New-York tribune., 1922-11-30
Shovel Squad Finds Grave
While Friend of Miss.
ing Woman's Husband
Is Being Crilled ON Spot
Victim Was Bound
And Skull Battered
Not My Wife, Says Beck
er at Morgue; GirlAsserts
He Wanted to Marry Her

"A body believed to be tnaC or MRS.
Jennie Becker, who has been missing
| for seven months, was unearthed by
| policemen digging last night at i40th
! Street and Southern Boulevard, the
Bronx, near Rubin Norkin's automobile
| repair shop.
| Norkin is friend OF Abraham
Becker, husband Of the missing woman.
According to the story told by Becker,
who is under $4,000 bail as meteri-
al witness, it was to Norkin's shop that
they drove April 6, the night before
he says Mrs. Becker left his home, s13
East 150th Street. Most of the pre-
ceding night and all of yesterday Nor
kin had been under examination.
| Crowd Watches Diggers
When darkness began to gather over
tho bleak vacant lots surrounding
| Norkin's repair shop, detectives, who
had been digging all day in the vicin-
ity, were at work about half block
to the south. Street lights are rare
and inadequite in the dreary stretch
and they were working in the glare of
floodiights. A crowd of several hun
| dred persons pressed close to the pit
in which they labored.
| Detective James F. McCartin was
striding up and down the hard packed
earth beside the repair shop, the ell
bow of its proprietor firmly grasped
in his right hand so hard that Norkin
was forced to participate in the sentrv-
go. twenty-five feet to the north they
paced, the CLEAN of the shovel mems
lights throwing their elongated sha-
dows grotesquely before them; then
fifty feet toward the lights glaring
above the pit whence came the clink
of shovel and pick.
With renewed vigor the workmen at
tackled the spot pointed out by Nc
Cartin. Policemen converged upon the
| spot from all sides.
McCartin turned Norkin over to an
| other detective, seized a shovel and
| jumped into the rapidly-growing ex-
| cavation. A few thrusts and he
| brought UP on his shovel blade a
shred of bed ticking stained by water
| and discolored by lime.
| The diggers were now working with
frantic haste. Presently the whole
| bundle was revealed.
Cords Bind Body of Woman
| 1t was taken to the Fordham morgue
and was found to be the body Of a
woman, about feet inches tall and
| weighing about 175 pounds. Wrists
| and ankles had been securely bound
| before the coarse cloth was wrapped
about her.
DR.. Karl Kennard, medical exam
iner, said the woman had been dead
at least seven months. The head
| showed marks of violence, he said, and
| the ticking seemed to have been satu-
rated with lime.
| District Attorney Edward J. Glennon
| assisted DIR. Kennard in comparing the
| body with descriptions of Mrs Becker.
| They agreed that il was her body.
| Her husband, who is thirty-fve years
old and chauffeur, told them, Mr..
| Glennon said, that his wife had gone
| to Philadelphia; that he had received
| letters and kilograms from her there
in April. When he failed to substan-
! tiate this statement by producing the
messages the District Attorney had
him held as witness.
1t was not alone because Of his own
story that he was held, however. 1t
was found that within few days
after his wife's disappearance he had
placed their four children in orphan
asylums. Nathan Simonowitz, friend,
said Becker had asked him to con-
| gratulate him, saying he had got rid of
his wife.
Girl Expected to Marry Him
A young woman to whom Becker is
! said to have been attentive for several
months told the District Attorney that
| she understood that Becker's wife had
| gone for good and that he was free to
marry her.
The authorities could find no trace of
Mrs. Becker subsequent to April 6.
That evening Becker and his wife called
| on Mrs. Jennie Linder, friend Of Mrs.
Becker, at II East Hath Street. They
left there about II p. m. Becker said
that they drove to Norkin's shop be
fore going home and that the next
morning his wife left him.
| That called the attention of the au-
thorities to Norkin, whose shop is in
an unfrequented and dismal section of
the Bronx. They were far from salts
| fled with his early stories and searched
his shop several times. Yesterday after
unremitting questioning for hours in
| the District Attorneys Office, Norkin
apparently began to give in.
! Norkin, like Becker, was committed
| last night as material witness, and
DlstflcJ attorney Glennon declared
that the grand jury would start an i'm
mediate inquiry into the case and that
| ne believed he had sufficiene evidence
to warrant him in asking for one or
more indictments.
| The District Attorney and the Medi-
cal Examiner took Becker to the
morgue and pointed out on the body
OF the woman the marks which they
believed corresponded with points in
the description Becker gave of his wife
when he reported her to the police as
missing.
"Look at this DR.. Kennard would
| say, look at this, Becker; didn't your
| wife have such teeth 7"
| Feature after feature Becker scanned.
replying always with shake of his
head: mo, that is not my wife,
RSn Fup,nrpara Reel, Cr..., 4 .