American Monsters: Fred Gebhardt
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Zevon Odelberg is a true crime podcast host and disability advocate. Zevon has cerebral palsy and he wants Kinda Murdery to be welcoming community for people with disabilities and for people living with challenges of any kind. Life can be hard, but being together makes it better.
Speaker 1: Warning, Kind of Murdery contains adult themes, explicit language, and
Speaker 1: descriptions of violence. It is not suitable for anyone, and
Speaker 1: we recommend you stop listening now.
Speaker 2: True crime with a dash of the paranormal, the garish,
Speaker 2: the strange in the darkly comic. I'm Zevan Odelberg, host
Speaker 2: of kind of Murdery, a podcast that's about more than
Speaker 2: just murder. It's my very own pocket dimension, home to
Speaker 2: a curated collection of bizarre and compelling stories, the unsolved,
Speaker 2: the unsettling, and the unbelievable. I cover it all just
Speaker 2: so long as it's kind of Murdery. That is correct.
Speaker 2: Everyone just like it. Says in the intro, I am
Speaker 2: Zevan Odelberg, and this is kind of Murdery. I hope
Speaker 2: everyone's had a happy Holidays so far and is headed
Speaker 2: toward a wonderful new year. I've got one heck of
Speaker 2: a classic Who'd Done It? True crime story coming right
Speaker 2: up for you. It's a story I found in the
Speaker 2: November nineteen twenty five issue of True Detective Mysteries, as
Speaker 2: told by Detective William D. Roddy of the New York
Speaker 2: Police who was on the case and as narrated by
Speaker 2: Isabel Stephen. Here's the teaser. For months, the skeleton of
Speaker 2: an unknown girl had lain in the Islip Woods, a
Speaker 2: bullet hole in the skull. But who was she? Who
Speaker 2: killed her? And for what motive? If you'd like to
Speaker 2: know the answer to those questions, well then please join
Speaker 2: me now as we uncover what truths we can and
Speaker 2: solve what mysteries we may kind of murderies. A mysterious
Speaker 2: skull in the Islip Woods starts now homicide over at
Speaker 2: is Liplong Island. John P. Coughlin, then a captain in
Speaker 2: charge of the New York Detective Bureau, handed me a
Speaker 2: slip of on which he'd scribbled a few lines, I
Speaker 2: say me, and that probably makes you wonder just who
Speaker 2: the heck I am me. I've got no reason to
Speaker 2: hide my identity, so I'll share it with you. I'm
Speaker 2: Detective William D. Roddy of the New York Police Department. So,
Speaker 2: like I said, Captain John Coughlin, he handed me a
Speaker 2: slip of paper on which he'd scribbled a few lines,
Speaker 2: and then he added, Terseley looks like a newspaper romance story.
Speaker 2: Probably one of the patients from the insane asylum who
Speaker 2: wandered away and committed suicide. Reporters are out there in
Speaker 2: flocks already keeping the murderer. If there is a murderer
Speaker 2: well informed of all the details of the discovery, why
Speaker 2: don't you take a run over there with Thomas Murray.
Speaker 2: See this man Charles Daily, the undertaker, who seems to
Speaker 2: be a sort of a di amateur sleuth and as
Speaker 2: the body at his place. Listen, Roddy, this is the
Speaker 2: first murder mystery Islip's Hadden over twenty years, and the
Speaker 2: villagers are all excited over it. I accepted the assignment
Speaker 2: and hunted up Murray in the squad room, and with
Speaker 2: him I caught the twelve to fifty one PM train
Speaker 2: for Islip. In the morning newspapers, I'd read one of
Speaker 2: the accounts which my chief had referred to, and like him,
Speaker 2: I'd been rather amused by the imaginative yarn. Big news
Speaker 2: happened to be scarce just then in the finding of
Speaker 2: a richly clothed and bejeweled skeleton in the great scrub
Speaker 2: oak wastes of Long Island had lent itself beautifully to
Speaker 2: extravagant journalistic fictionalization. The find had been made two days
Speaker 2: before by a little boy hunting huckleberries. The skeleton had
Speaker 2: a wisp of flaxen hair, a blue velvet ribbon, a
Speaker 2: few trinkets, and some storm faded clothing. And the newshounds
Speaker 2: immediately sniffed out a sensational tragedy. A body in the
Speaker 2: woods almost a year. Who was the girl? Who could
Speaker 2: have killed her? What motive could have prompted the act?
Speaker 2: These were my thoughts, of course, but all in good time.
Speaker 2: I told myself no use jumping to any hasty conclusions.
Speaker 2: In midsummer Bayshore, Islip and Amityville are attractive places. Good
Speaker 2: automobile roads run through shady green woods, Brilliant blue vistas
Speaker 2: of the Sound, and great placid water lily ponds add
Speaker 2: exquisite touches to an otherwise monotonous stretch of flat country.
Speaker 2: But on that morning of October tenth, nineteen oh nine,
Speaker 2: when Murray and I speeded toward the home of America's
Speaker 2: most famous insane asylum, adun, Misty Hayes hung over gaunt
Speaker 2: trees which fall had almost stripped bare. Nearing our destination,
Speaker 2: we passed through an even more desolate country where acres
Speaker 2: of scrub had been blackened by fire. Hey, how about
Speaker 2: we visit a lunch room before attacking the undertaker. Murray suggested,
Speaker 2: I didn't have any dinner. What about you? Sounds good
Speaker 2: to me, I replied, I was just finishing my report
Speaker 2: with the chief. Rang for me. Some ham and eggs
Speaker 2: and coffee'll make a good foundation. Must be some sort
Speaker 2: of eating place here for the relatives of the patients
Speaker 2: at Central Islip. Islip we discovered when we got off
Speaker 2: the train and walked a few blocks of country road
Speaker 2: where houses were in the course of construction, had a
Speaker 2: lively main street thoroughfare. A spick and span beanery stood
Speaker 2: on one corner, and without further investigation, we entered and
Speaker 2: ordered the good old standby you young men from the newspapers.
