The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1917-06-28

REAL EVIDENCE STUNNED
Man Who Unearthed Body Re.
veals Laxity in Search Of
the Cocchi Shop.


and police officials who should be pun
ished for letting CocChi get away and
for generally scandalous lassitude In the
Cruger case, Commissioner Wallstein
hads that the old. old stratagem referred
to as passing the buck" has not gone
out Of fashion In the Police Department.
A. he attempts to nail this or that
Fourth Branch LecoQ he finds, he says,
that the prospective victim points q
finger at somebody else, saying Don't
blame me. mister, He done it." Sew
eral times in the course Of the hearing
the Commissioner was rufied to tho
point OF accusing this or that Fourth
Brancher Of trying to bow himself out
Of suspicion. but the evidence is ac-
cumulating that the buck is merely 60
ing around In small circle, as 1t went
in the gay days of Lexow and Of Maset.
But there Is more than Duck passing
observed In police efforts to wriggle away
from responsibility. somebody has been
trying to doctor the records Of the COM
plaint book used in the Fourth Branch.
An attempt has been made TO make II
Cruger was ofiicially noted some hours
before It actually was entered In the
book.
Lieutemanf IL Suspected.
The Commissioner told Lieut.. william
Brown, second In command at the
Fourth Branch that he was under SUE
picion.
Subsequently wallstein made Lieut..
Francis A. Stainkamp. a desk officer OF
the Fourth Branch. who came on duty
on the morning of February IL. the day
after Ruth disappeared. admit that he
made a false entry in the complaint
book. entering the report Of Ruth's dis
appearance as Of 9:45 A. N. on Feb
ruary IL instead Of as midnight Of Feb
ruary 13, when the disappearance
I actually was reported by Arthur NJ.
II Brown. Mr.. Cruger's business associate
10 Lieut.. Brown.
Possibly the most impressive testi-
mony of the day was that given by
Patrick +. Solan, foreman In charge OF
buildings and building material at the
Grand Central Terminal. who was ap-
gealed 10 by the Crugers to go to
Cocchi's cellar TO see II he couldn't md
Ruth's body. The detectives had beer
poking around for four months. Then
solan popped into the cellar took out
bench out of a corner Of the room. got
down on his hands and knees. saw thai
loose dirt was sprinkled over q board
flooring and started digging right there
Within few minutes he was iiftiht
Ruth Cruger's body out OF the tunne
Cocchi had dug.
Detectives "shOwn Up"
The point of all this Is that Detective
Sergeant John L. Lagarenne, tail, attn
letic, about twice as big az Sonn' hae
testified before Walstein that ne saw
the bench but that he didn't try to move
IL because IL was too heavy for one man
and also because 1t was nailed down.
The inquiry was resumed yesterday
when Lieut. Brown was summoned Aite
A few questions designed to bring ou
the procedure employed in taking up
police investigation of missing persol
cases Brown was excused TO reIresn M
memory from the daily records OF tn
Fourth Branch.
Then Solaa was called. He went t
the Cocchi shop at 524 West 127t
street on June 10. He testified that whe
he entered the cellar he found Detectiv
McGee and several persons there Nc
Gee called Solan's attention TO a snfrt
waist which was encrusted with chio
ride of lime and which was wrapped Il
torn newspaper Then Solan ilspecte
pile OF dirt in front of the shop. H
incurred where that dirt had come from
and was told that Il had come from tn
holes the police had been digging. Sola
saw that 4 was impossible to get 8
much dirt from these holes. He note
various articles In the cellar and espe
oiaIlv the work bench and cabinet.
He observed that they were not nus
10 each other. His experienced ey
saw signs that one or the other had bee
moved While McGee was busy clearin
away rubbish Solan tackled the wor
bench. which he moved easily enough
Lagarenna had testified that the benc
was nailed down and that 1t was to
heavy for one man to shift from II