The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1907-08-07
TERRIBLE CRIME IN n. Y.
LITTLE EIGHT-YEAR-OLD GIRL
MEETS CRUEL DEATH.

Killing Rivals in Atrocity Those of
Last Week-She Was Assaulted
Slain and Her Body Horribly Mu-
tilated-Discovery of the Crime
and Arrest Of Suspect Almost
Causes Riot.
New York, Aug 1.-The grave
yard as the foreign populated
neighborhood on First Avenue, be-
tween 18th and 14th streets, is
known locally, gave up today fresh
crime, rivalling in atrocity the nlyste-
rious butcheries Of last week. The
latest discovered victim was an eight
year-old girl. and, like the two young
women murdered, she had been
shockingly mistreated. before death
and the body mutilated when life was
extinct.
The three murders are strikingly
similar. Last Thursday night a wo-
man was strangled in a 22d street
boarding house; the next morning the
| body Of a still unidentified woman,
VINO had been choked to death, was
found in an areaway in East Goth
street. Katie Pritschler, daughter Of
restaurant waiter, disappeared
week ago today and was killed that
night. A ribbon placed about the
throat and drawn so tightly that it
cut the flesh showed how she died.
Ter body was found today.
II the brutality of the murderers
can be qualified, that of the Pritsch-
Ter girl ranks first. She was assault
ed, murdered and then her lifeless
form was horribly mutilated.
The grave yard takes its name
from the proximity of the old thir-
teenth street cemetery, and the local
ity has been the scene Of several re-
voting murders.
The majority of the residents are
foreigners Carl Pritschler, the ia
ther of Katie, is a hard working, re-
spectacle citizen. He has several
other children, all younger than Katie.
The girl left home at $40 East 18th
street last Thursday night to play in
the stEeet When she failed to return
the father notified the police and a
general alarm was sent out. The body
was today discovered within a block
of her home and scarcely a hundred
yards from the location Of placard
placed by the father, calling attention
to the fact that his, child was lost.
How the body could have remained
undiscovered for week is not ex-
planned.
The girls body was stumbled upon
by woman who visited the basement
of the house at 2o3 First Avenue. It
lay upon a berry crate with seeming
ly no effort at concealment.
you can say for me- Coroner
Harberger declared. that the crimes
in Berlin. of which the newspapers
have told have not been one thou
sandth part Is bad as the murder of
this little girl"
The coroner would not permit the
body to be photographed.
At the coroner's direction Gaetano
Rippolano. whose cobbler shop ad-
joins the girls home, was arrested
and asked to explain his absence from
his shop on last Friday. He estab-
lished the fact that he had spent the
day at Bristol. Conn. The girl is said
to have frequented Rippolano's place
and search of the shop brought to
light mans shirt which bore red
stains. The cobbler was arraigned
and remanded to the coroner. Gius-
eppe Bafanto. Rippoano's partner.
was questioned but threw little light
o,l the case and was not detained.
The police also began a search for
q woman who is said to have former
ly roomed at the Pritschler house. but
who left there after quarrel and
took lodgings in the house where the
girls nody was found.
When the news of the finding OF the
little ones body spread through tn"
neighborhood excitement rose To such
a pitch that the removal Of the body
and tn arrest of Rippclano almost
causes! q riot Many thousands Of
persons We're in the nearby streets
when the wagon from the morgue ar
rived At sight of the covered body
the crowd vented its grief and rage
in a babel of tongues. The police
were compelled to use force to get
through TIE street. Soon afterwards
the arrest of the cobbler became
known and the crowd charged the
prisoners shop. Rippolano had been