The Eva Mitchell murderer has not been found. The case will probably go into criminal history with those of Amelia Olsen and Zora Burns as a mystery which has baffled the police and cheated justice.

Gaslight note: this article was prompted by the unsolved "murder" of Mitchell due to wounds on a Chicago street one night in November, 1888. Almost a year later, a society woman confessed on her sick bed that she was intoxicated when she held the reins of a spirited horse which knocked Mitchell down and pulled the carriage over her. Such had been a theory at the time, but the press preferred to play up suspicions of Mitchell's various male companions.

      How many of these women murder mysteries there are it is appalling to contemplate. Those near home are sufficiently terrible, but they are so familiar that before describing them some of the celebrated cases in other cities may be glanced at.

      Room should be made for New Haven, which has attracted world-wide attention by its three famous tragedies. They are described in the following letter:

      NEW HAVEN, Conn., Nov. 28. — [Special.] — Among the wonderful murder cases of women there probably never has been for the last half century in the United States three stranger crimes or ones that have caused more comment and been more widely published than those of three young women in Connecticut. The three murders are yet unpunished, and how much longer the old maxim "Murder will out" will be belied and placed at fault only the future can disclose.

      Hardly any one who has read the daily papers of this country for the Last ten years ever so cursorily need be told that the three causes célèbres are: First, the murder of Mary Stannard, whose dead body was found in the woods in the Town of North Madison, near the little Village of Rockland, Sept. 3, 1878 about twenty miles from this city and in the County of New Haven. Second, the murder of Jennie Cramer, a beautiful young girl, whose dead body was was found by an old fisherman, Asa Curtiss, in the sound at Savin Rock, about three miles from this city, Aug. 5, 1881. Third, the murder of Rose Ambler Clark, whose dead body was found over the fence in a field near her mother's house, in the Town of Stratford, thirteen miles west of this city, the morning of Sept. 3, 1883.

      For each of these murders no man has suffered punishment, and there has never been any trial of any person accused or suspected of the crime. For the first the Rev. Herbert H. Hayden, a Methodist clergyman, lay in jail nearly a year, and then, after having been indicted by the grand jury, he was placed on trial in the Superior Court, and for fifty-seven days the lawyers on the one side used every possible means to convict him, and on the other every possible means to acquit him. Finally the jury disagreed, and stood eleven for acquittal and one for conviction on the final ballot.

      Mary Stannard was a young woman about 26 years of age. She was the stepdaughter of Benjamin Stevens, a poor laboring-man who lived in North Madison. His reputation was not good. Three or four years before Mary Stannard gave birth to an illegitimate child, which lived but a few weeks. She worked as a hired girl in the families of farmers in that vicinity.

THE FIRST.

      Mary Stannard had been at work in the family of the Rev. H. H. Hayden, the pastor stationed at the little Methodist church in Rockland. He had a salary of $300, and many of those who subscribed used to pay their proportion of the preacher's salary in farm produce, and if some of them were hard up and slack they did not care whether they paid it or not. Hayden eked out his salary by teaching district and singing schools, and his wife used to help the family pot boil by teaching school, and the whole burden of the housework fell on her besides. Her health failed and she had to avail herself of the services of Mary Stannard, who used to have occasional seasons when she tried to live a religious life.

      But she got into trouble in the summer of 1878, and it was alleged that Hayden obtained improper drugs for her. At all events one day her body was discovered in the woods, and attention was first called to it by seeing the crows fly up and around the body. Her throat was cut and there were stab wounds on the upper part of the body. Her stomach was subjected to a chemical analysis at the hands of Prof. Johnson of the Yale College faculty. Dr. Moses C. White, one of Yale faculty and for many years the medical examiner of New Haven County, testified as an expert, and quite a joke was played on him by the lawyers for the defense. They got him to swear that the petrified moss, or algae, on flint and slate stones near where the body was found were blood corpuscles. This hurt expert testimony pretty badly in Connecticut jurisprudence.

