The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-05-09
spIgU CASE PUZZLES POLICE.
,gy,,RE NOT CONVINCED THAT
1rWAS KILLED ny A BrR0LAR.

-Autousy May He Ordered 10 DE Com
D,eted by IND District Attorney TODAY
rrs,eotor Grant and Capt. Hogan OF thu
s,s,sn Island police assert ed yesterday
.heir ~posltive beliefs that there was no
,,,rolsr In the house Of Charles H. Spler
romokins avenue, New Brighton, when
o vss killed early on Monday morning
80 a bullet, apparently from his own re-
,oIver Moreover, Capt. Hogan said he
L,d evidence which he trusted that when
a. call for aid was made from MI. Spier's
ho,se inst after the shooting the statement
COS made by the one asking assistance that
Nr snier had killed himself. The captain
could not reveal the source OF this nforma-
ton
ON the other hand the members OF the
family. after a protractcd conference on
Monday evening, presented several new
,acts 10 show that Mr.. Spier must have
MOO, murdered. the chief Of which was the
rosjtire assertion Of Mrs. Spier that she
hoard the dog Buster, which went down
.,sirs with Mr.. Spier to hunt for the sup
rosed burglar, bark and snap and growl
roneatedly, and also the equally positive
assertion from Mrs. Spier that che heard
,ro ~ volver shots and not one, as she first
told the police.
As ras,Ilt Of a further conference be-
fveen Mira. Spier, DR., II. W. Patterson
1.-THE family physician an Assistant District
Attorney. and Coroner Cahill IL vas de-
ci4od rot to contiDue the autopsy, because
il would 40 mutilate the body as'to inter-
for, with the embaluling process. This
would prevent its ever becoming known
whether it was a bullet from Mr.. Spier's
revolver that killed him.
The decision not to make a further sea rch
for the bullet was displeasing to Capt.
Hogan. who said
The bullet ia one OF the most vital points
In the case. ! have urged the Coroner to
find IL, hut he refuses. / can do no more,
for | cannot supersede him. / have infor-
nation that the person who called for aid
over the telephone from the house said that
Mr.. Spier had killed him self. / am in
clined TO the belief that the murder idea
was an afterthorght. While holding the
opinion we arc nevertheless work.
Ing on the case as earnestly as IL we had
proof that it was a murder case. and we
shall continue on the theory that possibly
It was a murder
In explaining Yesterday why he had
decided not to continue the autopsy Coroner
Cahill said
Mrs. spier has asked me not to make
any further effort to End the bullet. There
Il no certainty that finding it would settle
anything about the case. To 60 further
would prevent effective embalming. There
fore the body will be buried tomorrow
with the bullet in 1t
F. D. l.. Prentiss, a New York broker +;
who married a sister of Mr.. Spier, spent
Monday evening with his wife at The Spier
home. Mr.. Prentiss and wife succeeded
In calming Mrs. Spier. and with DR.. Patter-
son they went over the whole story. Mrs.
Spier, who earlier in the day had told the
police that she did not hear the dog Buster
make any noise when he vent down stairs
with her husbanp, recollected that she
heard the dog bark several times and that
he snarled and growled repeatedly.
She was positive, she said, as to this.
Then she declared with equal p~ositiveness
that she had heard two pistol shots, follow
ing a crash which sounded like breaking
glass and which is supposed to have been
the fall of the silverware. The pistol
shots, she said, followed Immediately after
the crash. She was sure there were three
distinct noises.
On Monday Eva Oelhof, the maid in the
house, told the police that the dog had
rtade no noise and that that phase Of the
case had mystitied all in the house. Mr..
prentiss said yesterday that the maid
thought she now remembered the dog
larking. The maid, however, could not
recall two pistol shots and all the noises
she was positive about were those Of the
dog and a great crash which she described
as resembling thunder.
Mrs. Spier further said that after the pistol
shots she ran into the hall. lighted the gas
on the upper floor and saw her husbands
loIy in the hall. She said she heard him
give two groans. She called to him: just
stay whore you are and I'll come down"
She ran down the stairs, lighted the
gas in the lower hall and thinking that
her husband had broken his arm. from his
attitude, raised his head and called to him.
Then she screamed for the servants. Later
fhe said that she was surprised to see DR.,
Patterson Open the front door and walk
right in. From this she thought that the
front door must have been unlocked. This
ia explained, however. by the fact that one
Of the maids had opened the door and had
called for help.
DR., Patterson says that the drawers In
the sideboard from which the silver was
taken We're open. The police say That they
might not have been shut the night before.
Mr.. Prentiss says that Mr.. Spier's feet
were inside the dining room when his body
was found, which would indicate that he
had returned to the front of the house
from the rear of the dining room, where he
was shot, through the dining room and not
along the hallway, as has been supposed.
From all the evidence in my possession
and from my intimate relations with my
| am positive that he was
shot by a burglar. His wife's statements
as to the dog barking, the position in which
the body was found, the fact that the sill
yer had been taken from a drawer and
carried the entire length OF the room all
indicate this. He was not in financial trouble.
We are positive that a burglar killed him"
Alfred Lauterbach, who is the trustee
Of the life insurance policies which Mr..
sspler had Just taken out to h extent Of
$4,000, ard who was Mr.. Spier's attorney
IN certain matters, but not in the Yetman
typewriter litigation, continued yesterday
MS policy Of silence in the case. He said
l am barred from saying anything by
the ruR Of confidential relations between
client and counsel. 1 would like to tell
'What l know about the matter for 1t might
help TO clear up the case. Confidential
communicate ions rapnOt Iva ra1aa uol hu an