Speaker 2: The rosy chief waitress asked, after she'd taken our orders
Speaker 2: without directly committing ourselves to any special newspaper. Murray and
Speaker 2: I permitted the damsel to retain her delusion and requested
Speaker 2: her to hurry up with the eats. You newspaper boys
Speaker 2: are always in a hurry, she remarked, with a flip
Speaker 2: of her starched skirts as she flounced off. But maybe
Speaker 2: I could tell you something interesting about that murder case,
Speaker 2: she flung over her shoulder before disappearing through swinging doors
Speaker 2: which evidently led to the kitchen. This village must be
Speaker 2: a nest of amateur sleuths, said Murray, at that she
Speaker 2: might be able to tell us something, though might as
Speaker 2: well get it from all sides. Am I wrong? When
Speaker 2: the waitress returned with two large platters laden with good,
Speaker 2: thick slices of nicely crisped ham and fried eggs, Murray's
Speaker 2: irritability evaporated. Now what could you tell us, sis, he asked,
Speaker 2: with a benign smile, at the same time making an
Speaker 2: assault on the dish placed before him. Now don't tell
Speaker 2: us if you don't want to, Murray anticipated her KOI
Speaker 2: of asions and cute desire to be coaxed. His gambit
Speaker 2: won out. After a moment's hesitation, she replied, well, we
Speaker 2: live out on the road a bit not far from
Speaker 2: where the body was found. And last time Thanksgiving Eve,
Speaker 2: I was working in the kitchen with Ma on account
Speaker 2: of my uncle and aunt and cousins and gentlemen friend
Speaker 2: coming to dinner. The next day, round midnight, we heard
Speaker 2: an automobile go tearing past and a girl screeching piteously, Oh,
Speaker 2: just piteously. Her eyes rolled in horror at the recollection.
Speaker 2: Oh hell, there ain't nothing in that, scoffed a big
Speaker 2: beetle browed man who'd been standing near the cash register.
Speaker 2: It's not likely that body to lay in undiscovered for
Speaker 2: nearly a year. Don't be given out yarns like that.
Speaker 2: They'll be calling you up as a witness and taking
Speaker 2: your time off from your work here. I won't stand
Speaker 2: for that, Marie. You're just seeking notoriety well of all
Speaker 2: the nerve, the girl snorted angrily, And just who are
Speaker 2: you anyway? Guess if they investigate a few of our
Speaker 2: local sheikhs right here in Islip, they might uncover a
Speaker 2: few things I ain't mentioned in any names yet. But
Speaker 2: I don't mean to be insulted. The man behind the
Speaker 2: counter flushed his eyes, darting furious sparks at the waitress,
Speaker 2: who looked him straight in the face. There's silence, spoke volumes.
Speaker 2: Don't believe there's anything there, I remarked to Murray as
Speaker 2: we left the place. The mustachioed romeo is probably boahers.
Speaker 2: There's always a bunch of skylarkers around a little town
Speaker 2: like this. A police officer directed us to Undertaker Daily's
Speaker 2: place with a knowing grin. I guess you'll find him
Speaker 2: right there too, he added, he's a busy man these days.
Speaker 2: We found Charles Daly's home and undertaking establishment in the
Speaker 2: middle of an attractive block of comfortable residences, late roses
Speaker 2: bloomed in front yards and neatly clipped box hedges bordered
Speaker 2: well kept small lawns. Fortunately, we found the undertaker alone.
Speaker 2: Instead of being the fussy, little busybody we'd pictured, he
Speaker 2: was a singularly dignified man of middle aged, immaculately groomed,
Speaker 2: premature white hair covered his head, and a short cropped
Speaker 2: white mustache outlined a well shaped mouth, large hazel eyes
Speaker 2: somewhat bloodshot. Regarded us quizzically as we made ourselves known.
Speaker 2: Don't you want to come into the house, He invited
Speaker 2: us in with a little closed lip smile. It'll be
Speaker 2: far more comfortable there, and I can show you the
Speaker 2: remains later on. The office was a very small one
Speaker 2: flat top desk, two chairs of filing cabinet and that
Speaker 2: filled on the wall hung a huge, gruesome looking anatomical chart.
Speaker 2: Outside of this was a barn like space with an
Speaker 2: undertaker's wagon and several boxed coffins standing up around the
Speaker 2: farther end. We agreed that the house would be more comfortable.
Speaker 2: On that bleak, drizzly afternoon in October, Seated in cozy,
Speaker 2: overstuffed chairs, we listened to the undertaker's story. It was
Speaker 2: Saturday afternoon when I first learned of the discovery, he began.
Speaker 2: The weather was mild, and we were sitting on the
Speaker 2: porch when the telephone rang around four o'clock. My phone
Speaker 2: rings pretty constantly, for I have several sidelines. I would
Speaker 2: hate to sit around waiting for cases to come in,
Speaker 2: he explained apologetically. Well, then when I lifted the receiver,
Speaker 2: I heard doctor Savage's voice on the phone. He's our
Speaker 2: corner and a great friend of mine. Nick Havens just
Speaker 2: called up to say that the little Schmidt boy found
Speaker 2: some bones in the scrub oak lots behind Sayville and
Speaker 2: Brentwood a little while ago. Doctor Savage said he's had
Speaker 2: a look at them, and he says they've probably lain
Speaker 2: there for years. Will you send a man out there
Speaker 2: with a box tomorrow to gather them up and bury them?
Speaker 2: He asked, why I can go right now, if you like, doctor,
Speaker 2: the undertaker had offered, do you want to go along? No,
Speaker 2: he answered, Nick says, the bones have evidently been there
Speaker 2: for years, all scattered all over the place, probably one
Speaker 2: of the patients who wandered away some long time back.
Speaker 2: Since they've lain there so many years, another night won't
Speaker 2: hurt them. Well, there's a lot of truth to that,
Speaker 2: the undertaker informed us. Nick Havens is our town constable
Speaker 2: and deputy sheriff. He's a pretty old fellow, but very reliable,
Speaker 2: and if it was just some old scattered bones, it
Speaker 2: wasn't use making a big fuss over him. So the
Speaker 2: next morning, that was yesterday, I sent two of my
Speaker 2: men with a box and a shovel to get the bones.
Speaker 2: I had a case down the street where I had
Speaker 2: to deliver a coffin. Now I can't explain it, but
Speaker 2: I had a hunch that i'd better go out to
Speaker 2: the scrublots and have a look at those bones before
Speaker 2: the men buried them. I didn't really expect to find anything,
Speaker 2: you know, but I had my wagon out, and before
Speaker 2: putting it up, I decided to drive over. I passed
Speaker 2: my men on the road and took them along with me.
Speaker 2: We called at the schmidhouse to get the little boy
Speaker 2: to show us where the boss was. Missus Schmidt was
Speaker 2: sitting on her porch polishing a gold watch. Well, it's
Speaker 2: a pretty watch, I said to her, a present. Well, no,
Speaker 2: not exactly, she admitted. Johnny found it near them bones
Speaker 2: when he was huckleberrying yesterday. You shouldn't have taken it,
Speaker 2: I told her, you should have left everything just as
Speaker 2: it was, But it seemed that Sheriff Nick had told
Speaker 2: her it was all right. However, I made her give
Speaker 2: me the watch, and inside it was a blurred bit
Speaker 2: of photograph and the initials a mL scratched on the case.
