Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1919-07-20
Where Is the Other Suitcase
with the Rest Of the Body---
and What Is the Story Of
This Most Unusual Murder
Problem of New York
Famous Mills Hotel

~ N the morning OF June 28 Mills Hotel
No. 8. in New York. decided to hold
sale Of all unclaimed baggage
that had been accommodating for five years
In the cellar storage room. Mills Hotel No.
3 Is at Seventh avenue and Thirty-si1th
street. It's purpose Is to give shelter to
those who, striving to find fame, fortune or
a mere living In New York. have not the
money to provide them with the food and
rest necessary to maintain the struggle; to
give shelter to those who beaten back.
linger for q time upon the thresholds of
gentlity before being submerged. The
Mills Hotels, as their philanthropic found.
er once remarked. gets them going and
coming"
Here q clean room may be had for thirty
cents and q wholesome meal for half that
sum. They are, in fact, GASES from whose
eastern border may be seen the promised
land and on their western border the des.
crt OF the Bowery lodging houses. the gut
ter and failurel From them many OF their
guests go their way empty handed because
they have not the small but necessary
check-room fee to redeem their baggage
from its temporary custodianship. There
fore. 1t was that the heaps Of suit cases,
hand satchcls and bundles which had &C
cumulated in the cellar of the Mills Hotel
No. 3 during these five years made the
porters stare with anticipated WEAKNESS.
But at O'Clock on the morning OF June
26 these porters gathered in the storage
cell to force open all these mute relics OF
aspirations. hopes and despair. abandoned
by owners long vanished in oblivion.
IF the porters had not had their sensi-
tiveness blunted by long association with
the gray pages Of life many a romance,
many a tragedy. perhaps here and there
grim farce would have been read by them
In the contents they were opening. Hero
was a mass OF manuscript left behind by
the writer who had come to storm Broad
way: the unsold sketches OF the youthful
artist who had been told that he was too
good for the country and that his proper
place was in New York; faded flower,
pi,iful little letter and lock OF shining,
still fragrant hair within tiny wallet
nesting among clothes that had clearly be-
longed TO boy from the country-nute
testimony Of dreams that had ended
where?
All these and many more symbols OF
arrows that had fallen far short OF the
target at which they were aimed were
there in abundance for the eyes OF the
porters to read-if they could.
At last they drew from the heap some
thing that at once arrested their attention
1t was brown pigskin suit case Of excel
lent quality.
Don't see why the fellow that owned
that left It behind" said the porter who
picked it up. "He could have gotten $40
on IT airy where-and bought cheap one
for n dollar"
He balanced It in his hand. 1t was curl
ously heavy. and from It. as he shook It.,
ling undertone strangely sinister.
The porter thrust a chisel under the
brass catch: turn Of the wrist and the
lock was forced; the lid flew open. A
sickenlng odor an unmistakable charnel
smell arose. Shuddering and rigid the por-
tiers looked down into the suit case. All
they could see was mass Of newspapers
and cotton. One stretched his foot and
overturned the bag.
Out of 1t rolled human skull. rocked q
little In weird resemblance Of life. and
came to rest close to the little bag OF the
unknown country boy who had carried
with him into the city his sweetheart's
lock of hair, the love token Of her flower
and her letter!
The eye-sockets OF the skull looked UP
at the Mills Hotel men. and now they saw
that 1t was still clothed. partly, with hair
and flesh. A fringe Of black over the pro
served lips. fringe OF black hair about
the DaSe or the mead gave 1t grOtesque
aspect = and the tip OF an ear still in.
tact added the last touch to it's gruesome
ness. The porters fed upstairs.
In five minutes the police were peering
into the suit case. They drew from 1t arm
bones and leg bones. sawed and broken
into sections to fit in the bag. The head
had been cut off level with the chin; the
forearms and upper arms lay doubled. The
hands had been half cut then broken q,
the wrists: the thigh bones were sawed
and broken below the knees One Of the
ankles had been cut half way through with
saw and then snapped. These bones
were almost completely denuded. and
marks upon them showed that the fest
had been stripped off with a knife before
the bones themselves had been placed
in the suit case.
The parts had been cushioned by wrap
ping thcm in raw cotton. Two towels hat
been used to pack them in addition to sew
eral newspapers bearing the dates Of Sep
TENDER IL and 81, 1915. Tho towels were
fine and distinctly intended for feminine
USE A solution Of quicklime had beer
used on the cadaver-but it had been TOT
weak to melt that which 1t touched, q.
flesh dried like parchment on the face
the ear. the lips and the chin showed.