The Calumet news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 1907-1938, 1914-01-13
TRUNK MURDERS
BATTLE POLICE
Mysteries Result From Peculiar
Class of Crime in Gotham

New YORK, Jan. i3.-Three weeks
ago today a murder was committed in
New York and another added To the
list of so-called trunl; mysteries that
have seldom failed To battle the deteC-
tive talent of the metropolitan force
To all appearances the murder was Of
q most ordinary character as such
crimes run Yet three weeks have
passed without the authorities being
able To find the slightest clue To- tn"
perpetrat0r of the deed Even the
Identity of the victim has not been
satisfactorily established. The precise
manner IN which the murder was ac-
complished also is IN dispute
The new heads of the police depart
ment are hard at work on the case and
it is possible that in the course OF time
the mystery may be solved. Yet, if
the person or persons who committed
the murder Of December 80 and placed
the body of the victim in trunk and
dumped il i'm the gutter on Pitt street.
on the east side. are apIrehended and
convicted, something OF precedent
will have been established i'm the rec
ord Of New Yorlt's famous trunk muir
ders.
Four Other Unsolvsd Crimes.
Many persons are inclined To believe
thai ths latest murder is likely in
the end Ia stand with the other four
uusolyed trunk murders that have oc-
CURED in the metropolis in recent
years--the East river pier trunk mys-
terry. the murder Of Father Kaspar,
The Armenian priest; the killing of
Elsie Si"el, and Of Moses Sachs, the
ieWeler.
The East river pier trunk mystery
happened fourteen years ago this
month. Mayer Weissmard. an aged
itinorant dealer in jewcrly. was the
victim. Weissbard was lured into an
east side tenement, it was reasoned
hut never proved, and was there beat
, on 80 death. His body i'm a small. old,
rusty hinged green trunk was found
on the strinepiece OF one of the East
river piers lie had been robbed OF all
money and valuables. SO solution or
lanything approaching 4 solution of
this mystery was ever made by the
police and the murderer is still AT
! large.
Murder Of Fr. ksspar
The mystery OF the murder of Fa-
Their Kaspar i'm February. 1907. still
stands His body was found in a
trunk left in "A lodging house in West
Thirty seventh street Two men had
hired rooms there, and after they mad
given up the apartments it was dis
covered they had left trunk behind.
As i'm this latest murder mystery, the
victim had not been stabbed or shot
or wounded IN any way. The autopsy
showed that he had been thrust into
| he trunk while alive. The supposition
/ is he was drugged. forced into the
trunk and the lid clamped and Sc
curely strapped above him. The mo-
! tive for the crime was supposed to be
robbery. although the priest was u
poor man. depending foi support on
the small cash donations of the Ar
mcnians in this city and vicinity, to
| whom he ministcred The police, after
1
many months work abandoned all ef-
! forts To discover the mUrderers.
Killing of Elsie Sigel.
The Elsie Sigcl murder, which oc-
CURED W. June. 1909 is still fresh in
| the public MIND. Her body was found
y i'm trunk i'm a room above a Chinese
restaurant. The young woman. a
granddaughter of Gen. Franz Sisel of
| civil war fame, had gone INTO mission
/ AIRY work in Chinatown and ended by
having several romancce with her pu-
pills. William Leon, q christianizcd
! Chiuaman. to whom she was reported
engaged. disappeared, and the police
have never been able to find him,
! thoulh alleged clues 10 his where
/ abouts have been reported from time
in Texas. California ana other parts
Of the country. The evidence pointed
to Leon rs the murderer chiefly he
cause he was known To have been an
intimate Of the murdered girl and had
occupied the room in which her body
was found. The superstition is that