The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-05-08

ND ~ ~
him the news. He notified the police at
Tompkinsville and they notified the police at
West New Brighton, nearly three miles
away. with Police Captain Hogan In oorn-
mand. wardman James W. Lawson ana
Roundsman John T. Smith got Capt.Hogan's
horse and buggy and drove TO the house.
Meantime tho neighbour had been reused
and DR.. II. w. Patterson. who lives just
around the corner from Mr.. Spisr's house
and within 100 feet, and soon afterward
Dra. Conklin and Townsend came. DR..
Patterson found Mrs. Spier PROSTATE across
her husbands body In a fainting condition.
He helped to raise her. The maids we're
standing by wringing their hands. Dir.
Spier was dead. DR.. Patterson put the
wife In charge OF the maids for a homer
and then went to the rear Of the hall and
closed the door. 1t was half way open
and the key was on the inside. A storm
door outside was also partly open. By this
time the police had arrived n Mrs. Spier
had thrown herself again across her hus-
bands body. She was taken to her room.
PULLING FEATURES OF THE CASE.
Tho police found that Mr.. Spler had gone
down the front stairs and had probably
entered the dining room by the door near
the front door. He had zone to the back
Of the room and had come out the door
near the back Of the hall and close to the
open door to the piazza. He was shot at the
threshold of this door. In a corner by this
door lay some plated silverware-a berry
spoon, a silver cake basket, the ease OF a
salt cellar and three or four spoons. Lying
. beside them was Mr.. Spier's revol yer
with one chamber discharged and a nick
on another cartridge, which had not ex-
ploded. The plated silverware had been
kept in a basket on a table in the corner OF
the room opposite the corner in which it
was found. The table, partly set for break
fast. was in the centre OF the room. With
the exception Of the misplaced silverware
there was no disorder In the place.
There was a bloody thumbprlnt on the
door leading to the piazza, and along the
stairway about the height Of a mans
shoulder there wasa trace Of blood, Around
the silverware were a dozen spots Of blood.
II, as the police concluded, Mr.. Spier had
walked along the hall from the rear door
to the dining room and had put his hand on
. the staircase as he CROPPED his way and had
fallen near the front entrance to the dining
room. he went at least thirty feet with a
I bullet in his heart. The bullet also fractured
one of his ribs.
There was no evidence that any entrance
to the house had been forced. With the
exception Of the open door In the rear of
the hall with the key inside every door
and window was fastened. 1t would have
been easy for a burglar to climb up on the
rear porch and come in. But there were
no footprints in the SOFT ground. and 1t
had rained all Sunday evening. Neither
we're there tracks in the garden or near the
back fence, which la bordered by soft flower
beds. The police learned that the bull
terrier had made not the slightest dis
turbance from the time that Mr.. Spier led
him downstairs by the collar. He neither
growled nor barked, and he manifested
no signs of anger, even when the house
was invaded by those who came to help,
MIR. and Mrs. Spier had retired about
II o'clock. 1t was Mr.. Spier's custom to
lock up the house. He had evidently done
so as usual. He came to Mrs. Spier's room
dressed in light oolored pajamas, n she
says he looked as il he had been aroused
from sleep. Neither Mrs. Spier nor the
servants had heard any noises in the house.
The girl, Eva Oelhoff, says that she was
awake and that the first she heard was
Mr.. Spier going downstairs calling to the
dog, Sick 'em!"
The bullet wound Of which Mr.. Spier
died was such as a man could inf1ict upon
himself, but in the opinion of the physicians
would be extremely unlikely to try to in
fict upon himself. DIR. George Mord, of
Tompkinsville, who performed the autopsy,
said afterward:
1.-THE bullet entered a little to the left
Of the median line at the free border ribs.
It took a course upward n backward
at an angle of 10 degrees, passing through
the lower lobe of the left lung and going
directly through the heart. 1t then went
through the sixth rib at the back, was de-
fectcd and curved backward and down.
ward toward the spine. 1t passed through
the tenth dorsal vertebra and went into
the spinal cavity, where it was lost
DR.. Mord said that the bullet couldn't
be found without destroying the body.
Judging from long experience with bullet
wounds he believed that the wound could
not have been self inflicted. The evidence
went to show that the pistol was discharged
Mt some distance from the body. There
were no powder marks around the wound,
nor on the underShirt. The hole through
the shirt was slightly burned, but DR.. Mord
said that that was caused by the heat Of the
bullet. 1t is possible that a further ex-
animation will he made TO recover the
bullet to ascertain its calibre.
TWO SHOTS FIRED, AVS II. H. ROGERS, JR.
Mr.. Spier had been on close business
terms with H.. H.. Rogers Of the Standard
Oil for about eight years. His father had
been in the employ Of the company for
many years and got his son a place. For a
time the son looked after Mr.. Rogers's rail-
road interests in the Asbury Park Traction
Company and did 30 we'll that Mr.. Rogers
began to push him to the front rapidly.
His friends say he was just beginning to
make money fast. These are some OF the
places he held
Secretary ard treasurer OF the ASbury
Park and Sea Girt Railway. director in the
Commercial Newspaper Company. president
and director of the New York Improvement
Company. secretary and treasurer OF the
Richmond Borough Transit Company, direc-
tor in the Richmond County Power Company.
president and director Of the Sea Coast Trac-
ton Company. secretary and treasurer and
director Of the Seashore Electric Company.
director of the Southfeld Beach Railroad
Company. president and director Of the