Speaker 2: Why this may even lead to the identity of the body,
Speaker 2: I told her. She gave up the watch reluctantly and
Speaker 2: called a little Johnny to accompany us to the scrub
Speaker 2: oak lots. Here, Officer Murray interrupted the recital. They out
Speaker 2: of the kid come to find the bones. He asked
Speaker 2: what was he doing in the scrub lots he'd gone
Speaker 2: huckleberrying Sunday afternoon. Undertaker Daily explained his mother had some
Speaker 2: friends in and she'd given him a pail and sent
Speaker 2: him to give him something to do. She told him
Speaker 2: to fill the pail for supper and she'd give him
Speaker 2: a dime. An hour later, he came screeching back that
Speaker 2: he'd found a skeleton in the woods. They all out
Speaker 2: and looked at it. Then they went down to their
Speaker 2: next door neighbor, John Parks, who lives about a half
Speaker 2: a mile away, and carried the information to Nick Hans
Speaker 2: in Brookville. Nick called up the corner, and after he'd
Speaker 2: viewed the bones, the corner called me up. As I
Speaker 2: explained already, Well, when you arrived at the spot, what
Speaker 2: did you find? I asked corner daily got that slightly
Speaker 2: far away look of a man remembering something he'd seen
Speaker 2: and maybe wished he hadn't. The skull was lying a
Speaker 2: couple of feet away from the rest of the body.
Speaker 2: You could see the foxes had been busy at it,
Speaker 2: and the scrub fire of last July had burned all
Speaker 2: around it. But funny thing is it hadn't hurt the
Speaker 2: body much. I picked up the skull, which had some
Speaker 2: flaxen blonde hair on it, and I heard something fall.
Speaker 2: I thought it was a trinket or something, though the
Speaker 2: clothes were all storm faded with the reins and the
Speaker 2: snows and the shoes had been gnawed by foxes. I
Speaker 2: could tell that they'd been smart clothes, and they were
Speaker 2: too elaborate to belong to any of the patients at
Speaker 2: Islip Asylum, just some poor woman who'd wandered into the
Speaker 2: scrub and gotten lost. I figured first. Then I found
Speaker 2: that that little thing that had fallen out when I
Speaker 2: lifted the skull was a bullet that naturally suggested murder.
Speaker 2: But the bullet hole in the forehead didn't cover a
Speaker 2: vital spot, so it was possible the poor thing had
Speaker 2: committed suicide and had crawled quite a bit and died
Speaker 2: from the loss of blood. Then how is it that
Speaker 2: you publicly declared that it's a murder? How did the
Speaker 2: corner come to send in that report to headquarters? Murray demanded,
Speaker 2: Wait a bit, I haven't finished, the undertaker said calmly.
Speaker 2: We looked all around and picked up everything that seemed
Speaker 2: connected with the body. We carried the skeleton, the clothes,
Speaker 2: and a bracelet and a little pendent necklace that had
Speaker 2: apparently been around her neck back to my wagon. On
Speaker 2: arrival at my establishment, I made a more careful examination,
Speaker 2: and I found another bullet embedded in the back of
Speaker 2: the skull. Now, as I'm sure you gentlemen are aware,
Speaker 2: it's practically an impossibility for anybody to fire a bullet
Speaker 2: into the back of his or her skull, finished the
Speaker 2: undertaker triumphantly. That's so, oh, I agreed, let's have a
Speaker 2: look at it. The haze had become a heavy drizzle
Speaker 2: while we talked, and though the undertaking establishment was only
Speaker 2: a few steps away from the house, the clammy mist
Speaker 2: penetrated our clothes before we'd entered this place of the dead.
Speaker 2: In a pine coffin on a trestle, the remains of
Speaker 2: the mysterious blonde woman had been laid nothing but bones,
Speaker 2: with a few locks of curly flaxen hair found about
Speaker 2: the skull with grizzly coquettishness by black velvet ribbon, fashionably
Speaker 2: cut coat of some rich material, silk blouse, and remnants
Speaker 2: of fluffy underwear filled the last resting place of the unknown.
Speaker 2: On a small table which stood beside the coffin was
Speaker 2: a box containing various articles. A silver thimble, a pair
Speaker 2: of folding scissors, a small piece of paper. Those are
Speaker 2: the things I took out of her pocket. Mister Daily explained.
Speaker 2: I selected the paper and looked at it closely. It
Speaker 2: was some sort of bill head, but the print had
Speaker 2: been almost entirely obliterated. Looks like a bill for goods,
Speaker 2: I said, half to myself. Yes, well that's what it is.
Speaker 2: Daily retorted. The firm name seems to be Cox and Fine.
Speaker 2: There's a store near the asylum that used to belong
Speaker 2: to a man of the name of Coke, and he
Speaker 2: sold out to a man named Fine. I took the
Speaker 2: bill over there, but Fine tells me that it's only
Speaker 2: a coincidence that it isn't their bill head, that it
Speaker 2: comes from Germany. Daily stopped for a minute, then, reaching out,
Speaker 2: he gently but emphatically took the piece of paper from me.
Speaker 2: Doctor Savage the corner is sending that to the German
Speaker 2: minister tonight. He advised, hands off our clues, he implied,
Speaker 2: without actually saying those words, it was rather plain that
Speaker 2: while mister Daly was obliging and polite, he didn't altogether
Speaker 2: appreciate our assistance. Without any super intuition, I sensed that
Speaker 2: the officials of the village of Islap felt that they
Speaker 2: were quite capable of handling their own murder. I didn't
Speaker 2: want to antagonize the man, so without further remarks, I
Speaker 2: was about to turn away when I spied a label
Speaker 2: on the coat at the neck. You don't mind if
Speaker 2: I take this, I requested quietly, and proceeded without permission
Speaker 2: to rip off the tag. We want something to work on,
Speaker 2: you know. Don't want to return to headquarters empty handed.
Speaker 2: By the way, I continued, I heard there was a
Speaker 2: very noisy party passing through Brookville last Thanksgiving Eve, with
Speaker 2: a woman screaming for help. Oh yes, I remember, mister
Speaker 2: Daley replied in an offhand sort of way. There was
Speaker 2: a lot of talk about it at the time. We
Speaker 2: are quiet folks around here, much inclined to mind our
Speaker 2: own business, but that party passed right through the village.
Speaker 2: Nobody ever connected any idea of murder with it at
Speaker 2: the time. Hey, listen, doc, if you give us a
Speaker 2: full description of the body in the identification box you
Speaker 2: found on it, I don't believe we'll have to trouble
Speaker 2: you any further. Just now, Murray put in. He'd been
Speaker 2: roaming around the place, picking up various small articles and
Speaker 2: examining them closely. In his hand he held a rich
Speaker 2: silk automobile scarf. Well, Certainly, replied the obliging Daily. You're
Speaker 2: welcome to this copy. I made out on it. I've
Speaker 2: noted every detail. I'm sure that I missed nothing. Well,
Speaker 2: that's good, Murray thanked him, reaching out for the typewritten slip.
