The sun., 1906-02-07
MOTHER AND son POISONED.
AGED MAN DEAD; VERY OLD WOM-
AN DYING; HOME LOOTED
Visit Of Young Pole From New Jersey Was
Occasion Of Re,elr. In East Side Tene-
n,ent-- Display OF Wcalth--founs
Woman Who Was at Feast Arrested cd.

Occasion Of Reyelr. In East side Tene-
nlent- Display OF Wcalth--founs
Woman Who Was at Feast Arreste cd
Wolf Kessler, an aged Austrian Jew, and
his mother, Dora Kessler, a nonagenarlan
were found unconscious in their small but
tidy apartments in the basement OF ~
Scanned street at noon yesterday. Ihey
were taken to Gouverneur Hospital where
the son died three hours later. Both were
poisoned, the doctors said though by what
drug they did not know
The Kesslers, though they did not deny
themselves liquor, were rather thrifty.
They all worked but the mother. bowed
down by the burden Of 93 years. In order
to be near her Wolf stayed at home ana
made brushes. His wife, Rifkie Kessler,
went out to do washing every day she could
find employment. A pushcart pedler,
boarding with them. added his mite to their
income and altogether they had accumu-
lated. besides their furniture. money ana
jewelry worth about $500.
Monday morning while the wife was
out washing the br,ishmaker and his
mother had a call from young Pole. The
caller had lived with a family Of Poles
across the hall from the kessles but had
been working in New jersey for six months.
The Polish family had returned mean
while to the old country. Ostensibly their
former boarder went to see hessler TO get
traces of them.
The Pole greeted Kesser cordially and
acted 80 agreeably that kessler dropped
his work and proceeded to entertain his
guest as we'll as he knew how. There were
two steps in this process. The first was
the purchase of bottle OF whiskey-one OF
the big bottles that cost so cents-and the
second was to resummon Mrs. Tessie Mes
tenschski, youthful and animated Polish
woman, to assist in making him feel at
home. During the merlymaking Mendel
Levine. the boarder. dropped in to get his
dinner. He remembered hearing this con-
versation:
Il have done we'll in New Jersey said
the Pole. Il have made lots Of money at
easy work See. Here is a gold watch
bought Yesterday. paid si5 for 1t. like
you 40 we'll, You have used me so nicely,
that I will sell this to you cheap
THAT watch isn't gold said Kessler.
Here will show you watch, a solid gold
watch that is worth money. We have
some property ourselves.
Kessler showed not. only the watch, but
gold chain and two diamond rings. He
said that in addition the family had supply
many sicknesses. When the Pole left
Kessler invited him to call again the next
day.
According to three or four witnesses,
the Pole accepted the invitation and comelv
Tessie Mestenschs,,i and whiskev we're
washing as usual. She returned at IL
O'Clock. One glance at the rooms and she
uttered cries Of -Gewat, gewalt!' that
brought all the neighbors running from
that and adjoining tenement houses.
They found Wolf Kessler lying all in heap
under table in the front room. They
shook him and stuck pins into him but
couldn't get him to open his eyes or speak
There was no wound. and he looked natural
enough, but to them there appeared no trace
Of life. In similar condition the mother
was found lying on bed in little room in
the rear.
Both were bundled of to Gouverneur
Hospital as quickly as possible. The doc
tors applied the strongest res.oratives they
had, but failed to revive either. Wolf
fingered in unconsciousness all day but the
de Q ors agreed that she could not recover.
Bureau drawers in the kesslers' rooms
had been pried open and rifled OF their con-
tents and an old immigrant trunk IN the
rear was open and had also been ransacked.
Nothing could be found Of the Kessler
valuables.
Capt. Burns OF the Delaney street sta
ton and Detectives Murtha, Kern and
MCGOWAN searched the apartments thor
oughly. They found several empty whis-
key bottles, but none containing drugs
or knockout drops. Going then to Tessie
Mestenschski rooms, they found her
stretched out on the bed. Apparently
she too was in sturor, but the police
wanted to make sure and it wasn't long
before she opened her eyes and began to
talk.
She told the police she had had drink
with the young Pole and the Kesslers,
and that was the last she knew. She in
sisted that she was ill and was taken to the
hospital, The police registered her there
as prisoner.
Mrs. Rifkie Kessler told the police she
found the keys to her rooms in the Polish
womans rooms. The police also arrested
Peter Wallen, tailor, whom they marked
on the blotter as Tessie's common law hus-
band; Peter Chaminski. a longshoreman.
of 568 Water street. and John Schell.
laborer. who boarded with Tessie. The
last two were simply detained as witnesses.
Mendel Levine furnished description Of
the missing Pole, on which the police worked
without result