      The Methodist people in this part of New Haven did everything in their power to help the prisoner, and after a trial that lasted from October, 1879, to the 21st of January, 1880, in which fifty-seven days were occupied, the case was given to the jury. After the trial had gone on for several days it was found that the grand jury was improperly summoned, and the case had to be postponed a week in order to have a new grand jury summoned and the trial begun de novo. For the prosecution were ex-Judge Lynde Harrison and Thomas Waller, afterward Governor of the State, and for the prisoner were George II. Watrons, afterwards President of the Consolidated Virginia, and Samuel F. Jones, a well known criminal lawyer of Hartford.

      The jury were out from Friday until the following Tuesday. Nearly 100 ballots were taken and finally the jury failed to agree. The dissenting juror who believed Hayden was guilty was David B. Hotchkiss, a farmer of Prospect, who believes to this day that Hayden is guilty. Hayden was afterwards released on bail and he has been living in this city for the last seven years, working at the carpenter's and joiner's trade. His wife teaches a select school and they have a comfortable home and a balance in the savings bank. They live in a cottage on Edwards street.

      Old Ben Stevens, the stepfather, died three or four years ago, and there were many in North Madison who believed that he murdered his stepdaughter and that he was the author of her misfortunes. But if he was guilty the secret died with him and the only reminder of the terrible and mysterious crime is that the State went to an expense of nearly $30,000 to try and ferret out the mystery.

THE SECOND.

      But the murder of Jennie Cramer was a still more celebrated case. Suspicion fell upon Walter Malley and his cousin, James Malley, and a young woman — one of the demi-monde, Blanche Douglass of New York City. Jennie Cramer was a beautiful girl and was known as toe belle of New Haven. She used to eat arsenic wafers to improve her almost faultless complexion. She was 19 years of age and was the eldest daughter of Jacob Cramer, a cigarmaker and dealer. He kept a store on Grand street, at No. 171, and also had a line of confectionery. His daughter Jennie served behind the counter. While here, Walter Malley, the son of Edward Malley, a large dry goods merchant of Chapel street, and his cousin James, a clerk in the store, made her acquaintance. They brought Blanche Douglass there. Jennie would go with Blanche and stay in the Malley house when Edward Malley, the master, was away. Here they had wine suppers. The last time she was seen alive was the night of Aug. 4, 1881, when she, with the Malley boys and Blanche Douglass, was riding the flying horses and also at the dancing platform.

      Suspicion attached to them and they were arrested, and the grand jury indicted them for murder in the first degree. There was a preliminary examination lasting over three weeks. Blanche Douglass was arrested at a house in Thirty fifth street, New York City, and they lay in jail in this city until the next April. Then, the stomach of Jennie Cramer having been subjected to a chemical analysis at the hands of Prof. Russell H. Chittenden at the Sheffield Scientific School of Yale College, it was believed that the State had a strong case against the accused.

      In the meantime poor Jacob Cramer died of a broken heart, and on the trial the mother of the murdered girl, dressed in deep mourning, sat through the trial, accompanied by her daughter Minnie, an interesting young girl aged 13 years. The trial lasted forty-one days, and was prosecuted by State's Attorney Tilton E. Doolittle and Charles K. Bush. For the defendants were Samuel F. Jones, who had figured in the Stannard trial, Levi N. Blydenburg, Lewis Cassidy, ex-Attorney General of Pennsylvania Timothy J. Fox, and Edward C. Dow. The jury were out only four hours and brought in a verdict of "not guilty." In the trial Dr. White again appeared for the State as an expert, but it seemed that the jury did not place mach credence in his testimony.

      Many believed that this was a miscarriage of justice. It was shown that there were three grains and a fraction of arsenic found in the stomach of the murdered girl, and the theory of the State was that the prisoners had given her the poison and that she had died on their hands, and that they had thrown her off the wharf where the tide had floated the body ashore.

      Both Minnie Cramer and her mother are now dead, and the only one who remains is the son, Edward Cramer, the brother of the poor girl. He is a telegraph operator, and is a bright, manly young fellow. His mother told the writer in his presence after the trial that she had to implore him not to take the law in his own hands and make more trouble for her by killing James and Walter Malley. He said: "Yes, I would on one occasion have killed them if I had had a chance." Poor Mrs. Cramer said: "There is One who saith: 'Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord God.'"