Speaker 2: We just have time to make four thirty and get
Speaker 2: in our report. Thanks for your help. Keep in touch
Speaker 2: with us, though, won't you, and I'll let you know
Speaker 2: how we're getting along well? Surely, Daily replied. Murray was
Speaker 2: right about catching the train, of course, but we'd seen
Speaker 2: a lot of reporters in town. I had to ask
Speaker 2: Daily a couple more questions before we departed. Do you
Speaker 2: think it's advisable to let the newspapers keep such close
Speaker 2: touch with what you're doing, though, I asked Daily, Won't
Speaker 2: it give the murderer a chance to make a getaway.
Speaker 2: I chose this tack with Daily for a reason. You
Speaker 2: have to be so darn careful when you're dealing with
Speaker 2: the local authorities. They're jealous of their rights, and they
Speaker 2: can do more to gum up the works than you
Speaker 2: can do to clear them. If you don't take the
Speaker 2: right angle with the villagers. Maybe Daily agreed, But how
Speaker 2: are we going to identify the remains if we don't
Speaker 2: advertise them, he asked triumphantly. Something in his voice stopped
Speaker 2: us from leaving. Who's going to identify the skeleton? Murray
Speaker 2: must have caught the same tone as myself, for he
Speaker 2: put the question as an insinuating time. Well, a man
Speaker 2: and a woman came here this morning from New Jersey,
Speaker 2: Daily said, swallowing the bait. They wouldn't tell me who
Speaker 2: they were, but from the way they whispered together, I
Speaker 2: guess they suspected who she was. I nearly blushed from embarrassment.
Speaker 2: This was the most important piece of information, and we'd
Speaker 2: almost missed it. One thing I was sure of, and
Speaker 2: that was the Daily knew more than he told us.
Speaker 2: How do you know they came from Jersey? Then Murray asked, well,
Speaker 2: they wanted to see doctor Savage the corner, and he
Speaker 2: was out on a case. Daily reluctantly admitted. The woman,
Speaker 2: without thinking, said they'd come all the way over from
Speaker 2: Jersey and didn't want to go back without seeing him.
Speaker 2: But they didn't want reporters to get onto them, so
Speaker 2: they said they'd just come over again. And then just
Speaker 2: then a young man came in, and they jumped in
Speaker 2: their car and hurried off. Did you take the number?
Speaker 2: I asked, Oh, yes I did, he admitted, I wrote
Speaker 2: it down here it is. He entered his small office
Speaker 2: and picked up a scrap of paper, which was weighted
Speaker 2: down on his desk by a whiskey glass full of buckshot. Murray,
Speaker 2: who had followed him, took a notebook out of his pocket, and,
Speaker 2: glancing at the inscription, daily showed him, copied it down
Speaker 2: much obliged. Again, I heard him say that all you
Speaker 2: can tell us, Well, that's everything. The undertaker returned shortly, well, goodbye.
Speaker 2: Then we shook hands with the amateur sleuth and made
Speaker 2: a wild dash to catch the four thirty train, which
Speaker 2: was even then heralding its approach with great clouds of
Speaker 2: smoke puffing through the tops of the trees a mile away.
Speaker 2: That undertake is one canny, operator, Murray remarked, as we
Speaker 2: reached the station and raced over the tracks just as
Speaker 2: the four thirty pulled in. The train was filled with
Speaker 2: husky railroad laborers, earthcaked and grimy. The plush seats were
Speaker 2: dusty and damp, and the air musty and melodorous. Whew,
Speaker 2: Murray snorted, let's walk through and see if we can
Speaker 2: find ourselves a better atmosphere. The laborers occupied the two
Speaker 2: front coaches exclusively. Further back, we could get a glimpse
Speaker 2: of some empty seats and a better class of passenger.
Speaker 2: Sitting in the third seat of the third car was
Speaker 2: a tall, dark man dressed in correct afternoon clothes, black
Speaker 2: cutaway coat and a silk hat. Somebody going to a
Speaker 2: late afternoon wedding was the idea which flashed through my mind.
Speaker 2: But suddenly I sent something vaguely familiar about his face.
Speaker 2: Well what do you think of that, Murray said to
Speaker 2: me in an undertone, as we sank into one of
Speaker 2: the clammy plush seats. You see that guy in the
Speaker 2: top hat. That's the lunch room Romeo. As a matter
Speaker 2: of fact, the man from the diner had completely passed
Speaker 2: from my mind. I'd like to know where he's going,
Speaker 2: all dulled up in Fifth Avenue duds, I remarked to Murray.
Speaker 2: Uh huh, Murray grunted, seeking new fields to conquer. Maybe, well,
Speaker 2: let's see this description of what mister Daily calls the remains.
Speaker 2: Murray took the typewritten sheet from his inner breast pocket,
Speaker 2: and after glancing over it with concentrated swiftness, he gave
Speaker 2: it to me with a chuckle. For an amateur sleuth,
Speaker 2: Charles Daily is pretty good. I don't believe he's missed
Speaker 2: the dawn thing. But there is a lot here that
Speaker 2: he didn't mention. He startled a quiet little old lady
Speaker 2: across the the aisle from us as he gave a short,
Speaker 2: sharp laugh. The description was comprehensive. It read on subjecting
Speaker 2: the skull to a most careful scrutiny. I found the
Speaker 2: place where the bullet had entered to be on the
Speaker 2: right side, in front of the ear, and at the
Speaker 2: point where the jawbone hinges. The course of the bullet
Speaker 2: was not easy to follow. Another bullet had been fired
Speaker 2: into the rear of the skull. I made a careful
Speaker 2: examination of the clothing and teeth. There were twelve of
Speaker 2: the latter left bicuspid tooth on the upper left side
Speaker 2: of the jaw, crowned with gold. Three front teeth in
Speaker 2: upper jaw had been filled, one had been filled twice
Speaker 2: with amalgam, and the other two once Each malformed teeth
Speaker 2: and lower jaw setting in close behind one another clothes.
Speaker 2: Corset of black silk, made to order according to a
Speaker 2: local expert who was consulted. Shirtwaist of black taffeta with embroidery,
Speaker 2: autoscarf of tan shoes size four or five. Name of
Speaker 2: Macro obliterated by rain and snows. Coat of black broadcloth
Speaker 2: lined with gray satin. Jewelry chain with locket in which
Speaker 2: was diamond watch Swiss gold. Heavily chased, stopped at twelve thirty.
Speaker 2: Watch has various marks of jewelers who have repaired it.
Speaker 2: Small gold bocket with tassel of pearls. Gold bracelet with
Speaker 2: pearls and diamonds receded bill for goods printed in Kreble, Prussia,
Speaker 2: dated nineteen oh eight. Small guidebook issued by Hamburg American Line.
