Perth Amboy evening news., 1924-07-16
SEARCH IN WOODS
FOR STRANCLER OF
SON OF POLICEMAN
Slayer of Eight Year-0ld Son
of Policeman is Being
Sought
BOY WAS MISSED MONDAY
Boys Suspenders Were Used
by Murderer to Strangle
Him-FeW Clues

NEW YORK, July 16.-Two men
are being sought today by the staten
Island police for questioning In con-
nection with the murder of eight
year old Francis ]. Mcdonnell the
son of a Staten Island policeman,
whose mutilated body was iouno
last night in field near FORT Hicii-
mond.
sixty policemen and detectives are
.conducting a search throughout the
island for possible clues leading 10
the identity of the boys murderer.
watches are being maintained at all
ferry terminals and the authorities
are keeping a lookout for all boats
uniting out from the island. Ponce
termed the murder the most atroci-
o,,s ever recorded on Staten lslana.
The police, after their investiga-
tion TODAY. believed that the boy was
not h,red into the field but that ne
was going to swimming hole near
hv when he was attacked by the
murderer. Deputy Medical Examiner
Mord said the boy had bene dead at
least twenty-four hours when the
hodv was found. He disappeared
from his home last Monday.
A woman, whose name was WITH
held. today communicated to the
police the information that on Mon
day lust before dark she heard
child's cries coming from the vicin-
rity where the boys body was founo.
The woman, whose home Is near the
scene of the murder, said the cnlio
was heard to cry: II want my
Mama.
The mother of the murdered boy
Mrs. Arthur Mcdonnell, told the
police of having observed an elderly
man pass. the Mcdonnell home In
Port Richmond Monday while her
son was sitting on the front porch
The man, she said, walked to near
by corner, and loitered there Tor
while.
Jacob Stern, a neighbor, corrobor-
ated the statement. He told the
police that he saw the boy at 4:30
o'clock Monday afternoon walking
along a cowpath leading to the field,
apparently on his way to the SWIM
ming hole nearby. Just ahead OF
he boy was a man described as
about fifty years old.
A. seventy inmate OF
the City Farm Colony at Sea view.
staten Island, was questioned by the
police. but Mrs. Mcdonnell said he
was not the man she had seen lott
ering near her home Monday.
The boys body was discovered by
a searching party which had been
seeking the boy since his disappear
ance Monday afternoon.
The boys suspenders, knotted
tightly about the throat, had peen
used to strangle him, and the pody
bore evidence of fiendish assault. the
police say Nearly all the clothlng
had been torn from the BODY ana
was scattered about.
Until late last night the ponce hao
few clews upon which to work only
one person other than the slayer
apparently having seen the boy after
he went out to play Monday AFTER
noon. Jacob Smith, a neighbor ol
the Mcdonald family told the poiice
he saw the lad at 4:3O O'Clock mon
day afternoon walking along the
road toward the woods. Just ahead
II the boy was a man whom Stein de-
scribed at "about so years old" Be-
Ueving the boy was directing a
stranger to the trolley line, Stein
gave no further heed to the pair, he
said. So far as the police have been
able to learn, that was the last time
the boy was seen alive.
The police have thrown GORDON
around the island. with watches
maintained at the ferries and look.
out for boats putting out from the
land by which the slayer might try te
escape. :.
The scene of the boys murder IL
only three-quarters of mile from
the suot where Mrs. Maud Bauer
was shot and killed last March aftel
her car had stalled on lonely road
Harry Hoffman. a motion picture
operator, is now serving twenty
wears sentence for her murder.