      Edward Malley had to pay $10,000 to $15,000 to defend his son and nephew. Walter is now an agent of his father, who has gone out of the dry goods business with a fortune of $1,000,000, a good share of which is invested in tenant houses. Walter collects the rents, etc. Blanche Douglass is not reclaimed from the error of her ways. She is now in New York. James Malley went to Wilkesbarre, where his relatives reside. When last beard from he was studying medicine, and it was said that he was doing well. But there are still many in New Haven that believe the three know how the poor girl, Jennie Cramer, came to her death.

THE THIRD.

      In the Town of Stratford-on-the-Sound and in the western part of the old village lived the Widow Clark and her daughter Rose Ambler Clark, a line, dark-haired, black-eyed, and buxom woman of 23. They were worth some property, and when Rose was quite young, only about 16 years of age, she made a runaway match with one Norman Ambler, a worthless and dissipated young man. This was in the year 1876. Rose loved him, and although her widowed mother hated her son-in-law she was won over by Rose's entreaties to let Norman become a member of the family. Soon after his worthlessness became apparent, and he was glad to leave, and both his wife and mother-in-law were glad to have him depart. Soon after she obtained a divorce and took the name of Rose Ambler Clark. She lived with her mother, and soon there were others who paid court to the young woman. But she seemed to have had enough of married life, and the only one that she cared anything about was William Lewis, a young man who kept a meat market and grocery in Birmingham. He often used to visit her, and soon the gossips had it that Rose would soon become Mrs. Lewis.

      The road by Mrs. Clark's house was a lonely one and led through a piece of woods. The evening of Sept. 1, the last time that Rose was seen alive, she was talking with Lewis near her mother's house. Sometimes she was in the habit of passing the night with friends of hers not far away, and her mother therefore was not alarmed when she did not come in at 10 o'clock.

      The next morning some little boys were going in the field after their father's cow, which was pastured there. They went along on the broad stone wall, boy like, when one of them said that Rose Clark was lying asleep on the ground. His companion leaped over the fence and soon saw that she was dead. The alarm was given and the Coroner and medical examiner summoned. It was found that the dead woman had been outraged and strangled. The face was badly disfigured, and all the evidences of a horrible crime were present.

      At once suspicion was busy. It was naturally directed towards William Lewis, as he was the last person with whom she was known to have been seen alive. But he came boldly forward and said that he was innocent, and in fact courted investigation. The Selectmen of Stratford met and offered a reward of $1,000 for the detection and conviction of the murderer. A dozen detectives took hold of the case and for several weeks there were plenty of clews, but all to no avail. None of them seemed to be complete. There was a bad negro about the neighborhood named "Boston" White and he was shadowed day after day. But he proved a satisfactory alibi, though half a dozen times the detectives were on the point of arresting him on suspicion. They did not, because they had not a strong case. Then the ex-husband, Norman Ambler, came in for a share of the horrible suspicions. But his alibi was too good, and was absolutely unimpeachable. A rich young Philadelphian named Scovill Curtiss was then suspected. He had been in Rose's company so often as to make William Lewis suffer the pangs of jealousy. But when he began to talk of bringing libel suits against the papers who mentioned his name in connection with the crime the authorities stopped.

      Then clairvoyants were consulted, but not directly (?) by the authorities. One seeress in Bridgeport sought answer in the stars, and had it that a dark man came along the shore of the sound in a sailboat, came ashore and murdered the poor woman, and then set sail and was away. But where was the motive? The authorities tried thus clew and it turned out to be worthless. Then William Lewis was closely shadowed, and it was expected every day that tie would be clapped into the Bridgeport jail. But finally it was decided that there was no case against anyone and gradually the crime was forgotten and the murder of the poor woman is unavenged.

