New-York tribune., 1919-07-13
General Alarm Sent Out for
Messengers Seen, In Office
of Gardiner C.. Hull, Who
Later Was Found Dying
Skull Crushed by Hammer
Fingerprints Supply Chief
Clew to Killing Senior
Partner of StationeryFirm

A general alarm was sent out by
the police yesterday for the arrest Of
two employees of the wholesale sta
tionery firm Of Hull & Deppisch, 1oS
Fulton Street.
The action was taken at the request
of John F. Joyce. Assistant District
Attorney, following the death at 1880
p. m. yesterday Of Gardener C.. Hull,
senior member of the concern, who
was beaten over the head with ham
mer and robbed Of 5000 while seated
at his desk at $3.50 o'clock Friday
afternoon.
The two employees are Edward
O'Brien, eighteen years old, and Ed
ward E. Paige, twenty, who were used
as messengers for the delivery of pack
ages for the firm. Mr.. Joyce said he
wanted to question these boys because
they are the last persons known to
have been with Mr.. Hull before he was
attacked. They failed to return to
their lodgings Friday night, where .po-
icemen awaited them, nor did they
report for work as usual yesterday
morning.
Finger Prints Offer Clew
While Mr.. Joyce elected considerable
information from other employees on
the circumstances of the case, more
definite results are expected by the
police from careful examination of
the finger prints on the hammer with
which Hull was killed.
August P. Deppisch, Hull's partner,
told Mr.. Joyce that he left the Office
to catch 4:35 train, leaving Miss
Mary Smith, stenographer, and Paige,
one of the delivery boys, in the Office
with Mr.. Hull. 1t was the day, he ex-
planned, when money for the payroll
was drawn from the bank. 1t consisted
of twenty $5 bills and 100 81 bills, all
of which was stolen.
Miss Smith said that when she left
the office about 5:25 p. m. the only per-
sons with Hull were Paige and O'Brien.
James Stacke, shipping clerk, said
it was he who got Paige the job with
the Hull & Deppisch firm about two
years ago. He said he found the lad
one night in 1917 wandering around
Rutgers Park without money and with
out any place to eat or sleep. The boy
said he came from Rhode Island.
Got Him Job
Stacke asserted he asked Mr.. Hull to
give Paige job, and took the boy into
his own home at z East Broadway. He
continued to live there until his dis
appearance Friday night.
Paige is described as five feet five
inches tall, dark brown hair brushed
back, medium dark complexion with q
pimply face, and weighs about 125
pounds O'Brien is described as of
about the same weight, and is said to
have worn a dark gray suit with q
stripe in it when seen last He is said
to live in New Jersey.
From other employees it was learned
that a few days before their disappear
ance one of the boys remarked that he
would probably be in St. Louis within
a week. On the morning of Hull's
murder this boy appeared for work in
a new suit.
Thomas Timonyllo, the porter who
discovered Hull's body, said he had gone
into the Office at 5:15 to find out if he
could go ahead with his cleaning. He
says he saw Miss Smith sitting there
and Mr.. Hull the oaly other person ir
the room. Miss Smith. he said, told hin
they were not ready yet ana 70 return
In about fifteen minues.
Finds Hull Unconscious
He came back, he said, at $3.50, anc
although he had found it unlocked or
his first visit. He knocked, and wher
no one respendedk he opened it with
his own key. He found Hull stretched
almost across the doorway. The win
dows were down, and checks and paper
Uttered the desk and floor. The police
figure the robbery and murder were
committed in the short space Of ter
minutes.
DR.. Phelps, Of the City Hospital, VIII,
performed an operation on Hull at tn.
Volunteer Hospital, declares tina
HulPs skull was fractured in three
places. One blow had paralyzed hi
throat and jaws, and, although it wa,
observed that he wanted to speak, HI
could neither open his mouth no!
write.
He never regained consciousness, hi
wife and daughter, Mrs. Everett Jones
who lived with him at 73l Chaunce,
Street, Brooklyn. being at his bedsid,
when. he died Mrs. Jones then left fo
the home Of her father-in-law, Charlie
Jones, at SO Covert Street, Brooklyn.