The Parrot Wants to Know What Happened to Gus - PART TWO

0:00 Warning. Kind of Murdery contains adult themes, explicit language, and descriptions of violence. It is not suitable for anyone, and we recommend you stop listening now. Hello everyone, and welcome to Kind of Murdery, a true crime podcast that's mostly about murder and always about the strange and compelling stories that arise when the path less traveled twists to darkness and those who walk its shadows surrender to violence and moral corruption. We have a perilous journey ahead, so thank you for lending me your courage and good company.

0:42 I'm Zevan Odelberg, and this is kind of Murdery. Welcome everybody, Thank you for being here. We're in the midst of a story about a John Doe. But this isn't just any John Doe, not a typical John Doe, because there are already multiple clues to his identity. I'll be a conflicting lose. Is he a philandering Dutchman making time with housewives in Long Island? Or is he an Irish revolutionary railroad worker killed by his own secret society for spilling tea with the hated English. It's an open question.

1:13 He is a John Doe, after all, His identity is still unknown. What we do know is that he was decapitated and then his professionally butchered body. And by professionally butchered, I mean his body was cut up like it might be by a master craftsman at a meat counter. Butcherd is no metaphor here, But once butcher the unknown man's decapitated body was shoved in a trunk and then shipped from New York to Baltimore, or possibly from Chicago to New York to Baltimore. Of course, the New York Metropolitan Police Department and especially Inspector Burns, want to know who he is.

1:48 And then there's a noisy parrot in an upstairs apartment who wants to know where he is. You're here with me. This is kind of murdery, and you've found your way too. Part two of the parrot wants to know what happened to Gus. That's right, I said part two. So if you haven't heard part one yet, go back and listen to it, then rejoin us. We'll save you a seat. All right, let's get to it. I'm going to rewind the story just a bit to allow you to settle into the narrative. So if you're ready, please join me as we uncover what truths we can and solve what mysteries we may, kind of murderies.

2:28 The parrot wants to know what happened to Gus? Part two starts now another new development, the strangest in the case, now engrossed the attention of Inspector Burns. One of his detectives made a report which filled him with radiant energy. Wow, that's really excited. If you've got radiant energy, you are excited. This new development that had Inspector Burns positively radiating was a report that quote something unusual unquote was taking place in the apartment of Edward Unger on the fifth floor of a tenement to twenty two Ridge Street, Manhattan.

3:15 An elderly woman who lived in the tenement was complaining that the rooms were the scene of misconduct of some kind the parrot. She remarked to the grocer, it's raising the dickens. Nobody ever heard that birds screaming so loudly or so frequently. All I could understand of his gab wasn't where's Gus? Where's Guss? Inspector Burns was just about to send a detective post haste to the house of the Parrot, when another sleuth reported that a trunk like the murder container had been delivered by Don's Express Company from five four six West fortieth Street a few months back to the rooms of Edward Unger of twenty two Ridge Street.

3:55 Unger had signed a receipt for the trunk. Now Burns had good reason to know that five four six West Fortieth Street is in the heart of a district in New York City known as Hell's Kitchen, famous in police annals for crimes of the most bizarre and startling character. To venture there alone at night was equivalent to making a rendezvous with death. Could it be possible that the murder had been committed in Hell's Kitchen? This was a question that now loomed large in the mind of Burns. The character of the district made the conclusion extremely plausible, but there were other possibilities that might dim the new hypothesis.

4:30 Ridge Street was seldom on its good behavior. It was the heart of New York's ghetto, a district full of puddles and mud holes, and obstructed with all kinds of peddlers, pushcarts, and every conceivable kind of rubbish. After nightfall, its narrow, gloomy streets became the haunt of a flock of dangerous malefactors, panhandlers and tramps who hid in the doorways of deserted houses and varied the monotony by robbing passers bys and throwing bricks at policemen. Nevertheless, less and notwithstanding respectable people lived on Ridge Street and resented any slurs cast upon it.

5:05 When a detective called at the unger apartment, he found the door locked. Climbing up by the fire escape to the windows, he peered through. At sight of him, the parrot began vociferating loudly, screaming at the top of his voice, Where's Gus? What Gus Bowles? Where's Gus? The tenement was inhabited by about fifty people. All of those at home were questioned by the authorities and asked if they knew anybody who answered to the name of Gus or Gus Bowles. A shrug of the shoulders accompanied by no speak English was the stereotypical reply.

