New-York tribune., 1906-06-16
NINNAN MURDER CLEWS
MOTHER TAINTED SPOUSE.
ASSASSIN Nay Haze Been Suitor for
old Uoman's Hand.

Mrs. Louise Stenton told Coroner Mcdonald
that the rnan who was expected to call at tn
s,tenton home the night her daughter. Mrs
Kinnan was murdered her lawyer Burtoi
w Gibson That is why she answered the rlns
Of the unknown caller week ago rms ah'
the discovery that Mrs Stenton, although owe
seventy years old. was advertising for a HUSBAND
were practically the only developments In th
case yesterday.
When Coroner Mcdonald saw Mrs Stentor
IN the afternoon he said that unless she wen
10 her friend Mrs. Miller. he would have com
mission appointed to examine into her sanity
In the evening her lawyer. Mr. Gibson. appeared
at the Washington avenue house, and she LEFT
for the Miller home at No. 200 Briggs avenue
Gibson supported her TO a closed carriage and
then went back to the house. while the carriage
waited When he reappeared he carried two
silver spoons. which he handed 10 Mrs Stenton
as she drove away.
After her departure a further search Of the
house resulted in the discovery Of still another
handbook. this one showing deposits Of about
$4,000. In the afternoon a handbook turned up.
showing considerable deposits made in 1902 In
the name of Alice c. DriscOll. the first part Of
Mrs. Kinnan's name. Altogether the various
bankbooks found show that Mrs Kinnan had
from $4,000 TO $4,000 in various banks.
The house was in an indescribable condition,
Il was said. According TO the coroner Mrs.
stenton had refused to have any clothes or
dishes washed for days. She said she did not
want 10 have anything disturbed.
The day was prolific in clews and rumors Of
cIews although there seemed to be no reason
for the usual and ready assurance of an i'm
mediate arrest by the police. The first TO turn
up yesterday was Adam Schirmeister. furni-
ture mover Of No 1872 Third avenue with a
story Of having heard the perpetrators of the
crime talking together. Schrmeister told Detec-
tive Sergeant Price that while in a feed store at
Pelham avenue and Hoffman street he over
heard white man and a negro talking OF the
crime as though they had committed it. and
concentrating themselves upon the with
which they had got away. He was much in
earnest and excited but Price did not seem much
impressed.
About the same time Price gave out that he
had found the two men who had been reported
bicycling around the house at the time of the
murder. He would not tell who they were, but
said that they had given him a fairly good de-
scripton of the whom they saw leave the
Stcnton house about the hour Of the crime, on
Friday evening.
one discovery was made which, II not Of
great Importance, throws an interesting side
light on the lives OF Mrs. Kinnan and her mother.
Mrs Stenton. il was found. had inserted per
sonaI" in the Matrimonial Era" of Cincinnati.
one Of those papers which flourish in the Middle
West. This read:
woETI5T widow wishes to coTTsRond WI With h snPsGr
sincere unsrnshed I've feet three inches Teisht IT, Us
loving and sympathetic
With this clipping also found correspond
ence with various men who had answered 1t.
Several were from man. and indicated an
intimacy with him and his impatience with the
interference of some one, apparently the daugh-
ter Some Of these began My Dear Rosebud
and were signed by Your Sweet William" The
police would like 10 meet Sweet William"
one letter. apparently to Sweet William '
read:
Dear. Darling Boy-After you left me last
evening 1 watched until your dear form disap-
peared around the corner. Did you catch your
car? But remember, sweetheart, it will not be
long before cars Will be thing that belong TO
the outside World, and not to little Garden
Of Eden. Then II will be all peace and happiness,
and there viii be one TO tell that II is 1870.
Until then am lovingly yours, LOUISE.
Instead Of Mrs Kinnan having been killed by
some one calling on her. the police have now
adopted the theory, based on this correspond
ence, that Mrs Kinnan slain by a sutor
OF the aged mother. Hints Of a conspiracy 10
kill Mrs Kinnan to get her mothers money were
rife around The Bronx detective headquarters
Just how this plot was to have worked out
could not be learned, but the rumor factory was
almost sure OF its truth.
Mrs. Stenton herself was in a talkative mood
early yesterday morning and conversed with the
detectives on anything immateral to the case
OF the events Immediately before and after the
murder she professed TO have recollection.
She told Of frequent quarrels between her and
her daughter, and said that Mrs. Kinnan had a
'frightful tongue" She declared that hel
daughter had tried TO force her out Of the house
What do you think of that?' she demanded
Tried to force me out Of my own house.
guess not. After a while.' she continued, e
put that husband OF hers out. He was shift
less creature, and wouldn't work at all"
The one fact material TO the case as it stand
al preent that came from her during her perio,
OF loquaciousness<was that her daughter knew
the man who had visited the house and who
presumably, the murderer. Gibson was ex
pected, but the mysterious other came in
stead.
When the two bicyclists gave description o
the visitor the Stenton house to Price two o
son could recognize who the was. He wa
absent from his office until after 3 O'Clock
When he arrived he asked all his visitors I
leave the room while he had a talk over tn
telephone with Price. He said afterward tha
he was going up TO The Bronx to see Price al
though he had already told the police everythin
that he knew.