Evening star., 1934-07-18
NEW CLUE FOUND
|. IN CONNOR WOODS.
Baby's Shoe Causes Police
to Reopen Probe Into
Disappearance.

By The Associated Press
HARTSDALE, n. Y, July ia
Faced with fresh and puzzling clues,
authorities today reopened the enig-
matte case of little Robert Connor.
who was found in a thicket near his
home after Ave days of frantic
searching.
Finding Of the child's shoe near the
spot where he was discovered yester-
dav afternoon revived ofncial interest
in the affair.
The shoe lay on top Of stone
hedge lust 10 feet from the trampled
place 2l-month-old Bobby sat when
two policemen. acting on hunch,"
came upon him.
The police could not explain how
they had missed seeing the shoe yes
terdsy.
Hunt New Evidence.
Can't. Philip j. McQuillan Of the
Greenburgh police said he was still
checking for new evidence" to de-
termine II the child had been alb
Quoted.
Earlier he announced the matter
was closed. Call it the case OF
lost boy" he said.
Despite the announcement that De-
partment Of Justice agents. satisfied
that Bobby had not been kidnapped,
had withdrawn from the investiga-
ton. 1t was learned that secret con-
ference Of Federal operatives. local
police and Capt. Christopher Kemm-
Ter of the State police had been ar
ranged for this afternoon.
Attorney in Doubt.
District Attorney Frank H. Coyne
said he was mot satisfied" with ex-
plantations of the case, adding. how
ever, that no developments warranted
Intervention of his Office.
A question confronting authorities
was: Had the child been moved
about from place to place in the
woods during his absence?
The heavy underbrush at the spot
where Bobby was found had been
uprooted and trampled. One of the
officers who found the child expressed
the belief that he had not been there
long.
In the laboratory of Grasslands
Hospital, at Eastview, where the child
is being treated, an examination was
under way to determine whether
Bobby had anything to drink since
last Thursday. and if he had eaten
anything beside the grass and leaves
OF which there was no evidence.
Doctor Satisfied.
DR.. Charles L. Suttles, the child's
physician. said he was convinced he
had remained in the woods during
his absence.
Bobby made steady progress toward
recovery. He was given skim milk
his pulse rate diminished and his
temperature lowered.
DR.. Suttles left the hospital to
carry report to the child's parents,
Mr.. and Mrs. Charles H. Connor,
somewhere in Westchester,"
Cuts Cover Body.
DR.. Claude W. Munger of the hos
pital said Bobbys condition clearly
indicated" he had been lost in the
thicket the entire time. Cuts and
scratches from bramble bushes covered
the shrunken little body. DR.. Munger
estimated the child had lost from 10
to 20 pounds. His stomach was swol-
len from lack of nourishment.
At the hospital it was determined
he had eaten quantities of grass.
DR.. Munger said Sunday night
showers probably saved the baby from
dying of thirst Enough rain water
would have entered the pores of the
skin to prevent complete dehydration,
he said.
The physician pointed out further.
in support of his theory that Bobby
had lain in the woods since Thursday,
that the child's pink suit had been
bleached almost white.
Passed Up by Searchers.
Frank Fay, United States agent,
incorporated DR.. Munger's findings
in his statement and added that
careful investigation had determined
that the childs searchers, tramping
through a wide area of woodlands.
never got closer than 800 feet to the
spot where Bobby was found.
Policeman Dunckel explained that
he and Hogan found the child by
looking where nobody else had
looked They carried Bobby to a
police car, and. with siren going, raced
to the Connor home
/. My baby Oh, my babyl" cried
Mrs. Connor when they brought the
child
Then she collapsed and Bobby was
rushed to the hospital, accompanied
by his father.
Harry Lee Forester. the peddler de-
tained for possible connection with
the child's disappearance, was re-
leased last night.