The Washington herald., 1909-06-12
BODY IDENTIFIED
BY LAUNDRY MARK
East Side Jew Victim in New
York Mystery.
sLAYERs UNKNOWN TO POLICE
Believed Man Was Lured 20 Room
and Given Gas Before His Head Was
Cut from the BOdy-Detectives Run
Down Many clevu, but Cannot De-
eide WHAT Prompted Murder.

New York. June 1.-THE young man
whose dismembered body. wrapped In
brown paper and black oiIcloth. was
found al the side OF Public School 10. l.
near Henry and Oliver streets Thursday
night, and whose head was discovered by
three homeless men OF Park Row this
morning on a rubbish heap under the
Brooklyn Bridge approach. WIS Samuel
Bersin. a Jew. who lived at 81 East
Ninety-eighth street,
Detectives established the identifcation
in remarkably short time through a laun-
dry mark on the neckpiece Of Bersin's
blue undersbirt and certain malforma-
tions Of the fingers and toes that were
instantly recognized by the mans sisters.
but they were a long way tonight from
knowing who killed young Bersin. butch
cred the body. and threw the parts into
the streets.
CorOner's Physician ShUltZ discovered
that the young Jew had been partially OF
wholly asphyxiated before his throat was
cut. a bit OF information which led speed
ily to the formation Of a theory.
Lured 10 East side Room.
Bersin was taken or decoyed 10 room
somewhere on the lower East Side. ard
not very far from Public School No /
He was tied 10 a chair and left bound
while the gas was turned on. But the
man died too slowly from gas poisoning.
or some circumstances alarmed and hur-
ried his captor or captors. so they cut
his throat while he was unconscious.
chopped the body 70 pieces, and waited
for a favorable time 10 dispose Of the
parts.
DR.. ShultZ believed. after an examlna-
ton Of the stomach. that Bersin had
been dead forty-eight hours, so that in
all probability ne was killed Wednesday
night the last time that he was seen
alive by his roommate. David POmerantZ.
.Ae following night. Thursday, the
trunk and the legs were made into two
packages with inner wrappers OF brown
paper and outer coverings OF old cracked
oilcloth, and the head was rolled up into
three papers. One man. and he a Jew.
by the description given 70 the police by
Joe Totaro. the Italian schoolboy. who
was promised a nickel Tor guarding the
packages until the man came hack. threw
the head onto the rubbish heap under
meath the bridge arch at Rose and Vande-
water streets and carried the rest Of the
body 10 oliver and Henry streets.
Somewhat late IN the day. after assem-
bling odds and ends Of information. the
detectives began TO believe young BerSin.
who was something Of a sport. incurred
the savage enmity OF some one because
OF intimacy with a woman.
visited Queer Places.
The detectives heard that he liked to
visit queer places on the lower East Side.
and that he had been mixed up with one
or two women in that quarter. To some
OF NcCanerty's men the case savoreS OF
a cadets job. But this theory was rather
unsubstantiaI AT best, and il was based
very largely or the insIsience Of little
Joseph Totaro that the man who handed
the oilcloth packages over 10 him was
Jew
Old hands In the Central Office declared
THAI they could not remember case
where a Jew was guilty OF murder 50
brutal and ruthless merely to cover thiev-
ing.
II Jew killed Bersin it was pretty Ger
tain. they thought. that the motive was
considerably broader ard deeper than the
desire 10 strip bis pockets L looked more
like calculated revenge for actual or fan
oied wrongs. There was practically moth
ing learned 10 support this iuea
Bersin's sisters declared he had rot
been entsngled. so far as they knew, with
any woman. married or single.
AZ late hour tonight the case was
sun mystery and no arrest had been
made