New Britain herald., 1918-01-31
ARMY OF SLEUTHS
SEEKS LOST Child
Detective Bureau in New York
Fears New Cruger Case

New York, Jan. 31.-Determincd
not to be critized as were their pre-
dccessors in the Ruth Cruger case
Captain McKenna and his aids in tho
Fourth Branch Detective Bureau last
night assigned one hundred detectives
and as many policemen in uniform to
sift a large section Of Harlem in the
search for Lillian Rosner, three and
half years old.
No part of the city eyer received
or suffered the oVerhauling started
| last night on the blocks of tenements
and apartment houses from Madison
avenue to Eighth avenue and from
10th to 115th street more than
half mile fro meast to west and
! a quarter of a mile from north to
south.
An hour after the search started it
was estimated that quarter of a mil
| lion persons living in and near that
! congested area knew that Lillian Ros-
| ner was missing and that, if dead, her
body was not to remain unbound rs
| long as was that of Ruth Cruger.
The search even extended beyond
the limits described. Four police
! automobiles, called police tanks"
! because they are equipped with
| n
lights, were sent through Central Park
to throw their bright lights into
every clump of bushes, while other
| policemen began to search the sur
| face of the frozen Harlem Mere
Lillian went out to play at a. quar-
| ter to two o'clock on Tuesday after
noon. She has not been seen since
Her mother, Mrs. Yetta Rosner, is
the superintendent of the apartment
house in which she lives at No. s.
! LenoX avenue, near 18th street. Her
father. Samuel Rosner, is employed
| in q Brooklyn Brewery. They are
| l,orsons of modest means and llidnan-
ping for ransom was not considered
as . possible theory. The family had
no enemies. The police theory is that
Lillian wandered away met an acct
dent and has been concealed, either
accidentally or Intentionally.
The family reported the disappear
ance Tuesday night, When she had
not been found yesterday afternoon
Captain Mckenna, recalling the CRU
ger case called for 100 detectives
from other branches. Last night they
were all at work on the case. Detec-
tives in squads were assigned to cor
tain blocks, with Instructions to
| search every building from cellar to
roof.
| In easements where coal had been
received after Lillian disappeared tn
| detectives used shoNels to search the
coal In the house in which Lillian
lives eight tons of coal had been put
in the basement at four o'clock Tues
day afternoon. Detectives had to
| shift all that coal to make certain she
was not buried under it.
| All basement shops were thorough
ly searched. Every rear yard was
raked over and every roof carefully
searched. Each squad Of detectives
and police carried electric search
lights.
The unusual police activity through
out the district caused great excite
ment. Soon the police were being aid
ed in the search by hundreds of vol
unteers but long after the volun-
te2rs became tired and went to bed
the police continued their work.
Early this m orning nothing had
| been found of Lillian Several per-
sons said they had seen her Tuesday
| afternoon or evening, but that did not
aid in finding her. The pupils of
| Public School No. ITO, Joined in the
search yesterday, aided by the teach
ers.