Year: 1875

The Murder OF Sara AIexander.


The murder of Abel must have been in
tensely interesting at the time because of its
absolute novelty; but since then, and
especially of late in New York, the crime has
become so common that unless it is sur
rounded by peculiar circumstances it attracts
little attention. Now we have a murder
not SO mysterious as others recorded, yet
strange enough to be one Of those dramas
OF crime which the public never tires Of
studying.


The clrcumstantial evidence thus far
points to Pesach Nathan Rubenstein as the
murderer of Sara Alexander, the Young
girl who was found with her throat cut in a
corn field on the outskirts of East New York
Many facts inevitably make him the object of
suspicion. He was intimate with his cousin.
She nursed him in an illness in April last.
At the time of her death she was pregnant
About this time his wife and child are ex-
pected to arrive from Europe. He has been
identified as the man who rode in the same
car with her on Sunday evening, and the
two were seen walking together when they
left the car toward the place where the
body of the girl was found On Monday
night Rubensteln rose from his bed and told
his father of dream he had in which Sara
came to him and cried, ''Papa Papa See
me! See me have been killed. | have
been taken ten miles from New York and
killed. Come to me !" Footprints were
found in the field which correspond to
the size and the shape Of his boots, even
to broken place in one of the soles, and
some of the dirt which remains on the boots
resembles the soil of the field. Upon these
facts plausible theory Of his guilt may be
constructed The motive and the method Of
the crime may be inferred from them And
yet Rubenstein may be innocent. He may
have seduced Sara Alexander and have ac-
companied her to the corn field and still
have had no share in her death. On stronger
circumstantial evidence than that we have
collated many an innocent man has been
convicted, condemned and hung.


If Rubenstein did kill the girl he will
probably confess. He apparently loved her,
and his seems to be the kind of mind which,
from the consciousness of such guilt, would
suffer agonies of terror and remorse. As
suming that he is guilty, we have another
example of the gigantic folly, as well as
crime, which almost always is involved in
murder. He was afraid that his sin would
be known to his family and his sect he was
probably disturbed by the reproaches of the
young woman and alarmed at the expected
g l. x,,c g L
the future plain if he could only get rid Of
this exposure and disgrace, and to do that he
must rid himself of the girl. Her death
would be attributed to others, to one of those
vile gangs of outlaws which infest the
suburbs Of the city. No one would suspect
him. If Rubenstein is guilty, it was thus,
no doubt, that he reasoned. But what
stupendous folly To escape from little
shame he rushes into horrible crime. lie
kills the girl, and she IS silent to others, but
forever eloquent to him. In the stiffness of
the night she calls to him from the field
where she lies on her bloody beCE Not only
is remorse forever on his track, but the law
joins in the hunt. Like most criminals he
is unable to conceal the traces of his decd
The dead body always remains, and starting
from that mute with ess the bloodhounds of
the law unerringly pursue the fugitive mur-
derer through all the labyrinths in which he
vainly hopes to hide. There is lesson in
this to all who ignorantly fancy that security
from the consequences Of one crime can be
established on the foundations OF another.


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