who left the child's body
clumsily attempted to give the police q
blind lead by leaving a marked cane os-
tentatiously stuck in the quilting covering
the body.
This failed to fool the detectives. Though
yesterday they hunted for a man Of the
name Of C. A. Gassert, the name inscribed
on the plate below the crook Of the cane,
the sleutns DO not expect 70 ma In Gaseert
one who knows anything about the dead
baby. II this G. A. Gassert had recently
pawned a cherry wood cane with peculiar
arabesque work on the oxidized silver
scroll about the stan, or IL he had such a
cane stolen from him lately, the verifca-
ton Of the fact might put the detectives
on a straight scent.
They believe that the publication Of the
l fart IN NJ a1nch n nuna una found In sho k.k.,
carriage will soon bring a voluntary re-
Spouse from its owner. The stick ia one
Of somewhat unusual ornamentation. The
scroll work about the handle and around
the neck of the staff is intricate. With the
aid Of a glass minute figures Of anchors,
lions rampant and other heraldic insignia
can be seen.
-Four men answering TO the name Of
Gassert were found in Manhattan yesterday.
one in Brooklyn and one in Newark. All
save the NAWarIx man ware iumadfataIv