      There are many colored people in Stratford that dare not go along that road in the night time. There are stories that Rose Ambler's ghost walks along the lonely highway and has been seen near her mother's house in the night. There are some white people that are also timid about being in the neighborhood after nightfall. They think that when the poor woman's murderer is discovered her perturbed spirit will find rest.

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CELEBRATED CASES IN NEW YORK.

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Mysteries That Are as Numerous and as Terrible as Those of London.

      NEW YORK, Nov. 29. — [Special Correspondence.] — New York has produced as many mysterious murders in which women have been victims as London. Many of them were quite as atrocious as the famous Whitechapel crimes, and as full of mystery as the murder of Eva Mitchell or Amelia Olsen, which the Chicago police have vainly sought to unravel. Not all the murders of women in this town have remained mysteries, but there are ten or a dozen notable cases in which the stories of the crimes have never been revealed and probably never will be. The story of New York's inexplicable murders of women begins way back in 1836. April 9 of that year Dorcas Boyan, alias Helen Jewitt, was found with her throat cut. Her murderer was never captured or even known. The old residents of New York can still recall the sensation caused at the time by the murder.

      This case was simply the beginning. It was followed six years later by what is still known as the "Cigar Girl Mystery," which is one of New York's most famous crimes. Pretty Mary Rogers sold cigars at a little store on Broadway. She was bright and vivacious and popular with the customers who thronged the little store. Among all her acquaintances there was none who could name an enemy, nor was she known to have been unduly intimate with any man. One day in 1842 she was found murdered. The news of the crime caused the greatest sensation New York had experienced since her evacuation by the British soldiery. The girl was so widely known and so universally liked that the whole population was interested in finding the murderer, but the name of the person who committed the crime and the cause of it remain as much a mystery today as ever. Edgar Allan Poe perpetuated the dreadful story by making it the basis of his novel. "The Mystery of Marie Roget," and there is no New-Yorker who has not heard of Mary Rogers' murder.

THE CARLTON HOUSE CASE.

      Women murder mysteries have become more frequent in recent years. The famous Carlton House murder was the most sensational within the last decade. In December, 1884, two men were removing scene débris in the subcellar of the Carlton House. From beneath a quantity of loose dirt a well shaped woman's hand was first exposed. Then the body of a good-looking woman was found. She was clad in a maroon-colored dress, but there was no mark on her person or clothing by which she could be identified. Everything which could possibly lead to the discovery of who she was had been removed. The person or persons interested in getting her out of the way were eminently successful, not only in that, but in concealing their own or her identity. Even the time when the murder was committed or when she was probably concealed in the cellar was never approximately fixed. The police believe that Benjamin Grau, who is now serving a ten-year sentence in the Trenton Penitentiary, had something to do with the crime, and will try to fasten it on him when his time of imprisonment expires, but there is little chance that they will.

THE RYAN MURDER.

      The crime which most nearly resembles those of the Whitechapel fiend was the murder of Mary Ryan and her brother Nicholas Ryan at No. 204 Broome street in December, 1873. Three lives were really taken, because Mary Ryan was found to be enceinte. The murder of this sister and brother was a most bloody one, and, like the one which cost Zora Burns her life at Lincoln, Ill., in 1883, was probably committed to shield the poor girl's betrayer. Undoubtedly the brother was killed while trying to avenge his sister. He engaged his slayer in a tremendous struggle. Mary was found lying with her face on the bed mattress with her throat cut from ear to ear. Her brother's body lay in the hallway. His throat was also cut, but the floor and walls were bespattered with blood, and there were signs of a desperate struggle. The brother's body was clothed in night attire, and it was evident that he had been awakened by the struggle which cost his sister her life, and in going to her assistance had lost his own. The name of Mary Ryan's betrayer and the slayer of herself, her brother, and her unborn infant has remained a secret for fifteen years.

      Another "Jack the Ripper" used a knife on the throat of Tillie Smith last May. Her body was concealed in a wood-box at the bend of Mulberry street. The throat was cut and there were some bruises on the body. An Italian rag-picker who was known to have had an acquaintance with the woman was suspected of the crime, but he established his innocence, and since then neither Inspector Byrnes nor his alert detectives have been able to turn any light on the wood-box mystery.

