The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-05-27
CORPSE IS LET ID PAY ROOM RENT LandIady Has Horrible Find in
 Roomers' Trunk BODY THAT OF A PRIEST Police Have Clues That May Lead to Unearthins of crime-Two
 Men Have Been Ar
 rested.

Mrs. Annie Scherer rented one of her six rooms in tenement at 333 West Thirty seventh street to two unknown men. When last Wednesday the rent was not forthcoming her lodgers, two Greeks, told her that she was amply secured by their well filled trunk. The following morning the men disappeared. and today the trunk was broken open. To the horror of Mrs. Seherer, 1t was found to contain the badly decomposed body of a man believed to have been a priest of the Greek church.
 The body was in a kneeling position with the head bound against the knees by a heavy strap that passed over the back of the neck and was buckled under the shins. The murdered man must have been about 60 years of age flowing beard. twelve inches long, was streaked with gray, but the long and bushy hair was black. An undershirt of baIprggan and cuff on the right wrist were all the body had on, but on top of 1t had been thrown three voats of clerical cut, a white laun- dered shirt, two pairs of black lace shoes, a soft felt hat, two Roman collars and detached cuff.
 A Chicago Clue.
 The police think 1t possible that the body was shipped here by express from Chicago, and the authorities of that city have been asked to follow one clew, based on meal ticket also found in the trunk. This ticket was issued by a restaurant at 122 Hastead street, West Pullman. Chi cago. Because of the condition of the body, the manner of death was not im mediately apparent, Following an au- topsy at the morgue, two men were ar rested on suspicion.
 Mrs. Seherer told the coroners jury that when the men engaged the room in their home they described themselves as John and Paul Sarl1is, each about 8 years of age. The men had been visited, she said, by a man wearing a clerical garh, who looked not unlike the murdered man. She thought that this man called at o'clock last Wednesday morning.
 Late Wednesday afternoon an express wagon brought to the house a trunk which later was found to contain the body.
 Asked for Rent.
 That night Mrs. Seherer asked her roomers for the rent due. They pointed to the trunk and said 1t would be found to contain ample security for what they owed. Later the men said that the trunk delivered to them was not theirs, and that a mistake had heen made. It re- mained in the house, however, and was there the next morning, though the room- CTS had left before Mrs. Seherer was up. | She did not see them again. The next day unpleasant odors were detected com | ing from the room the strangers had oc- cupied and today Mrs Seherer applied to | the police and the trunk was opened l The autopsy developed that the neck | had been broken as had one arm. Cor oner's Physician Lehane declared that | death was due to suffocation The inter- nal organs were congested and Dr. Le- 1 h htg fnfn hat 10 n0a n was thrust into the trunk while alive, and the trunk lid held down until death came.
 Body Identified.
 Father Kasper of the Armenian Apos- tolic church of Hoboken, N. J., was mur- dered in this city some time last week.
 The body was found today in a trunk which had been left as securities for their room rent by two Greeks who, three weeks ago, engaged a room of Mrs Henry S. Herrer, who occupies the third floor of a tenement at 833 West Thirty-seventh street.
 After being removed to the morgue the | body was identified as that of the priest. l He lived at No eos Monastery street, West Hoboken, and frequently made trips to this city soliciting funds for his church. | Father Kasper, carrying small leather bag, in which his collections were placed, came to be~.a familiar figure in Greek and Armenian circles here, and 1t Is be- leved that he was murdered for the money he carried.
 The autopsy revealed that the priest had probably been drugged and placed, while still alive, in the trunk, there to be suffocated to death.
 The coroner's physician said that the man had probably been dead six or seven days. The contents of the stomach will be examined to determine whether some drug was used The police have sent out general alarm for Sarlxis Ermoylan, Sarxis Barmovlan and Paul Sarisalan.
 Simon Pashakarian of 506 Tenth avenue tonight identified the trunk as belonging to Ermoylian, an Armenian, who he said roomed with him for four months and up to last Monday, when he quite the house Pashakarian told the police Ermoylian, previous to his coming to thls city. had worked in a restaurant in West Pullman, Chicago. The police theory Is that the priest was murdered in the Tenth avenue house. They believe that the priest was lured to this room, there drugged, robbed and murdered, and the trunk later sent to the West Thirty-seventh street address.
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