The Washington times., 1907-10-30
DARK MYSTERY
IN MURDER At
THE WALDORF
Strange Developments
Brought Out by Police
investigation.
Take With Officer
About Being Robbed
and Acted Queerly.

NEW YORK, Oct. 30.-No solution
of the mystery around the death
of Herman Bradley Potter, an in
surance agent Of Doylestoysn, Pa.
has yet been found. He was a man
Of excellent social standing and
comfortable means, and was found
dead in his rooms ON the fourteenth
floor OF the Waldorf-Astoria last
night with his skull fractured in
two places, his nose broken and
bleeding, and bruises about his legs
and feet, showing that he had been
horribly beaten
Whether the man was murdered
in the hotel. or was beaten in the
sstreet and went to his rooms to die,
is not yet determined.
Question of possible poisoning
also figures in this mystery. There
is a suspicion that a jar of white
powder found In the room after the
discovery of the body contained
cyanide Of mercury. An autopsy
viii be held today to reveal whether
there are traces Of the drug in the
mans stomach.
Mysterious Letter to Wife.
At the same time there was a rnvsterf-
Gus lettee written By Mr.. Peter 70 his
wife, in Doylestowa, which puts the
whole affair in a different phase.
- E-r.o
tackled by thugs or Saturday night and
that he received cut on the nose from
a blow. He did not receive, however,
the wounds that appeared on his body
when ne Was found dead. These are
sufficient IN themselves to have pro-
duced death and physicians declare they
were received only a short time before
death.
Potter appeared at the Waldorf
Astoria on Thursday last and registered
as H. Bradley Potter. Doylestown.
Mr. Potter was about the hotel from
Thursday night until Saturday. From
that time his movements are not known.
Told Detectives of Robbery
Detective Smith. Of the hotel saws
that Potter came to him some time Sat
urday night and said re had been held
up and robbed.
'lfe seemed to have been dining we'll"
Smith explained at the time. Then"
continued the detective, he dropped
something about having had a fight"
The records Of the East Sixty-seventh
police station show that late Saturday
night there came call for a policeman
to come to 167 East Seventy-first- street,
where Lieutenant Connors was told
drunken man had taken his seat on the
stOop.
Policeman John Finneran was sent on
the case and found a well-dressed man
dazed and trembling apparently from
drink.
Don't take me to the station house,
FInneran said the man pleaded. 7 am
a stranger here. / have my room key
at the Waldorf. and ] have just been
held up and robbed. However, I man
aged 10 land on two OF them before the
three Of them got me.
You better come with me- Finneran
told the man. IF I should not have
found you here you would have died"
The mans answer to this is regarded
as most significant Ffnneran says that
he replied:
We'll. I'm sorry you found me if that
is the case. Take me back there again"
At the station house Finnerans pris-
oner gave his name as Harry Bradley.
of DoylestoWn, Pa He said also that
and that he had been robbed and beaten.
On the way to the night police court
the man begged F1nneran not TO press
a charge against him. He said:
''You know I must have got knock
out drops IN fact. / know 1 did,
Released in Night Court.
At the night court Potter told tho
court he was a stranger here, and when
Finneran did not press the charge Of
intoxication he was released.
When the man was found Coroner
Hamburger vas sent Cor, and after an
examination said;
This man has beer beaten to death.
I can't say that he was killed ia the
hotel. but a murder has been commit
On a table in his room was letter
addressed 10 Mrs. II. Bradley POtte-, |
;r of DoylsstOwn. Pa. The letter was
ON a letterhcad o. the Michigan Com
merelaI Insurance Company of DOyles-
town The letter in no way threw light
on the mystery.
While the letter would seem to indf-
cate Bradley knew death was approach /
ing, it was agreed the wounds on his
body could not possibly have been self |
inflicted. 1t was shown the letter was
written in a strong hand and by a man
who. if in physical suffering or under
a nervous strain, showed no sign Of It /
in his writing. A comparison of the |
writing TO the signature on the hotel /
register proved beyond doubt that Potter /
had nennad the note.
The question then arose whether the {
man. knowing that he was injured unto
death and was dying. had the nerve 10 /
pen this letter, or whether he had taken /
precautions to make death sure after /
receiving the beatfng