THEY NEVER FOUND OUT.

      Annie Downey was a flower-girl and was well known about town in 1879 and 1880. People familiarly spoke of her as "Blonde Annie," or "Curley Tom" the flower-girl. In personal appearance she was attractive. Early in 1880 she was found dead in a house kept by a woman named Sundt in Prince street. None of the Whitechapel crimes exceeded this one in atrocity. The girl's head was tied firmly to the bed on which she lay, and she was cut in several places. Who did it? That's what the New York police tried to find out and couldn't, nor did they ever discover who shot Josephine Fortella, aged 23, at No. 77 James street, in September, 1884. Equally mysterious was the death of an unknown woman whose body was found at the corner of Elizabeth and Bleecker streets in 1876. The murder of Mary Howard in East Eighty-first street about ten years ago was never satisfactorily explained. It was supposed that her husband killed her, but that fact was never fully established, and he has so far eluded the vigilant police.

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GROUP OF CRIMES IN NEW ORLEANS.

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Slayers of Women Who Found Little Difficulty in Escaping.

      NEW ORLEANS, La., Nov. 29. [Special.] — Some time during the year 1872 an aged white woman was found dead in her bed in an old shanty in the swamps near the corner of Washington avenue and Claiborne Canal. The motive for the murder or who committed the dastardly deed was never discovered. A revolver and shotgun which the woman's husband owned were stolen from the house, and one of these weapons had doubtless been used to inflict the fatal wounds — gunshot wounds of the left breast.

      In 1882 Catherine Deneher, an elderly white woman, the wife of a fisherman, was found dead in her room in a little house entered from the street on Tchoupitoulas between Washington and Sixth street. There were finger marks on her throat, showing that the woman had been strangled — a fact which the Coroner's autopsy subsequently verified. The room in which the body was found was in the greatest disorder, and some of the bed clothes were thrown over the corpse, which was en déshabille. It was evident that a desperate struggle had taken place before the woman was finally overpowered. Robbery was supposed to have been the motive for the crime, but no positive information to that effect was ever received by the police. The murderer or murderers were never arrested, though several parties were suspected.

      About two years after that one summer's day an aged white woman named Bridget Deurby was found, murdered in her bed in the rear of a little charcoal and wood shop at the corner of Lafayette and Liberty streets. Robbery was the object of the murder, and several hundred dollars in money was the booty of the robbers, who did not escape without leaving the marks of their victim's hands, she also having fought desperately for her life and property. No arrests were ever made, though a noted criminal named Barthy McGee, who had been arrested by Detective C. C. Cain, now of Dallas, Tex., and D. S. Gaster of this city, for robbery, was suspected of the murder.

      A few weeks after this an elderly German woman named Mrs. Schaeffer was found dead in the street in an isolated and unfrequented portion of the Third District. She was an "accoucheuse" and had been out on a visit to a patient of hers. It was a Sunday forenoon, and, having attended to her patient, she set out on her return home. She was found lying in the road with a bullet hole through her brain. The weapon from which the fatal ball had been tired was without doubt a rifle. No clew to the assassin was ever discovered, nor could any motive for the deed be even surmised.

      The latest attempt at woman murder was the case of an aged German woman named Mme. George, who was attacked in her own house by a negro, and while defending her property was so seriously injured that she died about a year afterwards (January last).

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STRANGE CRIMES IN ATLANTA.

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The Sad Romance of a Beautiful and Gifted Woman.

      ATLANTA, Ga., Nov. 29. — [Special.] — During the Sherman siege of Atlanta in 1864 a tragedy occurred which has ever since been enveloped in mystery, and which at the time almost caused the besieged people to forget the great army which was pressing into the city. The population of the city was reduced to less than 5,000 civilians, who lived in bomb-proofs frequently and who, being cut off from the world, formed a community of its own. This community for the most part was formed of women and children, the men being absent in the army. The officers and soldiers of the garrison, between the general engagements, would enjoy social reunion with the citizens, and many dances were given by the young ladies for the amusement of their military admirers.