Speaker 2: I read over the list several times. Woman was probably
Speaker 2: slightly over thirty years of age, height five foot seven,
Speaker 2: weight one hundred and thirty pounds. Mister Daley had written
Speaker 2: his conclusions at the foot of the list. Well, that
Speaker 2: murderer wasn't afraid of leaving clues behind him, that's for sure,
Speaker 2: I remarked in a low tone to Murray, unless he
Speaker 2: suggested someone murdered the woman meeting the robber and was
Speaker 2: scared off in some way. When we first got this case,
Speaker 2: it looked like one of those impenetrable mysteries, Murray said
Speaker 2: to me. But we seem to be burdened now with
Speaker 2: a wealth accluse hard to know just which one to
Speaker 2: tackle first. Just then, the train stopped at Rockville Center
Speaker 2: and passengers filled the seats behind and ahead of us.
Speaker 2: It was impossible to talk over the case then any further. However,
Speaker 2: as the train hurled itself through the gloom of the
Speaker 2: rainy dusk, I pondered over our treasure trove. The abundance
Speaker 2: of clues was suspicious. Why should a murderer, after luring
Speaker 2: as victim to such a desolate spot, leave so many
Speaker 2: obvious clues behind him? If the object had been robbery,
Speaker 2: and he'd been scared off by hearing someone approach, would
Speaker 2: he not have returned for his ghoulish loot. It was
Speaker 2: not likely, on the other hand, that a woman would
Speaker 2: be wandering about the scrub oaklands unaccompanied. However, speculation at
Speaker 2: this stage of the case was useless. The various departments
Speaker 2: of police headquarters would receive their respective items to be
Speaker 2: worked over, and my chief would direct me as to
Speaker 2: which step I would take next. Koenigstrass Altona was the
Speaker 2: address on the label which I'd cut from the neck
Speaker 2: of the dead woman's coat. This was evidently some small
Speaker 2: place in Germany. Headquarters would get in touch with the
Speaker 2: German police, sending them a full description of the case
Speaker 2: and requesting information. The Missing Persons Bureau would trace their
Speaker 2: records for the reported disappearance of a woman within the
Speaker 2: past last year, which might correspond with the one given
Speaker 2: by the undertaker. The Identification Bureau would trace the watch
Speaker 2: repairers whose marks were on the little Swiss time piece,
Speaker 2: and circularize all dentists of the better class, giving a
Speaker 2: description of the dental work found in the skull. Another
Speaker 2: department would trace the owner of the new Jersey car,
Speaker 2: the silk hatted Romeo of the lunch counter I noted,
Speaker 2: changed cars at Jamaica and crossed over to the train
Speaker 2: on the other side of the platform, which carried passengers
Speaker 2: to a Brooklyn terminal. Murray and I followed suit, as
Speaker 2: it was the most direct way to get back to
Speaker 2: headquarters At Flatbush Avenue. We bumped into him as he
Speaker 2: started to cross over toward the subway, and when we
Speaker 2: entered the same train, he was obviously nervous. However, at
Speaker 2: brooklyn Bridge station, Murray and I changed to a local.
Speaker 2: The last I saw of him that night was his
Speaker 2: face peering anxiously through the window. We turned in our
Speaker 2: reports and I was just about to leave for home
Speaker 2: when I decided to clear up at least one item.
Speaker 2: It would not take long to find out for the
Speaker 2: Missing Persons Bureau if they had anyone on the list
Speaker 2: whose description fitted that with the blonde unknown. I found
Speaker 2: and Ayers, the chief of the Bureau, still at his desk. Briefly,
Speaker 2: I explained the Islip case to him. After consulting his files,
Speaker 2: he told me he had a record of no girl
Speaker 2: missing for a year that fit the description I gave him.
Speaker 2: I called it a day and left for home. When
Speaker 2: I reached headquarters the following morning, I was instructed to
Speaker 2: go over to Newark and interview Missus Henry Warehoff or
Speaker 2: her husband, who was registered as the owner of the
Speaker 2: car which had stopped in mister Daly's office. Tom Murray
Speaker 2: had been sent back to Islip on another angle of
Speaker 2: the case. On a mystery of this sort, not one,
Speaker 2: but dozens of men are set to work, and it
Speaker 2: is largely a matter of luck as to who's going
Speaker 2: to be the hero that solves the caper. Each man
Speaker 2: travels along the line mapped out by my chief, he
Speaker 2: may find that it leads off on a wild tangent,
Speaker 2: or that it steers him straight toward the goal. This
Speaker 2: particular morning, I found myself on good ground. The address
Speaker 2: in Newark proved to be a handsome home in one
Speaker 2: of the best residential sections of the city. A neatly
Speaker 2: clad mate answered my ring. When I asked whether mister
Speaker 2: or missus Warehoff were at home, and informed her that
Speaker 2: I came from police head quarters of New York. She
Speaker 2: shrank back an alarm. I took advantage of the open door, however,
Speaker 2: and brushed my way in. I think mister Warehoff is
Speaker 2: in himself, sir, she gasped, still regarding me with large
Speaker 2: frightened eyes. Will you please be seated in our library,
Speaker 2: indicating a large, luxuriously furnished room on the right side
Speaker 2: of the hall, and then I'll see if he's really in.
Speaker 2: I heard her footsteps patter off into the distance. I
Speaker 2: didn't have to wait long before a minute had passed.
Speaker 2: A tall well groomed man of fifty entered the room.
Speaker 2: You've come about, Anna Luta, he said, without unnecessary preamble.
Speaker 2: I mean you are on zat Islip murder mystery case,
Speaker 2: are you not? I nodded. While I was just writing
Speaker 2: a letter to New York Police headquarters when you arrived.
Speaker 2: Then he recognized the clothing and the trinkets, I remarked,
Speaker 2: rather unnecessarily. The man had stopped speaking, as if waiting
Speaker 2: for a lead of some sort. He nodded. My wife
Speaker 2: and I believe they belonged to a maid we employed
Speaker 2: here a little over a year ago. She was a
Speaker 2: very superior sort of person, quite above her position. Although
Speaker 2: she never said very much about her family, we understood
Speaker 2: that they were well to do people who lived in Altona,
Speaker 2: a suburb of Hamburg, Germany. Mister Wearehof moved restlessly about
Speaker 2: the room as he talked. After lighting a cigarette, he continued,
Speaker 2: you can understand, half shrugging his shoulders and tensing his
Speaker 2: lips in a perplexed sort of way, our reluctance to
Speaker 2: become mixed up in a murder case of this sort.
