New-York tribune., 1906-06-09
SLAIN AT HER. DOOR.
NO CLEW TO MURDERER.
Woman LdUed Alone zoith Mother,
Friend of Commodore Vanderbilt.


Mrs. Alice Kinnan. forty years old a widow,
OF No 2464 Washington avenue. The Bronx
died last night in the Fordham Hospital after
being struck down by an unknown man The
blow evidently came from some heavy blunt
instrument. Mrs Kinnan had opened the door.
expecting to receive social caller.
The assailant escaped. and the police have no
clew as to his identity or the direction in which
he fed. Complete mystery envelopes the case,
as the woman lived with her mother. Mrs.
Lousia NJ. Stanton. an aged woman. who once
employed Commodore Vanderbilt as an agent
to invest her money. She was not known to have
an enemy.
No one saw the assailant except Mrs. Kinnan.
and the brutal blows that felled her rendered
her unconscious and she unable to give any
description of the man to the police The only
possible clew the detectives of the fremont
station have is that several nelghbors say they
have seen several lawless looking loafing
about the neighborhood the last few days
The house in which Mrs Kinnan lived stands
back several rods from the street It is an old
fashioned house. of stone and brick, that, owing
to financial reverses of the family has not been
kept In repair and has gradually dropped into a
state of decay. It is surrounded by trees. and
at night it is hardly visible from the street.
Owing to this darkness none of the neighbors
her assailant
MEAGRE THEORY OF CRIME.
The only story the police have OF the assault
is that told by the aged mother. She says that
she and her daughter were sitting in the library
of her home, reading, about o'clock. when the
doorben rang. Mrs. Kinnan told her mother
that it must be a caller and hurried the door
1t was the last words she spoke to her mother
A few minutes elapsed and then Mrs Stan
ton heard groans in the hallway. She hurried
out and found her daughter laying just inside
the vestbue. the outside door of which
open. Her head and face were covered with
blood. From this the police deduct that Mrs.
Kinnan opened the door to admit the supposed
caller the man struck her.
Mrs. Stanton screamed for help and knelt be-
side her daughter. who was unconscious. but
groaning. The cries were heard by several
neighbors and passersby. Two of these. two
young men, ran in search of policeman. They
met Patrolmen Andrews and Aiken at 1S9th
street and Washington avenue, half block
from the house. The young men told them that
a woman had been nearly killed The four men
ran to the Stanton home
The two policemen arrived a few minutes
after the assault but no trace of the assailant
could be found. No one could be found who had
seen any one about the place last night.
. DR. Burke from Fordham Hospital said that
Mrs Kinnan's skull had been fractured. He
hurried her to the hospital. but after her
arrival she died without regaining conscious
ness.
sHRoUDED IN MYSTERY.
Word of the assault was at once sent to the
fremont station and to The Bronx Detective
Bureau. and detectives were at once assigned
10 the case. Up to a late hour last night, how
ever the case still remained surrounded with
mystery.
Mrs Stanton. the mother. was Qrostrated by
the tragedy. and owing to her advanced age
apprehension is felt that the mental strain may
result fatally
She closely interrogated to the prob
ability of her daughter having an enemy. She
said that they had few friends and she
positive enemy. For years they have been
living alone together. in a quiet and unob-
trusive manner, because of financial reverses.
The only possible motive the police can think
of is that of robbery, believing that the man
who committed the deed knew the women were
alone, and looked the secluded situation Of
the house, and the darkness that surrounded it
at night, to be favorable to overcome the women
and get away with the loot The avenue at this
point is badly lighted. and there is considerable
distance between the houses
Mrs. Stanton formerly wealthy woman,
but later lost practically all her fortune She
was an intimate friend of Commodore Wander
bile, who managed her finances and investments.
After his death Mrs. Stanton lost the bulk Of her
wealth in unfortunate investments, and recently
has been in straitened circumstances.