      Before the circle around the city was complete there came into Atlanta by the West Point road a young lady giving her name as Miss Jane Moorehead from Mobile, Ala. Her arrival was somewhat mysterious, as well as her stay in the city. She at once sought occupation in the hospitals, where she came to be regarded as an angel of mercy. Her beauty is described as having been great, and she had many accomplishments and was evidently of gentle breeding. She would never refer to her past life, but it came to be believed that her love had died on one of the battlefields of Virginia and that she had simply resolved to devote her life to the alleviation of the sufferings of the soldiers in the hospitals.

      Later on and nearing the end of the siege a ball was announced to take place in one of the houses on Walton street. Miss Moorehead, who never went to a place of amusement, was urged by a Captain whom she had met in the hospital to go to the ball. The ladies of her acquaintance also joined in and urged her to take this recreation. She finally consented. When the Captain called for her he found her in a full bridal costume, with valuable and brilliant jewelry. It was the first time she had ever so appeared. At the ball she was one of the gayest, and seemed so unlike the sad hospital visitant that it attracted general remark. At 2 in the morning the ball ended and the guests scattered for their homes.

      When Miss Moorehead failed to arise by 8 a. m. it did not surprise the lady with whom she boarded, but when 10 o'clock came with no sign of her the door was opened. There Miss Moorehead was found fully dressed as she lay across the bed, her face toward the wall. A call did not arouse her, and a touch told that she was dead. Two stabs had pierced her heart, and were so closely made as scarcely to make a crease in her dress. The sensation which followed was intense. Her fidelity to the wounded soldiers made every one of them feel that she was a sister. The fears of the ladies were aroused at the mysterious assassination.

      Who could have been her murderer, and what was his motive! The Captain who had been her escort the night before had left her safely at home, and no one thought or suspecting him at the time. The chamber window opened upon the garden. Footsteps leading up thereto showed that it was through this window that the murderer made his way. The fact that not a jewel had been misplaced showed that it could not have been a robber who had done the deed. There were those who invented all manner of theories. The one most generally accepted was that some one, struck by her beauty while at the ball, had entered her chamber in the manner described with improper motive, and, finding himself repulsed, quickly dispatched her. Others believed that the Captain, who had urged her to marry him, and finding her obdurate, had committed the deed to prevent her from falling into other hands. While the sensation among the beleaguered people was at its height Sherman's forces entered the city, scattered the people, and prevented investigation but when the people a year later returned to their homes the talk of the tragedy was renewed. The Captain had been killed meantime in the battle of Jonesboro and the tragedy passed into memory, and to this day is frequently spoken of.

THE MRS. ROSE CASE.

      A more recent tragedy, and one fraught with many sensational details, was the murder of Mrs. Jennie Rose three years ago. The Rose family lived in a handsome little cottage about half a mile from the city limits. The family consisted of Charley Rose, the husband; Jennie, the wife; one child; and Miss Nannie Fraser, a young lady cousin. The quick reports of two pistol-shots at 3 a.m. caught the attention of an early traveler into the city. When he passed the Rose door he saw a woman come out screaming. At the same time he saw the figures in the distance of a man and woman in quick retreat. The woman at the door was Miss Fraser. It seems that some one had entered the cottage through her room window, took a pistol which she kept on the mantel for protection, and passing into Mrs. Rose's room fired two shots into her brain as she slept. The report was given out that the deed had been committed by burglars. Rose, who was yardmaster at the Richmond & Danville shops, was sent for, and when he reached the spot feigned the greatest grief. He was arrested the next day, but no evidence could be brought against him and he was turned loose, and is now a fugitive from the State, charged with another crime. It was known that he was intimate with a courtesan named Ella Timmons, and the theory was that it was she who had accompanied him to the scene in order to remove Mrs. Rose. As hers was an illicit life, however, it did not clearly appear why she should resort to murder for its gratification. She removed to Gainesville, where she committed suicide six weeks later. Among her effects were found love letters from Rose, but none of a criminating nature as regarded the murder. Miss Fraser, who had for a year been an inmate of his house, and who was his wife's cousin and bosom friend, returned home. In six months she died in childbirth without disclosing the author of her ruin. The child was born dead. It was singularly deformed. Mrs. Rose had been shot through the left eye, leaving a frightful looking hole. Miss Fraser's child was born with a perfect counterpart of the wound. Whether Rose killed his wife that he might enjoy the society of Ella Timmons, or whether he was the father of Miss Fraser's child, and she herself had slain Mrs. Rose in order to secure her place, are questions which have never been settled.

