Evening star., 1937-08-01
TORSO SLAY|NGS
bAFFLE NATION
CIeveIand's Nine Murders
Become More Than
Local Problem.
ereeiaI pispe tch to The Star.

..
murders" after the section Of the city
In which the butchered remains of
most Of the nine victims have been
disposed, homicide investigators are
still without clues to the motives and
identity of the killer. who is creating
one of the most weird chains Of death
In modern crime history.
For two years detectives have
brought into central police station
for questioning eccentrics with every
fashion Of mental quirk. They have
detained scores Of transients in the
hope OF getting a single word of de-
ecription of the slayer they are seeking,
Crime clinics have been held at
which police and medical experts have
} exchanged theories and constructed
mental portraits of man who has
murdered six men and three women
here by decapltation, dissecting five
bodies and mutilating them apparently
as the humor has seized him.
Investigations have taken Cleveland
police to many surrounding cities and
States. tracking down tales of mad
men who have backgrounds Of crime
or horror Investigators have come
here to offer their opinions, attracted
by the fantasy of the crimes which
have gained Nation wide attention.
And the Result
And after two years of intense police
effort, in the words of Detective Sergt.
James T. Hogan, homicide squad head.
directing the investigation:
Tonight we're right where We were
the day the first body was found"
Cleveland was filled with throngs
OF worshipers for the National Eucha-
rlstlc Congress, When, late In the
afternoon of September %, 1885. the
first two victims we're discovered head
less, mutilated and nude, lying in an
unfreouented part Of Kingsbury Run
at the foot of Jackass Hill. 2I2 miles
from the heart Of the city.
Through fngerprints. one body was
identified as that Of Edward A.
Andrassy, %, resident of Clevelands
West Side, former hospital attache
and minor police character, ar
rested in 1881 for carrying concealed
weapons. He had been dead four days.
The other body was of a stocky,
middle-aged man. killed week
earlier. 1t was stained brown with
solution which suggested an attempt
at preservation. Identity was never
established
Woman's Body Next
-Four months later barking dog
drew attention to two burlap bags and
q half-bushel basket left in the rear
OF manufacturing plant in the bor-
der of the run. The dismembered
parts Of half Uomans body gave
detectives their third murder in the
klngsbury Run chain.
Flngerprints enabled detectives to
identify the body as that of Mrs
Florence Pollila, 40, an inhabitant of
the Kingsbury Run vicinity. Two
weeks later other parts of her body
were found in a rubbish filled hole
q few blocks away.
Two young boys, playing hockey
from school on June morning 1896,
found pair Of trousers rolled in q
ball and placed under willow tree
In the run. half a mile from Jackass
Hill. Hoping to find money in the
pockets, they poked at the bundle and
uncovered the severed head of the
fourth victim. The nude body was
found a short distance away. Al
though it bore number of distinctive
tattoo marks and although a death
mask of the head was displayed to
thousands of visitors at the Great
Lakes Exposition, identification has
never been made.
Other Victims Appear
The fifth victim. dead for more
than a month, was found In valley
similar to the run. on the west side
of the city on July %, 1895. The
body was nude. Clothes were piled
10 feet away. and with them was the
neatly severed head Fingerprints
were taken. but no identification was
made.
Shortly before the first year OF the
torso murders was up, parts of the
sixth victim appeared In a l5-foot-
deep culvert, again in Kngsbury Run
and again not far from Jackass Hill,
but no identifiable portion Of the
body was ever found
A woman was the next victim The
Jupiter torso Of young mother was
found on the sand of Beulah Park
Beach, Summer cottage resort 9
miles from Public Square. on the
morning OF last February %. The
spot was the same where a similar
portion had been found two years
before. Some investigators have
thought that this was the first of
the torso murders.
The lower part of the torso. found
in the lake near the mouth of the
CuyahoEa River. into which Kings
bury Run winds, made it seem likely
that the body had been thrown into
the river and had been carried to
the resorts beach by the lake cur
rent. The head and limbs have never
been found.
Womans Skull Found.
Bones and vomans skull were all
That remained of the eighth victim
unearthed last June on the banks of
the Cuyahoga, less than a mile from
the torso culrert in the run. The
skeleton was of 35-year old Neeress.
Identification has not been made
Parts OF a mans body were found
floating IN Chuahoga River on July
Z, raising the death toll to nine. All
parts, except the head. were found,
but fingerprints produced no lead to
identity.
Opinions were that the killer is
probably physician, a butcher or
hunter, or possibly Just a medical
assistant who becomes crazed, possibly
with drugs.
DR.. Guy H. Williams. superintend-
ent Of the Cleveland State Hospital
Tor the Insane. has said that he can
not fit the apparent activities of the
murderer into a recognized pattern Of
insanity.
IT the killer is insane, it is prob