The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1915-01-04
EMPTY SARDINE CANS AS CLUES
 IN MURDER CASE
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Brennan today declared that he was innocent Of the crime. He spent his time in the cell smoking and lostnging about. Apparently he was in the best of spirits and did not fear the result of his arrest.
 When asked what he did on the night of the crime, he stated that he spent the night in a vacant building on the farm of his brother, in EIaw- 4eyvilIe He said that he spent the following day on the same farm, which was left to him in the will Of. his brother who died about three years ago. He then went to Ridge- field, looking for work. Though the county has been in a ferment over the apparent lack of investigation upon the part of the state police since tie crime of Aug gust 30, it is said that the police have been qs1ietly il6Yesti- gatIng and tracing the nneveTnents sof Brennan and others though the wood chobping camps about Newtown and Ridgehe1d. This espionage resulted in the capture Of Brennan Saturday in Rfdgeheld. where he had been for two days
 William Corr, who once had a, small shoe-shop in Bridgeport on Railroad avenue near Myrtle avenue was known by the name Of Green, which had been given to him because he never removed the sign of his pre- decessor in business
 He had been a resident of Newtowa for about two years and was inoffen- sfve in every way, toiling far. into the night mending shoes and harn ess his only rest from lasbors being taken on Saturday afternoon when he was ac- customed to visit the Newtown Inn.
 His body was found on Sunday morning, August 31, when parishion- CTS of St Roses church were return Sv<-- f--- Tx lay behind the counter in his shop, and in front of the work bench a : which he apparently had been seated. His right hand grasped an awI and the left was somewhat over his face as if to protect the head from the blows of an axe, which lay nearby. He had been struck from behind and as he lay upon the floor the face was battered almost beyond recognition by repeated blows.
 Though the trunks and clothing of Corr which vas in trunks and hung upon hooks in the two rooms occupied by him above a basement kitchen had been rumnaaged, the police were of the opinion that robbery was not the motive as considerable amounts were found by them.
 Two peculiar facts were noticeable to the investigators. That though all windows and doors except the en-
 
 closed, no blood marks were upon anything. The axe which had been used as a weapon bore blood only on the back of the steel blade. none ap- bearing on the handle.
 It was first believed that money had been the object of the robbery but this motive was overcome by the finding of plenty in the house. An attempt followed to show that the crime had been done by someone known to Corr in a moment of heat ed argument, or iby an insane per- son.
 With the burial of Gore. every available clue was recorded by the detectives who even filled footprints in the garden behind the house with wet plaster of paris. It is these inn pressions which it is now believed may play an important part in the circumstantia1 evidence that may be woven about Brennan.
 investigation at Newtown today dise1oses the fact that Brennan has lived for nearly thirty years in flaw IeyviIle where he was for many years watehman at the old tunnel that was destroyed few years ago when the railroad was improved. He is well connected in that section and is related to some of the best known families in Newtown. It is known that up to about two years ago he lived a more or less abstemious life but that upon the death of his father and brother he was left consider able money,s and has recently lived rather dissfpated life. But those who know him well assert that a jury can never be made to believe that he had hand in the atrocious crime.
 Shortly after the tragedy Edward Collins, a resident, of Newtown, was arrested as a suspect but was later released when it was shown that he could not have had a direct hand in