Speaker 2: And I hope that you will do everything possible to
Speaker 2: protect us from the publicity. After I'd reassured him on
Speaker 2: this point, he went on. When missus werehof and myself
Speaker 2: saw the description of the clothing and the jewelry found
Speaker 2: by the police in Islip, we recognized it. The initials
Speaker 2: A l sort of clinched the matter. To make it sure,
Speaker 2: we at once went over to the Long Island and
Speaker 2: visited the undertaker's establishment. You say this, Anna Luther worked
Speaker 2: for you as a servant until a little over a
Speaker 2: year ago, I asked, Not exactly, as an ordinary servant.
Speaker 2: She was more of a useful companion to my wife.
Speaker 2: She led us to get married, and at the time
Speaker 2: she promised to come and see us on her return
Speaker 2: from honeymoon, which she was to suspend in Germany. He explained,
Speaker 2: did you ever see the man she married? Yes, he
Speaker 2: readily replied, a tall, dark, rather fopishly dressed person who
Speaker 2: was addicted to a tall silk hat, striped trousers in
Speaker 2: a cutaway coat. Subconsciously, I thought of the lunch room Romeo.
Speaker 2: This man he claimed to be an architect, but he
Speaker 2: was rather vague about his connections. Besides, I noticed he
Speaker 2: had hands of a working man. I'm rather interested in hands.
Speaker 2: I always noticed them. Particularly this man's hand had a
Speaker 2: peculiar fingertips, rubbed smooth sort of if you know what
Speaker 2: I mean. What name did this man go by? Mueller
Speaker 2: and Miller? Used both? He said his right name was Mueller,
Speaker 2: but then he used Miller because Americans found that the
Speaker 2: German form was rather difficult to pronounce. I thought this
Speaker 2: was rather odd. I tried to convey my misgivings about
Speaker 2: the fellow to miss Luther now, but she was infatuated
Speaker 2: with him, and she wasn't the sort of young woman
Speaker 2: who you could just easily influence. I described the man
Speaker 2: in the lunch room and asked mister Warehurf if he
Speaker 2: thought he might be the unfortunate girl's fiance. That is possible,
Speaker 2: he admitted, if you like, I'll have another run over
Speaker 2: there and have a look at him. Although we don't
Speaker 2: want to necessarily get to mixed up in this, we
Speaker 2: still very fond of miss Lutha On If DEKs anything
Speaker 2: we can do to help, we shall be very glad
Speaker 2: to do it. We have a photograph of the girl.
Speaker 2: If that will help you any I assured him that
Speaker 2: it would very much. He went to a desk which
Speaker 2: stood by the window and opening a small drawer, took
Speaker 2: out an ordinary cabinet sized picture. Ah, yeah it is,
Speaker 2: and that he is fairly like her, though it makes
Speaker 2: her look more booksomed than she was, and really does
Speaker 2: not do a justice. She had very beautiful hair, which
Speaker 2: was the color of corn silk and waved naturally. Her
Speaker 2: eyes were a deep sapphire blue, and her complexion was
Speaker 2: naturally pink and white. Putting the picture in my pocket,
Speaker 2: I thanked Anna Luther's former employer, and reminding him of
Speaker 2: his promise to give the lunch room man the once over,
Speaker 2: I departed. I went back to the police headquarters and
Speaker 2: wrote out my report. Visiting the rogues gallery, I looked
Speaker 2: over the collection which represented professional he vamps who specialized
Speaker 2: in duping servant girls an extraordinary assortment. There, all types
Speaker 2: were represented, one under the name of Fritz Scherfer line
Speaker 2: occupation cabinet maker usually employed in piano factories, bore a
Speaker 2: striking resemblance to the description given by mister Warehuff of
Speaker 2: that of the lunch room cashier. This man had been
Speaker 2: sentenced to sing Sing twelve years before for bigamy and larceny.
Speaker 2: Although the sentence called for seventeen years. It had been
Speaker 2: later reduced to five. As Sharferline's case had been a
Speaker 2: very ordinary one, few details were given. A complete history
Speaker 2: could be found in the District Attorney's office, however, and
Speaker 2: making a note of this man's name and number, I
Speaker 2: filed it away for future use on the chance that
Speaker 2: collaborating data might come in linking this man with the
Speaker 2: murder of Anna Luther. At the time I was engaged
Speaker 2: principally in the fingerprint department, and during the next few
Speaker 2: days I was kept busy on other cases. Two weeks later,
Speaker 2: Captain Coughlin again called me in on the Luther case.
Speaker 2: We've received full information from Nyamburg police on the Islip murder,
Speaker 2: the Captain said, tapping a sheaf of papers on his desk.
Speaker 2: It seems that this man Mula represented himself as a
Speaker 2: piano manufacturer to the woman's parents. Said he'd bought a
Speaker 2: sight on Long Island and intended on building a factory there.
Speaker 2: They gave him most of their savings, which were considerable,
Speaker 2: and also several presents. Among these were two valuable police dogs.
Speaker 2: I'll bet the man is Fritz sharfer Line, who was
Speaker 2: sentenced for bigamy twelve years ago. I exclaimed, my hunt
Speaker 2: had come through. The captain looked up sharply, what do
Speaker 2: you mean? I explained briefly, my hunt through the rogues gallery.
Speaker 2: We'll all put men on the trail through the piano
Speaker 2: factories in Long Island and New Jersey. I have the
Speaker 2: photographer run several copies of Shafe Lion's picture. The next
Speaker 2: few days developed nothing of importance. They were filled with
Speaker 2: ordinary routine work. Men, provided with a complete description of
Speaker 2: Mueller is furnished by the Warehuffs, scrutinized the employees of
Speaker 2: every piano factory on Long Island and New Jersey. Others
Speaker 2: visited the immigration officials and interviewed the cab drivers of Hoboken,
Speaker 2: where the ocean liner on which the honeymooners were supposed
Speaker 2: to have returned had docked. There were naturally scores of
Speaker 2: men who resembled the general description of Mueller, and each
Speaker 2: of these was thoroughly investigated, tediously, tirelessly. The manhunt proceeded.
Speaker 2: German police dogs were not so common in those days
Speaker 2: as they are now, and I had an idea that
Speaker 2: we might be able to trace Mueller through the two
Speaker 2: which he'd brought over. The chief gave me permission to
Speaker 2: take up their trail crossing to Hoboke, and I made
Speaker 2: a thorough canvas of the taxi drivers and old cabman,
Speaker 2: showing each a photograph of sharfur Line and the unfortunate
Speaker 2: Anna Luther. For the late afternoon of the second day,
Speaker 2: ten days after the discovery of the skeleton in Islip,
Speaker 2: I was just about to return to New York when
Speaker 2: a dilapidated closed cab rattled over the cobblestones and stopped
Speaker 2: in front of a German beer garden on the waterfront.
Speaker 2: Two men got out, paid the fare and entered the place.
