New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-06-18
Ruth Cruger
Ripper Victim,
Autopsy Shows
Continued from page ]

pearance. According to Mr.. Fitzpatrick.
Palumbo refused 70 answer questions.
Mrs. Cocchi burst into tears wheh
told that she was TO be held. she de-
clared that the police had trlckeo her
and that they should have waited until
her attorney, Aaron Marcus, arrived.
II was explained to her, however, that
Mr.. Marcus's presence would make no
difference, as no charge had oeen
placed against her, and she was pacl-
fed when told she might take her one
year-old daughter, Georgetta, to the
Women's House of Detention. Her
son, Arthur, eight years old, was tlrned
over to friends.
A curious crowd already had col
lected in front of the little shop IN
l27th Street by the time the laoorers
Arrived at s O'Clock. The curiosity
seekers came from Jersey by way OF
the Fort Lee ferry, poured from the
subway station nearby and struggled
along from the direction of every
streetcar line in the vicinity. All day
long they tried to clip past six uni
formed patrolmen to peer into the
cellar.
The excavators were in charge OF
Lieutenant O'Brien, a building expert,
and Detective George Thomson. They
first invaded the vaults under the side
walk, where O'Brien, after sounding
the cement walls, was convinced moth
ing had been buried there. They next
dug up the cellar, but found nothing,
and then went into the repair shop,
where the body was found. There they
ripped up the wooden flooring which
covered the concrete. In the southwest
corner they came upon a small hole two
feet square, where the cement had been
broken and earth removed. After dig
ging a few feet they came 70 large
rock. 1t is believed that an attempt
was made TO secret the body there first
and that the digger was baked by the
rock.
Second Tunnel Found
The workmen next attacked the tun-
mel from which the body had been
taken. and enlarged it so that two men
could descend into il. Here they came
upon smaller tunnel. about eighteen
inches wide and running down at an
angle of about go degrees for dis
lance of about ten feet toward the
centre of the cellar. The first objects
they dragged forth were Ruth Cruger's
skates, with the tan shoes attached.
The blades were keen, giving evidence
that Cocchi had sharpened them.
On the upper part Of one of the shoes
was clotted mass, TO which some OF
the victims hair adhered. This gave
rise 70 the report that the skates had
been used as the weapon of murder.
There were 'no stains on the skate
blades, however, and the autopsy re-
vealed that the girls skull had been
crushed by blow from some blunt in
strument. II is believed that the vic
TINS head rested on the shoes when il
was showed into the tunnel.
Further on the diggers dragged out a
lot of rags, and near the end of the
smaller tunnel came upon an ice chop
per with a Jagged head about nine
inches long and three-foot wooden
handle. The prongs were covered with
stains and dirt, and were bent. IL is
the theory of the police that the person
who buried the body used this instru
ment to dig the tunnel.
While these exhibits were being ex-
amined by Commissioner Woods, who
was notified and came directly to the
scene, the autopsy was under way at
Bellevue. Mrs. Humiston was called
upon to view the body and identify it
before the work of the doctors pro-
ceeded. She then left The room. The
autopsy was performed by DR.. Otto II.
Schultz, County Medical Examiner. and
DR.. Benjamin Schwartz. Coroner's
physician. DR.. l.. /. Danforth. OF 80
West Fifty-second Street. represented
the Cruger family. and Detective Frank
Niece was present for the police
Evidence Of Ripper"
The physicians found no evidence to
show that Miss Cruger died from heart
disease. a compound fracture Of the