New-York tribune., 1910-05-11
BLAME HINDU SOCIETY
FOR DOUBLE MURDER
East Indian Organization Punch
ava Called Worst of
Secret Orders.
POLICE ARE BARE OF CLEWS
Oriental Vengeance Believed to
Be at Bottom of Battling
Crime in DR.. Can
mons House.

The batting murder of Mary Meehner,
the housekeeper and William Benan. the
Hindu butler. in the home of DR.. Mott
D. Cannon. at No. 131 West 122d street,
on Monday afternoon developed yester-
day into deeper mystery. when the
slender clews which were found by the
detectives failed to provide any basis
for the solution of the double crime.
While the police considered robbery as
possible motive, detectives familiar
with Oriental crimes sought to connect
which is said to be feared by the Hindus
as the most diabolical of secret orders.
In the commission of their crimes the
society members are known to aim to
deface their victims and leave them un-
recognizable.
Benan. whose real name was Danukal-
harie. fled from Calcutta two years ago.
He left his wife and C ldren, who be-
longed to the middle caste of the Hindus
He guarded his whereabouts in Trinidad,
w. l., until year ago, when he
came to New York with \. Tulsie,
a Hindu dental student, who lives at
No. 229 East sd street Since that
time he had been employed at many
places and had always left with good
recommendations. Each time Benan
showed fear he gave up his place.
The detectives have not learned that
the Hindu had received threats from
the Punchaya. Hindus in this city said
that the organization planned it's mur-
ders with deeper secrecy thai the Black
Hand or the Huncha kist and that none
Of their members ever left a trace after
assassination. 1t was pointed out that
Benan was the first to be attacked
and that the old housekeeper had proba
bly, received her blow when she went to
his assistance.
The autopsy on the bodies of Miss
Meehner and Benan showed that both
had been felied by weapon similar to
blackjack. They We're then shot, the
bullets being aimed at their faces
Captain Arthur kuhne of the Harlem
Detective Bureau had all his men on the
case yesterday. An Ella borate search was
made of the house and the grounds The
walls and the furniture were examined
for finger prints, but nothing was found
TO give the least aid to the detectives
In reconstructing the crime Captain
Kuhne and Inspector Russell held q con-
ference. Many motives were suggested
but all gave way. The detectives were
finally assigned to work on the motive
of d possible robbery. the work of mad
man or the revenge of the Hindu secret
order.
Helen Hammond, a schoolgirl who
attended the class taught by DR. Cam
mons sister. gave the police a clew which
led them to believe that the fiend who
killed the old housekeeper and the Hindu
was in the house for some time after
the murders. Miss Hammond called at
the house shortly after 3 o'clock She
had been commissioned TO deliver a bou-
quet of flowers, Miss Cannon was
going to do some shopping with Miss
Julia Freeborn, who also lived in the
doctors house.
The rough voice of a man frightened
me from the house, said Miss Ham
mond. as she related to the detectives
how she rang the bell and how a man
opened the door, and then scared her
away from the house. Miss Hammond
said she was so alarmed that she did not
even look up at the mans face
In their first search the police found
DIR. Cannon's revolver with three cham
Eers empty. This led them to believe
that the weapon was used for the shoot
ing. The autopsy showed that four bull
lets were used, and one of these bullets
was of soft lead, different from those
which were in the cartridges in the re-
volver found by the police.
In their efforts to trace the murder to
the Punchaya Society the detectives
learned that Benan was hidden at the
home of a Hindu in this city for two
weeks before the murder. He had re-
signed a. place on a steamship because
of a man who. il was learned last night.
posed as a negro and threa tened to kill
him. 1t was the same reason that led
him TO give up his place in a Brooklyn
hotel