5:39 The grocer next door, however, was more communicative. He told the detective something that fired their imagination and filled them with renewed hope of solving the mystery. A close watch was kept on the house by detectives until Unger's son, a weak minded boy of seventeen years, came home in the evening. He had scarcely shut the door behind him. When the two detectives rushed into the apartment. The rooms presented such a spectacle that the men remained for a moment, rooted in their places with unspeakable horror.

6:09 Everything about the three squalid little rooms denoted that they had been the scene of a terrible crime not many days back. The front room and the sofa upon which somebody had been sleeping were splashed with blood. There was blood in the sink in the kitchen. There was blood on a big carving knife, on a saw, on a sledge hammer, on almost everything. The walls in the sitting room were covered with pictures, photographs, lithographs, and reproductions of engravings. Nearly all of them were of women clad only in their loveliness, which I believe was a polite way of saying nearly all of them were of naked women.

6:46 Several books were scattered about. Among these were a paper covered copy of Emel Gabbereaus Monsieur Lecoque, with the book opened at the description of the murder with which the story begins. Attempts had been made to wash the bloodstains from the floor, The results were fruitless. Young Unger was surly and uncommunicative. Threatened with arrest and jail if he did not answer questions, The boy finally stated that he was employed in a printing office in Cedar Street. He had not seen his father for several days, he said, and gave evasive answers to all questions relative to the bloodstains.

7:20 Where's Gus? Where is Gus? Screamed the parrot suddenly, Well, that bird must love Gus, remarked the detective. Gus used to bring things it liked to eat, answered the boy. The detectives glanced at each other, swiftly to their questions concerning Gus's identity and present whereabouts, Young Unger replied gruffly, Gus was my father's partner in a saloon around the corner. He went to Chicago a couple of weeks ago. Oh, he must have some money to be able to take such a trip, suggested a detective, who by this time had established pleasant relations with the boy.

7:51 Oh he had money to burn, replied the boy, adding he had a big wad in the Franklin Savings Bank on forty second Street in Eighth Avenue, and in Chicago and English banks. Is that so, remarked the detective. Well I ought to know, answered the boy, with some irritation. I saw his bank books, and I heard my father ask him to start me in the printing business. Dad said I'd make good and pay him every cent he lent me. When what did he say to that, asked the detective. He said he could not spare the money, replied the boy.

8:20 I suppose your father didn't like that. The boy smiled grimly and said he didn't like it a small bit. He told Gus that if he didn't come across, he'd feel sorry for it. And did Gus have a trunk, young Unger gaffad? Yes, and a big one, he replied. The detective asked another leading question regarding the shirt with the polka dots, but the lad ignored it and changed the subject. And that was all of that, which brings us back once more to the elder Unger and to Brooklyn. Quick action by the detectives was now necessary in several quarters at once.

8:52 Another watch was placed on the Unger home by detective stationed in a room at forty four Grand Street, which commanded a view of Unger's apartment. Detectives rushed over to Seagull's butcher shop in Brooklyn. Do you know a man named ed Unger, asked the detective. I do, responded the German Seagull, who by this time had become quite used to detectives. In November last he and a good looking gentleman about thirty five years of age, with blonde hair and mustache, about five foot nine inches tall, called on me.

9:19 Unga said his companion had just come from England, where he manufactured sheep casings used to pack sausage meat in They asked permission to leave six kegs of the casings in my shop until they could sell them. I granted their request. Upon leaving, they took a bunch of my business cards with them, and if any of these have been used in a crooked way, Unga and his friend will be able to tell you. They sold the last keg of casings a month ago, and that was the last time I saw them. Did you notice the kind of shirt that Unger's companion more on that occasion, asked the detectives.

9:52 Seagull became very thoughtful. After some introspection, he replied, a white one with little blue spots. Polka dots, you mean, suggested the detective. Siegel nodded, that is the right name for them. I believe. After this it was a small wonder that the detectives could think of little else except locating Unger. This does not mean that they ceased running down other clues, or that they felt certain that Unger was the real murderer. They felt, however, that he was the most substantial clue, and that they had no evidence against anybody else that would justify a magistrate in holding him overnight.

