The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-12-19
MOTIVE FOR NEIL HOMICIDE.
POLICE SAY THE MAN PLANNED
TO LEAVE HIS WIFE.


MIS-. Catherine Neil, who Is a prisoner
In the Tombs charged with the murder Of
her husband, Joseph NJ. Neil, the black
smith, at Greenwich, Conn, on Saturday,
will again be srraigned in the Tombs police
court this morning. Owing to a delay in
getting extradition papers the case may
be adjourned further.
Although the prisoner volunt eered to
go to Greenwich without extradition papers
Sheriff Ritch decided TO take the matter
up in the usual legal form. Gov. Roberts
signed the papers on Monday. Prosecuting
Attorney Henry B. White Of Greenwich
spent the day procuring statements from
various witnesses which must accompany
the petition for the requisition papers.
Neirs funeral was held yesterday morn
ing from the nome of his mother, Mrs.
Mary Neil of las West Thirty-sixth street,
where the body had been taken after
the autopsy Saturday morning. The Red
Mems lodge OF Greenwich, of which Neil
was a member, sent a large delegation.
The burial was in Calvary Cemetery.
Mrs. Neil spent a restless day in the Tombs
yesterday. Her only callers were her
counsel, Edward Greenthal, and her two
brothers.
MY first move in the CASE said Green
thai after the visit, my very first move,
will be to apply for a second autopsy. The
first did not I'LL the bill in any part cular.
We have witnesses TO prove that Neil con-
templated suicide. There is no doubt in
our minds that II the stomach Of the
dead man is examined il will reveal
traces of poison. He asked for morphine
repeatedly, saying that he was tired of the
life he was leading and wanted 70 end it all.
When DR.. Thompson arrived he said the
man looked as IL he was suffering from
knockout drops. Before leaving the place
Mrs. Neil left her address with the proprietor
and DR.. Thompson. A guilty person would
not have done such a thing
When asked how he explained the wound
which indicated that a nail file nae been
jabbed into the murdered mans brain
Lawyer Greenthal said it might easily have
been done by some sharp object which the
victims head struck while in commissions
He said that Mrs. Neil was penniless.
When seen at her ZONE last night Mrs.
Neil, the mother, scofed at the idea that
her son had committed suicide or that he
had been drinking thed day Of his death.
"On the day Of his death, " she said, my
son was attending to business as usual.
We a prove that he signed a check at S
o'clock that evening and was perfectly
sober"
William Fl. Finley, an ex-policeman, now
a plumber Of 1922 Third avenue, Mrs. Neil's
first husband, yesterday ridiculed the idea
that his former wife could havelmurdered
Neil.
why, she wouldn't hurt a fly. That's
the kind Of a woman she il, he said. while
we were living together she had a perfect
horror of liquor or drugs in any form"
Sheriff Ritch thinks that Neil was dis
satisfied wi h his married life and was about
to leave his wife when he NEE death. He
had consulted his alto ney, Stephen l..
Radford, about his family affairs, and after
winding up his business affairs on the day
Of his death, drove to Chenille and closed
a bargain with a man there to leasr his
business for five years. 10 is charged that
acting on legal advice, Neil took his wife to
the hotel in Greenwich, knowing that she
had declared herself unwilling to live in
Chenille and preferred New York. She
brought to the hotel only a small parcel. a
satchel and an umbrella. Neither appar-
emily had been opened.
The Greenwich police, backed up by the
physicians who made the autopsy, say the
idea OF suicide by poison is absurd. They
are positive that the man met his death by
a wound inflicted by the manicure nail file.
That implement was owned by Mrs. Neil.