Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1915-05-10
RIPPER MAY
Be CAUGHT
IN NEWARK
Man with Mask in Hat
Is Arrested
Here.
NEWTON STREET SCHOOL
THROWN INTO PANIC
Parents, Mostly Italian, Had
Heard That Children Had
Been Murdered.

Thomas Geary, about thirty five
years old, was arrested this afternoon
in Wallace place by Policeman
Merck, of the Fifth precinct, and was
found to have a mask In his hat. The
man was pointed out to the policeman
by children from the Bruce Street
School, who said he was Jack the
Ripper" The man was taken to po-
lice headquarters.
At police headquarters Geary was
questioned by Captain Tuite and then
locked up pending further investiga-
ton and observation as to his sanity.
He described himself as an iron
moulder, q native of New York state
and formerly a resident of compton.
No weapon was found on him, a small
pair of scissors being the only object
with an edge found in his possession.
The mask was made of the lining of
a woman's hat. Geary is of swarthy
complexion and might easily be taken
for an Italian or an Armenian at first
glance.
Rumors that such person was
about and had killed two little girls
in Boston street got about the north
ern sections Of the city and the Hill
this afternoon, causing great excite
ment among the Italian children in
the Newton Street and Bruce Street
schools and st. Joseph's Parochial
School.
More than 400 excited men and
women, practically all Italians, de-
scended on the Newton Street School
just before o'clock this afternoon
demanding to see in person that their
children were safe.
Principal Claude l.. West, upon re-
turning from lunch shortly before l
O'Clock, found the crowd about the
school and in such a frame of mind
that he summoned help from the
Fourth precinct station. Sergeant
Early and Policemen Moeller and
Clark responded, and after time got
the parents to go home.
For some time it was difficult to
learn what the trouble was about,
but once the cause of the anxiety
was learned, Principal West and the
officers talked to The children, who in
turn assured the parents that the
rIirnor of the killing of children in
Boston street was untrue.
How story Grew.
While the excitement was at its
height q passerby stopped at fifteenth
avenue and Hayes street to ask Mat
thew Danielle the cause of the COM
motion. Someone shouted, There he
is" and the crowd commenced to
swarm in his direction, but Mr..
Danielle, who is well-known in that
section, reassurred the parents in
time to save the man from harm.
The police have so far been unable
to run down the rumor to its source.
The Newton Street School extends
from Newton to Hayes streets, with
entrances on both in the block be-
tween South Orange and Fourteenth
avenues. OF the 1900 pupils four -fifths
are Italian.
This forenoon no commotion was
noticed by the teachers until the first
session was dismissed at ll:45. Then
more than a dozen anxious appearing
women were seen at the Hayes street
entrance. When their children put In
an appearance they were grabbed up
and the women looked much relieved.
Principal West did not go to lunch
until 1890, and everything was quiet
then, but twenty minutes later the
of the school was alive
with people. The only tangible excuse
for the rumors picked up by the police
about the school was that little
Plane street girl had been chased by
a man. From this start the story
grew to two murders on Boston
street.
Excitement at Other Schools.
The excitement reached Down
Neck" also, where girl pupils of the
Ann Street School said that a Jack
the ripper had been seen around the
East Side Park. Policemen Van
Steenberg and Cahill, of the Third
precinct, investigated the stories and
found nothing to warrant further
work on that line, they said
A story which may have Jack
the Ripper" angle to it is told by
John F. Leonard, an electrician, liv-
ing at 40 Plane street. who reported
to the First precinct station shortly
after 6 o'clock Saturday night that
his five-year- son, Norbett, had
been attacked by a strange Italian.
Captain Caffrey said today an inves-
tigation led him to believe the man
the boy for a girl.
Mrs. Leonard said the supposed
italian offered her son candy, and
that the boy mistrusted him and
fought him off The lad ran into the
back yard of his home screaming.
Mrs. Leonard recognized her sons
voice, and, she said today. recog-
nized terror In its tones. She looked
from a window of the Leonard apart
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