10:28 But talking about Unger and catching him were two different things, as far apart from each other as the North and South Poles. Nobody in the house could throw any light upon his whereabouts. The janitor recalled that Unger and a handsome young German had quarreled one night, and that the German was seen no more. The grocer from whom they purchased provisions, said that Unger and the German lodger Gus, always left the key of their rooms in his store until they or young Unger. The sun that had been interviewed earlier by the detectives returned from work in the evening.

11:01 The lodger's first name, he said, was August. The neighbors called Unger Captain because he had served in the Navy. Acting on the belief that the Navy Department might furnish some tangible clue to Ungar's hiding place, Inspector Burns sent the detective to Washington. The detective returned with the information that Unger was dismissed from the United States Navy for stealing a bale of sheeting from the gunboat South Carolina, and that he had admitted his guilt to Secretary Wells. From some mysterious source, Burns learned that Gus Bulls had lived for some time in Chicago, where he dealt in sheep casings.

11:36 Thinking that New York was a better field of business, Bulls came to New York and rented a furnished room at five four to six West fortieth Street. Immediately after settling there, Gus Bulls had answered an advertisement in the German language newspaper stots Zeitungue. Excuse me if I completely butchered that pronunciation for a partner in a saloon owned by Edward Unger on Ridge Street. The men became partners, but the business had soon gone on the rocks. Inspector Burns now had a light heart.

12:06 He had connected the rumor of five four six West fortieth Street with Ungar, and had proof that the former had lived in Ungar's rooms and disappeared after a quarrel with the latter over money matters. The inspector, however, was far from certain that he had evidence enough to convict Ungar of having killed his lodger. He had a hunch that Ungar was the murderer and Bowls the victim. But hunches don't stand in a court of law. If Ungar committed murder, reason Burns, he must have had assistance or accomplices.

12:36 Alone and unaided, he could not carry the trunk containing the mutilated body downstairs to the sidewalk. He could not have carried it over to Brooklyn. Moreover, saloon keeper Bents had recalled that an Italian had helped to carry the trunk from the sidewalk to his saloon. These reflections worried Burns. He had no doubt that Ungar was the key to the mystery, and that his arrest would dissipate all other theories. Had anybody else any possible motive to do away with Bulls, assuming that Bulls was the victim, the inspector could learn of none.

13:07 A man plannedful enough to have plotted such an awful butchery must have weighed his chance of covering up his tracks and of snapping his fingers at the police and the law. No warrant had he yet been asked for for Unger's arrest, because, as Burns frankly admitted in confidence, the police had no evidence against Unger that would warrant the grand juries indbting of him. Detectives were given another big eye opener when Peers and Brothers, printers of fifteen Cedar Street, by whom Young Unger was employed, identified the card of the Manchester Plate Class Company found in the murder coffin in Baltimore, as one of those that they printed for the company.

13:42 Strangely enough, Young Unger admitted that he'd brought a few of those cards to his father's home one night, and that Bulls had praised the workmanship. Young Unger's admission caused the detectives to redouble their efforts to apprehend the boy's father, as mentioned before, his home was under the espionage by the police. This espionage, at last had results. One day, a man came walking down Ridge Street answering the description of Unger. He looked cautiously about the street and up at the windows in the tenement where the Ungers lived, and then furtively ambled away.

14:17 The detectives followed the suspect. A half grin creased the detective's face as he approached the suspect and asked apologetically, you are Captain Unger or are you not? Yes, said the much wanted man, coldly and disdainfully, I am Captain Unger. Who are you? We are police officers and you had better come with us. What for? Demanded Unger in a scornful tone. He was frightened, but he tried to conceal his real feelings. Inspector Burns wants to see you at police headquarters, was the reply me, grunted Ungar, stalling for time.

14:49 Yes, you and nobody else. A mad fury blazed in Ungar's eyes. A convulsive sneer distorted his features. Let me see your badges if you are policeman, demanded the batches shown to him. Unger's expression underwent a complete change. His face showed the perfect indifference of a man accustomed to such ordeals. Without further ado, he accompanied the detectives to headquarters. In the meantime, Inspector Burns had already set up the interrogation room for the moment when Unger was caught, in the hopes that he might draw forth the awful secret which he thought that Unger was hiding.

