Year: 1873




and Crime.


The arrest of the s'other woman" Kate
Stoddard, has, it would appear, cleared up
the mystery in the matter of the killing Of
Charles Goodrich. A young woman, named
Mary Handley, who was acquainted with
the mysterious "Kate," was set upon the
track, with three thousand five hun
dred dollars as an incentive, and, having
met 'Kate'' near the ferry in Brook
lyn, caused her arrest. On discovering
the residence of s'Kate' her lodging
was searched, and the property of the
murdered man found in her trunk-his watch,
his ring, his pistol and some money believed
to have been his. Such are the bare outlines
of the case as II now stands At the adjourned
inquest, which will be held to-day, il is con-
fidently expected that this emaoiated woman
win make full confession of the murder
committed last March. With the thrill which
the CHASTITY story Is certain to awaken
the ghosts of the undiscovered mur-
ders of New York will again be called forth as
they part company with the case Of Goodrich.
We learn from our reporters that the police
authorities in Brooklyn have felt wounded at
the comments of the press on their manage
ment Of the case. On what grounds they
expect that line of comment, which was not
complimentary, to be changed TO one Of lauda-
ton we cannot precisely see. That the
woman ''Kate Stoddard" Is in the hands
Of Justice does not excuse all the
pitiful bungling and vain trumpet
blowing which marked their conduct in
the matter when the public was first excited by
the murder. The flourish made over the ar
rest of the woman Lucette Myers and the re-
luctance with which they set her at liberty are
within recollection. The arrests in various
places of 'Roscoes," who turned out not to
be the Roscoe wanted, are also easily recalled.
1t is worth while contrasting Lucette's state
ment that she has seen Roscoe several
times since her release with the boastful
statements of her having been ''shadowed'
by the police. Personally acquainted as she
was with ''Kate Stoddard," the police do not
seem to have attempted to induce her to take
any steps in causing the arrest Of either the
man or the woman. That fine part Of the de-
tective's art which stirs up those with mowl-
edge in case to impart it seems to have been
wholly wanting. Lucette Myers could have
very little feeling in common with the woman
accused Of numbering her lover; yet
the only impression the police sue
ceeded in leaving upon her mind was
that they were bent upon prosecuting
her. But the most extraordinary part of this
strange story lies in the relation of how this
woman of many aliases passed the long inter-
val between the murder and her arrest. With
the murdered mans valuables in her trunk
she quietly took lodging in Brooklyn, the
city where the deed was done, and at the same
time pursued her business of straw-hat making
in New York or at her new residence. For over
three months she continued unmolested, and
chance meeting with Mary Handley alone led to
the arrest Victor Hugo, in 'Les Miserables,'
dwells with great force on the perfect desert
which q man may make for himself in the
heart Of a crowded city. He places Jean
Vatican in Paris but he gives him money
enough to live in a house to himself and
Cosette and change his outward man consider
ably. For three months this woman lived
with reputation of perfect ladylike behavior
in the city where the murder was committed,
and passed to and fro by the ferryboat at will.
We are glad indeed of the arrest, and are will
ing that the Brooklyn police should get what
credit they deserve but at present cannot be
certain that much is due them.


The cases of Rogers and Nathan will now
loom up once more, as well as the latest case
of Kustner, the Stettin merchant, in Hoboken,
as the public seizes with avidity on the details
of the Goodrich murder, that of paramour
by discarded mistress In the Kustner mys-
terry, as in that of Rogers the object was un-
doubtedly mere sordid plunder, in the way of
which o human life was supposed to stand.
The murder of Mr.. Nathan, deeper in its mys-
terry, had also the same object-robbery- its
inducing cause. In the case of Goodrich there
is gathering of evil passions which clothes
the crime with an intensity of painful inter-
est. After the first failure of the police in
the case public interest gradually declined
regarding the murderer of Goodrich. It was
remarked at the time that the doings of the
deceased, as deposed 10 on the trial, had much
to do with this. His life, which while
he lived bore outwardly the semblance
of respectability, had been one tinged
with strange, STOPPING immortality, which
was not slow Of producing a revolving
effect upon the public mind. When it was de-
veloped that the well-to-do property owner in
Brooklyn was in the habit of prowling around
the poorer streets of New York, following a
poor seamstress to her home and keeping up
an acquaintance with her which could scarcely
have had an honorable intent DARKER
shadow was thrown On the murder
When it came to light that the "other
woman" was mistress on whom
he had desired criminal operation to be