New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-03-21
After Identification by
Woman He Alters His
Original Alibi
Admits He Spoke to
Policeman on Train
Mysterious Eddie" Enters
Story When Loopholes
Are Found

Benjamin Sternberg. who voluntarily
came forward on Monday as the dia-
mond loving Benny" sought in con-
nection with the murder Of Mrs. Elsie
Lee Hilair, was depending upon a brand
new story last night to convince the
police that they will have 10 look fur
Their for d solution of the mystery
Morning found Benny" still insist
ent that he had not seen Mrs. Hilair at
al last Thursday and that he had not
once crossed from Brooklyn to Man
haitian during the day
But By the time a hole big enough
20 drive a Black Maria through had
been blasted i'm his alibi, he had sud
denly recollected that he had not only
met the woman in Brooklyn, but had
crossed under the river in the subway
with her and ridden uptown.
At the Grand Central subway station
"Bennys" story-sO far as Mrs. Hilalr
had a place in it--stopped short.
There. he said, she mad found more
congenial company and had lightly
transferred herself to the arm OF an
other man.
And Benny" was sure he would
know that man again-a dapper fellow
of, say, thirty, with sideburns and
black hair, combed straight back.
Benny" remembered too, a gray soft
nat. a dark overcOat, tan shoes with
spats and a walking stick.
Gives His Name
In his anxiety to help President Cray
Assistant District Attorney John r.
Joyce and Deputy Police Commissioner
Guy Scull, who were interrogating him.
Benny" was even able 10 contribute
The first half Of the mans name. Mrs.
Hilair, he said, had greeted him, JOY
ously. as Eddie"
If IL hadn't been for sheer luck the
police might have had considerable
more trouble in getting Sternberg's
story TO bridge the river, and they
might conceivably have been Obliged
10 release him-a thing which. it was
said late last night, they haven't tie
slightest immediate intention OF doing.
According to "Benny's" original mar
rative, IL was not until a few minutes
after noon on Thursday that he felt
his home. at 433 Miller Avenue, in the
Brownsville district of Brooklyn. He
went first TO Louis Merits saloon, at
Broadway and Ralph Avenue, Brooklyn;
lounged for a while in front OF the
Empire Theatre, across the street, and
then "drifted unconsciously' until.
shortly before 6 o'clock, he found him
self at Flatbush Avenue and Fulton
Street, and started home.
Sternberg's wife agreed on the time
ne left home; but II appeared Benny
had been late in getting back. That led
10 his recollection that he had stopped
IN a certain saloon TO meet a friend
who had promised to repay So loan,
and who had kept him waiting. Benny"
blinked when the police told him his
borrower had been found and had de-
MED having had any appointment with
him on Thursday, but he still stuck ID
mis- abb. He sat tight when others
who might have bolstered the alibl
refused to say they had seen him.
Coincidence an Aid
Then coincidence came to the aid o.
the police. Herman Scheizer. a po-
liceman attached TO the Coney Island
station, who is acquainted with
Benny" remembered having seen him
Thursday morning on a Long Island
Railroad local which stopped at the
East New York platform, west-bound,
al 11:16.
"Benny" and the policeman had
spoken, and Scheizer hadn't forgotten
"Benny's" boast about a date with a
swell chicken" Two men who we're
Scheizer's companions on the train
saw Benny" at the I'd Branch Detec-
tive Bureau and identified him.
This made II clear that Sternberg
must have left home before noon, but
it stil left him in Brooklyn, for he
and the policeman parted at the At
lantic Avenue terminal.
Then came the wife of a friend Of
Inypector Cray, and coincidence again.
On Thursday the friends wife and
another woman. on their way TO keep
a luncheon engagement, made use Of
the subway on the Brooklyn side late
in the forenoon. or all timely topics
that which engaged them was the the
dansant and its votaries. They were
spe2kinC Of the women old enough
20 know better" who frequent such
places, and the risks they run in max
ing the casual acquaintance OF young
men with nothing better TO do than
dance, when man and a woman
boarded the train and took seats OPP
posite them. This was az Hoyt Street.
There's just the sort of couple we
we're talking about" said one o. the
women. shes fifteen years older
than he Is IL she's a day"
Woman-ilko, the two took shrcwd
stock Of the couple under observation
They noticed a big diamond, which
glttered on the mans hand; the gray
dress Of the woman, her hat, her
couture. her shoes, her tinted cheeks
and the diamonds with which she out
gllttered her companion.
One Of these two women Inspector
Cray's friends wife. whose name is
withheld by the police that she may
be spared uudeserved notoriety-told
her story yesterday, and late in the
afternoon was taken into the little
grill room" upstairs in the % Branch
20 see Sternbcrg.
Bg that time She had Described him