Speaker 2: In hunting criminals, you never know in what guys luck
Speaker 2: may come along, So before the cab he had a
Speaker 2: chance to whip up his horses and depart, I stopped him.
Speaker 2: You remember picking up this man and this woman about
Speaker 2: a year ago, I asked him. He stared at me blankly.
Speaker 2: Then his weather beaten face wrinkled itself into a mass
Speaker 2: of crisscross furrows. His little bleary eyes buried themselves in
Speaker 2: folds of flesh. He guffawed loudly, say what do you
Speaker 2: think I am? A camera? I get off there, young fella,
Speaker 2: I flashed my shield. Say listen, I'm from New York
Speaker 2: Police headquarters, and before you go any farther into convulsions,
Speaker 2: you might want to pay a little better attention, I
Speaker 2: grounded him. He straightened up. In a second. This couple
Speaker 2: I'm looking for had two German police dogs with them. Well,
Speaker 2: now you're saying something, he added a few picturesque square words.
Speaker 2: Let's have another look. Ah, I remember the brutes, all right,
Speaker 2: he squided at his eyes as he looked at the
Speaker 2: two pictures. I couldn't tell you for truth if them
Speaker 2: were the couple. I didn't pay much attention to the lady,
Speaker 2: but as I remember, she was pretty and blonde. The man,
Speaker 2: he looked older than that. Where did you take them?
Speaker 2: I asked, sharply, cutting into his garrulity. I was driving
Speaker 2: to Long Island City that day. I used to live there,
Speaker 2: in fact, and a man and a woman that came along,
Speaker 2: and a man of the dog's got me cab. The
Speaker 2: woman she took a street car. I was told to
Speaker 2: drive to an address in Astoria, and there was quite
Speaker 2: a ways, and the man kicked about the bill and
Speaker 2: threatened to set the dogs on me. That's how I
Speaker 2: remember this one looks like that man, but I wouldn't
Speaker 2: take my on it. Do you remember the address in Astoria,
Speaker 2: I asked him. No, he didn't remember that, he said,
Speaker 2: but he gave me some general directions that would lead
Speaker 2: me toward the poorer section. Taking down his name an address,
Speaker 2: and handing him a tip, I left him and got
Speaker 2: back to headquarters as speedily as possible. There I laid
Speaker 2: the information before the chief, and he directed me to
Speaker 2: visit Astoria the next day and make a personal hunt
Speaker 2: for the dogs. At the same time, you might want
Speaker 2: to look up this man, Paul Gibbert, who lives in Astoria,
Speaker 2: he said, selecting one of the detective's reports which were
Speaker 2: lying on the desk in front of him. He works
Speaker 2: in the smith piano factor, and he went to Europe
Speaker 2: about a year and a half ago, according to the gossip.
Speaker 2: The next morning I called at the address on the
Speaker 2: Gebhard report, a small workingman's cottage. It was with a
Speaker 2: handkerchief sized plot of ground in front and a small
Speaker 2: backyard behind. A little boy in blue rompers was sitting
Speaker 2: on the stoop playing with a hungry looking kitten. Mother home,
Speaker 2: I asked, him. He looked at me solemnly, without answering.
Speaker 2: I started to go up the steps with a bound.
Speaker 2: He sprang to his feet and darted toward the rear
Speaker 2: of the place. I followed. Ma, Ma, he screamed, there's
Speaker 2: there's a man here. A neatly dressed woman of about
Speaker 2: twenty five years of age opened the door and looked
Speaker 2: at me with a hostile eye. Nah, he's at work,
Speaker 2: she answered sullenly. Then she quickly corrected herself. I mean
Speaker 2: he's gone away where I asked. I want to see
Speaker 2: him about his police dogs. I heard he had two
Speaker 2: fine specimens, and I'm looking to buy one of them.
Speaker 2: This was a long chance, but I wanted to see
Speaker 2: what the woman would do. She shrank back. He ain't
Speaker 2: got no police dogs, and I don't know where he's gone.
Speaker 2: He's left me paint the first time, but it's the last.
Speaker 2: In the small yard, I saw two large kennels. What
Speaker 2: are these four? Then, I asked, But don't know was
Speaker 2: the only answer I got. I wanted to see the
Speaker 2: inside of that cottage. I had a feeling that Gebbert
Speaker 2: was there, so I used the old dodge and asked
Speaker 2: for a drink. Of water. Reluctantly, the woman entered the house.
Speaker 2: As she was about to close the door, I put
Speaker 2: my foot in the opening and followed her, glancing swiftly
Speaker 2: about the spotlessly clean kitchen. My eyelighted on a dish towel.
Speaker 2: Momentarily I lost my breath, for on the corner was
Speaker 2: embroidered the initials A L. There was no longer any
Speaker 2: doubt that Gebert Mueller were one and the same man.
Speaker 2: I accepted the glass of water and returned it to
Speaker 2: her empty. However, I put no more inquiries to the woman.
Speaker 2: I left her standing with the tumbler in her hands.
Speaker 2: From some children who were playing in a vacant lot,
Speaker 2: I learned that Gebert had taken his two dogs away
Speaker 2: a few days before, and spent the rest of the
Speaker 2: day locating them in a private kennel some miles distant.
Speaker 2: They were ferocious looking beasts, but they'd become somewhat tamed
Speaker 2: during their sojourn in America. And when I explained my
Speaker 2: mission to the keeper of the kennels and my intention
Speaker 2: to hunt their owner by means of his dogs, he
Speaker 2: was obliged to give them into my custody. The newspapers
Speaker 2: had heard of the missing dogs, and they also had
Speaker 2: been searching the Long Island kennels for them. When we
Speaker 2: arrived in Astoria, a photographer caught sight of us and
Speaker 2: stopped the cab. Hey there, Roddy, are those the missing dogs?
Speaker 2: He shouted, Yes, I admitted, you can snap them if
Speaker 2: you want to. I'd rather snap them where you've taken them.
Speaker 2: He grinned and accepted my silent invitation to jump into
Speaker 2: the taxi. By George, they're the home kennels, he exclaimed.
Speaker 2: Let's take a flash of them there. It was by
Speaker 2: then too dark to take a picture without a flashlight.
Speaker 2: We posed the dogs each near its kennel. Just before
Speaker 2: the flash exploded, I peered into the gloom. It seemed
Speaker 2: to me that I saw something lurking in the shadows.
Speaker 2: Then there in the brilliant splash of light which followed,
Speaker 2: I saw sharfer Line alias Bueller alias Gebhart. Before he
Speaker 2: had a chance to move, I was upon him. We
Speaker 2: had a pretty little tussle there in the yard, for
Speaker 2: he put up a stiff battle. Momentarily I expected the
Speaker 2: dogs to join in and tear me to pieces, but
Speaker 2: the photographer, who was a pretty hefty Chap got a
Speaker 2: hold of them and I managed to get my prisoner
Speaker 2: into the house safely within an hour. He was lodged
Speaker 2: in the Suffolk County jail for two days. He obstinately
Speaker 2: refused to talk. I was sure that he and sharfer
Speaker 2: Line were one and the same, but when we took
Speaker 2: his fingerprints it was impossible to identify him. His work
Speaker 2: as a cabinet polisher had rubbed the papillary ridges almost smooth.
