Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-05-29
SLAYERS OF PRIEST
TRICKED BY ALLY
Third Man Failed in Scheme to Send
Trunk Away, the Police Believe.

tons of the two young Armenians on being
Informed of the presence of the trunk in
the house. This confirms the police sus-
plcion that the two discovered the body
had been placed In their hands for dis
poSal.
When these two men came to my house
and rented rooms" she said, they had
only suit cases. l asked them if they had
other baggage and they said they had not
they did not seem to be in good cir
cumstances, and 1 watched them more
closely than l would other dodgers.
Nothing was said about other bagga ge
and l was surprised when the short man,
Wnom had practically ordered away from
the place because l was suspicious of his
actions, came on Wednesday afternoon
with an eXprcssman and delivered trunk
The two young men. Paul and john. had
left their rooms some time before. and the
priest who had called was also out of the
house when the expressman came.
Tells of Their Surprise.
This is Paurs trunk the short man
said. and l told him to put 1t in the room
1t seemed heavy. and as soon as 1t was
deposited the short man and the express
man left l thought no more of 1t until
the two young men came in together
about o'clock that evening.
" Your trunk came today I said in
F..
of the young men jumped to their feet in
surprise.
1t is in your ROOM 1 said. thinking
that they might be anxious about my ac-
lions in the matter, and they went at once
to their room.
They We're gone long enough to open
the trunk and note its contents and in
view of the discovery of the body l believe
that they saw it in the trunk that day.
When they returned to the dining room
their faces were white, and they were
talking eagerly in their own language.
:" We wish to write a letter. they said
and | wondered why they did not write it
in their own room. They did not wish to
visit their room, according to their &C
lions, and We're very much excited when
they wrote the letter. AS they spoke in
stand them.
Wrong Trunk, They Said.
1T is all a mistake. madam. said the
man l knew Paul, when the letter had
been finished. The wrong trunk has been
delivered
II told them that as they owed me SO
rent they could not remove the trunk I'M
til the amount paid. After a con-
sultation they said they, would go out and
get the money, and that was the last I
saw of them.
Il am absolutely confident that the body
of the murdered priest was in the trunk
when 1t reached the house, as the trunk
was heavy. The two dodgers left all their
effects, which are few, but nothing aside
from a few newspapers seems to have
come from the trunk. and l know that it
was heavy when ii was brought into my
house, as the eXpressman bent beneath
his load
Capt. McCafferty was said last night to
have the number Of the house in Goth
street in which the murder committed.
Points to Political Plot.
The flight of the two men, Paul" and
john from the house in West 9th street
so soon after the delivery of the trunk is
taken by the police to mean that they be-
came frightened when they found the dead
body of the priest delivered to their room,
and made no further effort to conceal the
crime. Ermoyian. on the other hand. seems
to have written his name in the trunk
either freshly before at the time of the
murder in order to Identify himself with
the death of the priest. This action leads
the police to the political plot as the motive
for the murder.
Several arrests or captures were made
yesterday by the police of Jersey City and
surrounding cities A number of men and
women were questioned by the great army
of detectives Commissioner Bingham has
thrown upon the case, but aside from
the discovery that the murder took place in
East 10Th street instead of in the place
where the body was discovered some five
were recorded.
The fact is that the police were stopped
by the silence and taciturn conduct of the
members of the Armenian secret societies.
of which the priest was member. They
know the men being sought by the police
and know them members of a society
opposed to that of which the priest was
member, but all declare Father Caspar
was an ignorant man and could have had
no political influence.
Secret Societies Busy.
Agents Of the secret political societies
however, are busily engaged in an attempt
to discredit Father Caspar's standing and
10 show that his murder could not have
been prompted by the orders Of any of
the revolutionary bodies in this country
The police doubt their stories, and con-
tnue TO investigate along the lines of
political murder But they find that
every man who has given them any infor-
nation OF value becomes silent on the
second day and even denies the statement
made less than twentyfour hours before.
Members of the Honchekis, the world
wide revolutionary society, at first freely
discussed the death Of Father Caspar in an
impersonal way, but yesterday they would
say nothing whatever about it except as
an abstract proposition.
"Of course" said one OF the men known
to be an officer of the body, "if Father
killed. he got exactly what he deserved
There is no room for traitors to the Ar
menian cause on the face of the earth
1t would prove good lesson. But, of
course, rather Caspar was a man Of God
and had nothing to do with revolutionary
movements. If he did he can now answer
TO his Master for his conduct"