New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-06-14
Wife of Man Who Last Saw
Girl Prevents Excava.
tons in Cellar
Red Tape Helps Delav
Whole Day Lost Before Per.
nit Is Granted to Dig
Through Sidewalk

Agencies striving TO pick IN a..
threads of mystery in the disap,s.,
ance of Ruth Cruger were compeIleS q
abandon their task temporarily vss,.r
day morning. The trail of the eigh,...
year-old schoolgirl, lost in sbador.
since February 10, when she len h..
home at $50 Claremont Aveaus a..
vanished, led to a stone wall .,
o'clock in the morning.
At that hour Mrs. Martha Coe.h, -
fused to permit private detective, !,
the employ Of .the Cruger fsmilv ).
pass through the shop and confirm.
excavations in the cellar beneath -.
motorcycle shop of her husba,S
Alfredo. at 542 West l27th Stree,
Cocch was the last man known to b,v.
seen Ruth Cruger. He disappeared two
days after she dropped out OF sieh,
and subsequently was reported in I,aly
Had Unearthed Bones
Bones, a embroidered eor,e,
cover and tan glove were uncovered
by the excavators Tuesday from a bol.
some one had broken in the cement
floor of the Cocchi cellar, which pro.
jects out under the pavement in front
OF his shop.
Mrs. Grace Humiston, the Cruger a..
torney, and J. J. Kron, private detec.
tive conducting the investigation, yes.
terday afternoon went 20 the Borough
Presidents Office and obtained from the
Bureau of Sidewalks and Vaults a per.
NIT TO continue the search Of the cellar
by boring through the sidewalk. The
Police Department, however postponed
action upon the permi, until an opinion
from the Corporation Counsel's Office
was obtained on the situation.
Late in the afternoon Assistant Cor.
poration Counsel l.. II. Hahlo decided
that the Borough President had the
power to authorize the opening Of the
vault under the sidewalk if there was
no permit for its presence A search
of the records revealed this to be N.
case, and at 5 o'clock the police Oh.
tanned digging permit from the Office
of the Commissioner of Puoic Works
The work of excavation, il is said, will
be undertaken again to-day.
Untermyer Now in Case
Mrs. Humiston announced YESTERDAY
that she had asked District Attorney
Swami to conduct a grand jury invest.
cation into the Cruger case. AT the
same time she made il known that
Samuel Untermyer will be associated
with her in efforts to clear up the mys-
terry.
1--WE expect to go on with the exca.
walton in the Cocchi cellar tomorrow
said Mrs. Humiston. THAT cellar has
been under suspicion for some time,
and it should have been dag up long
ago.
81 am satisfied that there are dozens
of people in this neighborhood VINO
can throw light on Ruth's disappear.
ance if they can be made TO talk |
want 70 call attention, too. 10 the fact
that | still have the $1,000 the girls
father announced he will give for
clcw which will clear up this mystery
Wife Elects Investigators
A crowd had gathered about the
Cocchi shop at Q o'clock when Kron. se-
by laborer who carried a
pick and shovel, went into the store
and asked Mrs. Cocchi for the keys TO
the cellar. He emerged FIVE minutes
later.
"She told me TO get out" he an
nounced outside the door She wont
give up the keys, and says that e
whole police force and a regiment of
soldiers couldn't make her open up that
cellar"
Then Sergeant Niece, Of the Fourth
Branch Detective Bureau, vent in 70
try his luck with Mrs. Cocchi. Throug'
the window he could be seen showing
her his badge. Mrs. Cocchi flushed and
gesticulated wildly. Then out came
Niece.
Aaron Marcus, attorney for Mrs
Cocchi, Issued statement last night IN
which he said that she had refused 70
permit the excavations 20 20 on because
the crowd that gathered frightened
away prospective customers with whom
Mrs. Cocchi is negotiating for the SAFE
of the shop. MRS. Cocchi's attitude IS
not an unfriendly one" said Marcus.
"She has helped the authorities ~i'a
the investigation in the past