Speaker 2: This caused a smudged print which was useless for identification.
Speaker 2: The Warehoffs, however, identified him positively as the man who
Speaker 2: had married Anna Luther, and we could, of course hold
Speaker 2: him on a bigamy charge. When we proved that he
Speaker 2: was a second offender, a mighty stiff sentence would be
Speaker 2: dealt to him. However, we weren't at all keen on
Speaker 2: complicating the murder charge with the lesser one of bigamy.
Speaker 2: That man was one of the hardest I ever met.
Speaker 2: We gave him a third degree that would have frozen
Speaker 2: the blood of any ordinary mortal. Now I don't mean
Speaker 2: that we beat him up. That would have meant nothing
Speaker 2: to a jackal of Gebert's type. But night after night
Speaker 2: and day after day, we took turns in questioning him.
Speaker 2: Coroner Savage dangled the gruesome skull of Anna Luther, with
Speaker 2: its pitiful crop of flaxen hair before his eyes. Our
Speaker 2: evidence of his guilt was gone over and over again.
Speaker 2: The skeleton was finally lodged in the cell next to
Speaker 2: his Around midnight of the fourth day, when I was
Speaker 2: questioning him, he asked to see Coroner Savage. The coroner
Speaker 2: came over immediately, say Gabhart demanded. As soon as doctor
Speaker 2: Savage appeared, can you get me a sentence for manslaughter
Speaker 2: instead of electrocution? If I make a statement of facts?
Speaker 2: Not the slightest trace of emotion sounded in his voice.
Speaker 2: He made the inquiry as casually as if he were
Speaker 2: discussing the sale of one of his dogs. Well, you
Speaker 2: stand a much better chance, the coroner replied, after a
Speaker 2: moment's astonished hesitation. I can't promise you anything definite, but
Speaker 2: I'll do my best to mitigate the sentence. Besides, you
Speaker 2: owe it to your wife and children to take advantage
Speaker 2: of every opportunity for a lighter sentence than the chair.
Speaker 2: All right, the prisoner replied, carelessly, I'm getting sick of this.
Speaker 2: I'll come through. The coroner called up Captain Coughlin, who
Speaker 2: arrived with Thomas Murray within a couple hours, and around
Speaker 2: three o'clock in the morning, Gebert made his ghastly statement.
Speaker 2: Here are his exact words, as taken from the stenographic
Speaker 2: record about December nineteen oh seven. I first met Anna Luther.
Speaker 2: We were married in February nineteen oh eight. She went
Speaker 2: to Henry Warehoff's in Newark, New Jersey, to spend a
Speaker 2: day or two on the pretense that I was going
Speaker 2: to rent an apartment for us to live in. I
Speaker 2: returned to my home and wife in Astoria. I met
Speaker 2: Anna Luther again on April eighth, and we went to
Speaker 2: an address on thirty fourth Street, New York City, and
Speaker 2: from there we went to Jamaica. We stayed in Jamaica
Speaker 2: until the next day, April ninth. We went to Bay
Speaker 2: Shore and walked about, and I showed her some property
Speaker 2: I said I owned. I got into an argument with
Speaker 2: her about some money matters, and I turned and wanted
Speaker 2: to go back. She followed me up, screaming, and I
Speaker 2: shot her in the head. I didn't look at her,
Speaker 2: and I do not remember whether I shot her more
Speaker 2: than once. I remember after I went to the Islip
Speaker 2: depot and took a train for home, it was nearly dark.
Speaker 2: On my way home, I threw the revolver out the
Speaker 2: car window. I want to state that I did not
Speaker 2: kill Anna Luther for her money, as the newspapers have stated.
Speaker 2: My original reason for marrying Anna was that I didn't
Speaker 2: care to be with my first wife any longer. But
Speaker 2: as she my first wife, had given me a child,
Speaker 2: my desire to again see my child caused me to
Speaker 2: want to get rid of Anna and then return to
Speaker 2: my first wife and child. This is the reason that
Speaker 2: I shot Anna Luther, and I told her in Bay
Speaker 2: Shore that I was married and had a wife and
Speaker 2: must leave her. She screamed and ran after me and
Speaker 2: kissed me and wanted me back, and I shot her.
Speaker 2: This statement is made of my own free will, without
Speaker 2: any hope of recompense being offered me. Signed Frederick Gerhardt,
Speaker 2: Witnessed by John P. Coughlin, Acting Captain Thomas Murray, William D. Roddy,
Speaker 2: Detective sworn before me the twenty fifth day of October
Speaker 2: nineteen oh nine Edward W. Bull Notary public and you
Speaker 2: shot her when she came up to you and kissed you,
Speaker 2: someone asked in a horrified voice. Yes, he answered impatiently.
Speaker 2: She told me she loved me, and she kissed me.
Speaker 2: As she put her face up to kiss me again,
Speaker 2: I shot her in the head. A horror stricken silence followed,
Speaker 2: Tell me something, I asked at last. Why did you
Speaker 2: leave the body with so many marks of identification upon it?
Speaker 2: Didn't you know that you would be traced through those?
Speaker 2: He considered the matter for a moment. Well, I did
Speaker 2: go back once or twice, he admitted. I went to
Speaker 2: the place where I shot her, but the body wasn't there.
Speaker 2: She must have managed to crawl along quite a bit
Speaker 2: before she died. The quite a bit proved to be
Speaker 2: a half a mile when later we measured the distance
Speaker 2: between the point where she was shot and the place
Speaker 2: where the little Schmid boy found the body. Although Gibhart
Speaker 2: appeared to be brutally frank in his statement, he wasn't
Speaker 2: exactly accurate. Anna Luther had possessed a large sum of
Speaker 2: money which had disappeared. Her fine embroidered linens and much
Speaker 2: of her clothing were found in the Gibhart cottage, where
Speaker 2: we also found the gun which the murderer had stated
Speaker 2: that he had thrown out the window. The jury who
Speaker 2: heard the case decided that there was no question of
Speaker 2: the cold blooded monster's guilt, and two months later he
Speaker 2: paid for his crime in the Electric Chair. I'm Zevan
Speaker 2: Odelberg and miss has been kind of Murdery.
Speaker 1: If you like the show, he subscribed on view and
Speaker 1: tell your friends. You can find us on social media
Speaker 1: at Kinomurdery or email at Kindomurdery at gmail dot com
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