The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1918-11-28
HUNT TATTOOED GIRL
]. !: IN TRUNK MURDER
Police Seeking "Sarah Banta"
Whose Name Was on Lug
gage Containing Body.
I.ANDLADY GIVES CLUE
Brooklyn Victim, Told He
Would Live to Be 1O1, Smoth-
s.ered by Hand Over Mouth.

IA fortune teller notified Joe Ballard
that he would live to be 101 years old.
she wrote It on slip of paper in her
avn fair hand and he carried the slip
IA a talisman. Nevertheless. II was
BALLARD, strangled to death at the age
OF 70. who was in the trunk found on
the sidewalk in front Of 152 Mott street
early yesterday.
Apparently he was murdered in
Brooklyn and carried across to Man
haitian. Apparently the process Of hts
killing wes the simple but rather novel
one OF somebody sitting on him and
at the same time holding his mouth
md nostrils closed No knife, no gun
wns used. 1t was a Sicilian murder,
and the only one involving hiding the
body in a trunk cr barrel of which
knife was not the Instrument, so far
an the police recall. In the story APP
pears a new wedding ring. marriage
certifcate OF doubtful value and incl
dental search for a young woman with
death before dishonor" tattooed on her
left arm ana-a stiletto on her right
Altogether II Is the queerest crime OF
its class that the police have had to
peer into for a long time. although
plain robbery may turn out to have
been the motive.
Ballard, his first name being Giu-
s,eppe in italian, Joseph in formal Eng
lish and Joe to his American friends,
was proprietor of shoe repairing
and shining shop at 329 Fulton street,
Brooklyn. His body was identified at
the. Morgue yesterday by his en-
,ployees. For time no one knew what
had caused his death, as superficially
there were no seriously suggestive
marks. Medical Examiner Charles A.
Norris, Dr. Otto II. SchultZe'> his as
distant DR.. Otto Schwarts and medical
assistant of the District Attorney,
made the autopsy. They found that
Ballard had died of ''asphyXiation from
strangulation." The liver and spleen
were ruptured. DIR. Norris said. by
some sort OF pressure. as II the man
had received a hard blow on that part
Of the body or had been sat upon"
He added that If the rupture was
caused by the doubling OF the body in
was put into the trunk. which the
medical examiner doubted. The con-
siition Of the lower left part of the
chest indicated continued pressure.
There were slight marks on the fore
head, legs and arms, much congestion
Of the lungs and a slight abrasion on
tho lips An analysis Is being made
70 determine whether or not uoison
also figured in the murder.
- Dead Mans Acts Traced.
Conflicting accounts are given Of
Baliaro's movements on Tuesday. One
u that he was in his shop on Thursday
evening until his two helpers had gone,
another that he left the shop about
esP NJ. with one OF the helpers, Saliva
tore Giordino, after receiving a tele-
phone message that his wife was Ill.
He was supposed to be unmarried.
Anyway at o'clock In the afternoon
he had gone to a furnished room house
at 6S Cranberry street, Brooklyn, and
asked for a room for himself and his
wife. So says Mrs Marion Tharau. the
housekeeper. She also said she asked
for evidence Of the marriage. and that
.
produced a certificate setting forth
that Tony Shaliro had welded a girl
whose name the housekeeper does not
remember at-St. James's Roman Cath
ole Church, IN Jay street, on June IL.
The police find no record OF such n
wedding or marriage license.
The evidence naturally satisfying
the housekeeper she let Ballard have
groom. He paid her IS from a roll
of.bills that struck Mrs. Tharau as
accounting to 5000 and, saying that he
would return with his wife, went away.
A little after s o'clock he returned. not
with a woman, but with another man.
This man was tai and slim, seemingly
an Italian. From the left side OF his
nose to his chin ran a deep scar. He
wore blue suit and cap. a black over
coat with a belt at the back. patent
leather shoes and gray spats. This Is
not the description OF Giordino. the
employee with whom Ballard Is said to
have left his shop at closing time.
BALLARD told the housekeeper that his
wife was coming later and meanwhile
he and his companion would go to the
room Ballard had rented. The two
men jabbered excitedly as they as
cended the stairs. but the housekeeper
does not understand Italian. She
heard footsteps going back and forth
for some time. The promised wife of
Tony Shaliro" did not appear. The
housekeeper says she went to bed
about Q o'clock and heard and saw
nothing more until yesterday morn
Ing. About s A. NJ. the man with the
EcaI ..c1 face and the gray spats called
with rather stout woman who wore
n white beaver hat. They wanted to
see the mans companion of the pre-
Vious evening, but the latters room
was empty. The twin beds had not
been slept in, but the bedding was
slightly disarranged. The morning
callers talked q while in italian, then
went away.
Yesterday afternoon while detectives
were looking for them they reappeared
at the Cranberry street rooming house,
again asked for Shaliro or Ballard and
professed amazement when Mrs Tha-
rau told them that BALLARD had been
murdered. Mrs. Tharau called up the
police as soon as she could, but by
that time the couple had vanished
once more.
Clue Points TO Girl.
IL was Mrs Tharau, taken TO the
Elizabeth street police station in Man
haitian, who brought the tattooed girl
into tho narrative. On one Of the
wooden ribs on the outside Of the
trunk the name Sarah Rauta' was