The L'Anse sentinel., 1922-11-10
THE BURDELL MURDER
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|
w case finds space upon the first
pages of New York newspapers and
begins to command nationwide atten-
tion 1t Is fairly certain that, sooner or
later, the commentators will COM
mence to draw comparisons between
Its details and those of the Burdell
affair, one of the most mysterious
crimes In the annals Of the metro
politan police force, murder which
included every element Of the sensa-
tional and bizarre.
Dr. Harvey Burdell, the chief figure
In the mystery, was dentist who,
solely through his own efforts had
built up a wide and extensive practice
In the city and had been connected
with at least three approaches ito
matrimony which had resulted in pre-
nuptlal quarrels and consequent sever
ance Of agreements. At the time of
his death, DR.. Burdell had been living
ham, the dentist using one of the
front rooms for his Office and sleeping
at the rear. He kept only one serv-
ant, combination ofiice-boy and valet
who slept outside the house. The only
residents Of the building were manu.
facturer named Eckel and George v.
Snodgrass, the son Of clergyman.
| One rainy afternoon DR.. Burdell left
the house about five o'clock and, as
several persons afterwards testified,
walked In the direction of Broadway
up Chambers street. Mrs. Cunning
ham and her two other lodgers were
In the house all evening, but heard
nothing which seemed in the least out
of the ordinary, retiring at the usual
| hour
Early the next morning, the office
! boy attempted to enter DR.. Burdell's
office In order to attend to his usual
round Of cleaning and found that the
door appeared to be jammed by some
heavy object pressing against It from
the inside. Pushing harder, the door
| finally gave way and the servant stag
gered into the ROOM only to be halted
! by the sight Of his employer lying
upon the floor, fully dressed and with
|
corpse, however, was covered with
clotted blood and there were large
splashes of blood over practically
every piece of furniture In the room,
as well ms on the floor, the walls and
portion of the ceiling. The dentist
had evidently put up hard fight for
his life but had finally succumbed to
the more than dozen wounds found
upon his body-wounds which had
very evidently been made by long,
slender dagger, something on the order
of stlletto.
Further to complicate matters, the
Investigations Of the police developed
that at least two persons had been
connected with the crime-one of
them having partially throttled the.
dentist by means of thin cord, while
the other had repeatedly stabbed him.
The position of the wounds also indi-
Gated that one Of the assailants was
left-handed, for no right-handed per
son could have delivered blows at the
angles OF those in DIR. Burdell's body.
Upon the slight evidence presented
by the fact that Mrs. Cunningham, the
landlady, was left-handed, she was I'm
medately arrested as were Eckel and
Snodgrass. But, at the trial, which
ensued, the defense was able to riddle
the statements of the prosecution,
with ridiculous ease, presenting num-
ber Of counter questions which were
still unsolved by the theory Of the
police that Mrs. Cunningham, with
the aid Of her dodgers, had killed DR..
Burdell. Among these were:
Where had the dentist been during
the time which elapsed between five
o'clock when he left the house and mid
night, the hour at which the murder
had been committed? A number of
persons had seen him 60 out, but no
one had seen him return.
Why had the noise Of the struggle
not aroused woman In the next
house, separated only by very thin
WALTZ What were the papers which
had been burned in the fireplace of the
murder-chamber? If Mrs. Cunning
ham, Eckel or Snodgrass had been i'm
plicated in the crime, why did none
Of their clothes bear the slightest stain
of blood, while the room where DIR.
Burdell had been killed was literally
smeared with It? And, finally, what
was the motive for murder-since THE
dentists jewelry and several hundred
dollars in cash had not been touchedf
After the trial, which lasted only
three days and resulted in the I'm
mediate acquital Of Mrs. Cunningham,
the landlady sprung another sensation
when she declared that she had been
married to DIR. Rurdell and that she
was entitled to his estate. Her con-
tention, however. was never fully es-
tablished and she lost her Sult for the
property Of the dead man, finally dy-
ing In poverty In tiny fat In Harlem,
while DIR. Burdell's brother went in
sane as result of the strain of the
trial and Eckell died In the Albany
penitentlary, while serving sentence
In connection with the whisky frauds.
Years have elapsed since the Burdell
murder, but today the case is just as
much of mystery as II was upon that