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HARRIET BELL MURDER IN BOSTON.

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The Police Baffled Because No Motive Could Re Discovered.

      BOSTON, Mass., Nov. 29. — [Special.] — Boston police have a few unsolved problems upon which the more ambitious continue to puzzle their brains. There is no case, however, to which they have given more attention or which has so completely baffled them than what is known in criminal annals as the Harriet Bell murder. This dates back to 1882. Committed in the face of the police in broad daylight, the murderer yet was able to walk leisurely away and never a trace of him be found thereof, or a motive established for the crime. Mrs. Harriet Bell was a widow living at No. 5 Kirkland street. Her husband had been dead for a dozen years, and she supported herself and child, a girl of 13 years, by making pantaloons for the various tailors in the city. She was a quiet, industrious woman who minded her own business and had attained considerable popularity among the other tenants of the house. So far as was ever known she had not an enemy in the world. The facts relative to the tragedy of her death are these: Shortly after 8 o'clock on the morning of March 7 Mrs. Bell went to a neighboring store for a can of milk. On her return she was followed by a stranger, a man of medium weight, about six feet in height, and wearing a long blue overcoat, with gray hair and gray stubble beard. He was apparently 50 years old. He walked some distance behind the woman, who probably did not know that she was followed. Henry Baker, a carpenter just starting to his work, saw Mrs. Bell and the man, and when the two had passed him he saw the man hurry his steps and overtake the woman. He addressed a remark to her which escaped the carpenter's ears. He heard Mrs. Bell reply, however, "I don't know you, sir." To this the man answered, "Well, come, get in here," and seizing her by the left arm he thrust her through the door into the house. Baker, struck by the singular action, lounged about the place for a moment. Almost immediately after the couple disappeared screams were heard from the woman, and a second later the stranger emerged and walked leisurely away. The carpenter at first was inclined to stop him, but finally concluded to speak to two officers who were standing near. He pointed to the slowly retreating figure and said, "That man ought to be arrested." The officers, however, made no move, as they saw only a man going quietly on his way, and had no intimation that anything was wrong.

      Mrs. Bell's daughter and two other women were in the house where the murder was committed. The daughter says she heard her mother enter, and quickly came cries of "Help! Murder!" She rushed to the entry and saw her mother lying on the floor with blood streaming all about her and a man bending over her. As soon as the man became aware of another's presence he disappeared, and she caught sight only of his back. Her mother, she says seemed to recover her strength for a minute, for she arose and walked about a dozen feet. Then she fell dead. She was most horribly cut about the neck. The jugular vein and carotid artery were severed, and there were seven other long and deep gashes.

      Yet only about two minutes elapsed from the first outcry of the woman until she fell dead in the kitchen, showing the rapidity with which the murderer plied his knife.

      The two policemen in the meantime watched the stranger as he sauntered down Tremont street, making no attempt to hurry or evade scrutiny, tracing him on to Tremont street bridge. Beyond that point the man was never seen again by citizens or policeman, and had he been annihilated there his disappearance could not have been more mysterious or complete.

      Such were the facts the police had to work upon, and with all their care and shrewd search they never have been able to add an iota to them or suggest a solution of the murder. The alarm was at once sounded on the truth being known, and all of the force, including the mounted patrol, was ordered out. The city was surrounded, but no stranger answering the description was found. Several arrests were made in various parts of New England, but all were discharged. The lack of motive for the crime handicapped the detectives in their work after the man had escaped.

(THE END)