Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1913-09-08

An embroidered letter A. begun
with flourish and finished with an
uncertain hand. gave detectives to-
day their first tangible clue in the
Woodcliff. n. j., murder mystery.
the body of whose victim. a girl in
the twenties, has been surrendered in
two pieces by the Hudson river.
Through this hand worked letter.
which adorned the corner of New
ark-made FELLOWSHIP containing the
lower part of the girls body yes
terday. detectives hope to establish
the young woman's identity, al
though her head. arms and legs have
not been found.
1t is believed that the river still
holds these members of the body ana
that the crime was committed either
in New York or New Jersey by
person well versed in surgery A
probable motive for the crime was
found with the discovery that the
young woman was to have become =
mother in a few months.
The police today began searching
the eastern shore of the Hudson for
the craft from which, it is believed.
sections of the torso of the young
woman were thrown into the water.
They are looking not only for the
boat. but for the head. which, If not
too greatly disfigured, viii be the
best clue TO the victims identity.
A rambling letter sent unsigned TO
yolk $ morgue in Hoboken, where the
body is lying, is also being inves-
tigated. In this letter the writer
bewails the disappearance of Ella
Simmons" whom ii disignates as a
woman of wealth and position, and
names an East Side physician. The
postmark on the envelope indicates
that 1t was posted at the Grand Cen
tral station in New York Saturday.
PIN Hope on Pillow Slip
The police, however, have practi-
cally abandoned the letter as clue.
| They pin their hope now on the pill
low slip, and their investigation has
/ led them to the Robinson Roders
| Company, of New Jersey Railroad
/ avenue, this city, its makers. The
company is now having compiled
list of the 200 or more retail dealers
/ to whom they have sent pillow slips
of this particular kind, and this fin
/ ished. the police will begin the weary
task of visiting each one of these
! shops. Even if they do locate the
house they will still have to find who
1 purchased it over the counter, an
/
| attempt II in the absence of more
| tangible clues.
A member of the firm of Robinson-
Roders said today that it may be
/ possible to find the purchaser of the
/ FELLOWSHIP through their catalogue Of
designs. He said they had a num-
Der of designs in the ticks used on
the pillows and several of them quite
recent have not been put out in
] l., 1otC fe .f rc cxr
makes the detectives win only have
to search through a dozen houses
/ to discover where it was sold.
This line of investigation, they be-
lieve, will lead to the Identity of the
slain girl With that established.
| they will have something to work on
to trace her murderer.
Part of Torso Found.
Following closely upon finding the
lower part of the torso. the detec-
tives have come to the belief that the
/ Young woman was murdered in New
York. The hips and lower part of the
torso were discovered by Joseph Hag-
man and Michael Brennan, crab fish,
ermen, lying submerged and close to
shore at a point 600 feet north of the
! Delaware and Hudson coal dock,
/ Weehawken. and about three miles
south of Woodcrest. The remnants
/ of the body were given up Just as
the tide had reached It's ebb, but the
fishermen did not know whether the
1 heavy package had floated to the po-
I sition it occupied or had been tossed
there from the railroad tracks few
feet distant. BY the side of the pack
/ age was found a piece of rock, known
/ as New York rocks-a most impor-
tant fact in establishing where the
pieces of the body were tied UP 10 be
( thrown overheard
Letter Rambies.
The letter bore a special delivery
stamp and was addressed in blue Ink.
| On the envelope. both front and ack,
notes had been written in bib ami
! black ink and in lead pencil. One Of
/ the notes read as follows: Deliver
kindly at once; important Others
were evidently after thoughts which
had come to the writer after the en-
velope was sealed. They were as fol
/ lows.
''Dr. NJ is surgeon. knows do
| anything for money. l know him
well. (The name was spelled out.
but for obvious reasons is not repro
duced here.) Well. he never listened
| to me Body was skilfully dismeu-
bered. My life is in dread. DIR. NJ
knows Ella well. He lives some-
/ where near Ninetieth street. Third
avenue; has a fiat"
The above note was in black ink.
In pencil below it was this one: Now
office Third avenue number given)-