15:27 Burns felt certain that the suspect could not dissemble when actually confronted with the murder trunk, the polka dot shirt, and the implements with which the police believed the murder was committed. He felt sure that the gruesome sight would force the most hardened criminal, if guilty, to lose self control and to make some incriminating admission. Upon arrival at headquarters, Unger was confronted immediately with the trunk and other paraphernalia of the crime. Where did you see this trunk before?

15:54 Asked Burns to the prisoner. I never saw it before, answered Unger with blood and directness. What about this, asked Burns, holding up the white shirt with the polka dots. Never saw it till now? Was the reply? Ever see this before? Queried the inspector, pointing to the hammer, the saw, and the razor never before. The prisoner's denials continued as the bloody sofa and other telltale exhibits found in his home were shown to him. He sat there, facing his questioner with a scowl on his brow, his eyes dilating a little as they met the inspector's glance.

16:26 Then, when the questioning ceased, he volunteered one piece of information which nobody asked for, and which nobody particularly wished to hear. If I'd done anything wrong, you've got to prove it, he growled. Cumulative evidence of the participation at least of Unger in the horrible butchery had now reached a point where its weight was simply irresistible. He was locked up in a cell at police headquarters and told to send for burns whenever he wished to talk. This man, Unger is clever, said the inspector, and it will not be easy to get him to talk.

17:00 But I am satisfied that the murder is no longer a mystery. Unger was placed in a cell between two thieves who hated a murderer just as much as any law a biting citizen does. The murder trunk and the bloody sofa were placed in front of the cell. You're trying to hang me, ain't you, unger sneered to Inspector Burns in caustic irritation as he saw the trunk and the sofa piled before his temporary prison. You know better than I whether or not you killed Gus Bulls, said Burns with a beautiful assumption of indifference.

17:30 Inquiries at the Franklin Savings Bank had shown that in October eighteen eighty six. Remember, the body was found in the trunk in January eighteen eighty seven, so eighteen eighty six was the year preceding the murder. Gus Bulls had one thousand dollars on deposit there, and that sometime later he had over three thousand, five hundred dollars. He was well and favorably known at the bank, where none believed that he had any enemies. It may be worth noting that three thousand, five hundred dollars in eighteen eighty six is equivalent to about one hundred thirteen thousand dollars today.

18:02 So yeah, I would imagine that Gus Bulls was pretty popular at the bank. A huge crowd of curiosity seekers edged their way into the Tombs Police Court on January twenty eighth, when Unger was arraigned before Magistrate Duffy on a short affidavit from a detective charging him with having murdered August Bulls. The prisoner was represented by Abe Hummel of the law firm of Howe and Hummel. When asked if he wished to say anything, Unger replied with a slight sneer. I'm not guilty, that's all. In the courtroom, saloon keeper Benz identified Unger as the man who had brought the trunk to his saloon on Kent Avenue, Brooklyn, on the morning of the day that it was taken from there by the Westcott Transfer Company's wagon.

18:44 That man bench is a liar, roared Unger. I never saw that fellow before, and I never stood in his grog shop. Unger was held without bail and returned to police headquarters. About this time, August Belcher, a butcher from six ninety five Ninth Avenue, New York, told in Spector Burns that Bulls, the murdered man. Gus Bulls, had been born in East Prussia, that somewhere in Germany and became a partner of his in Glasgow. Later he became a partner of a man named Forrester in Bradford, England, their business being the cleansing and preparation of beef and sheep casings for sausages.

19:17 Bulls then came to the United States, and after a trip through Oregon and Washington, settled in Chicago. The preceding July, Bulls had come to New York and sold sheepcasings until he became a partner of Ungers in the saloon and afterwards in the sausage meat business. The partnership had continued up to the date of Bull's disappearance, with these and other facts in his possession. District Attorney to Lancy Nicholl asked the grand jury to indict Unger for murdering Bulls. William F. Howe of Howe and Hummel appeared for the prisoner when the latter was called to plead to the indictment.

19:50 Not guilty, your honor, said mister Howe, who expressed the strongest belief in his client's innocence. The whole thing is a pipe dream of the police, added the veteran criminal lawyer. Mystery is yet unsolved and unsolved it undoubtedly was as long as the following material questions remained unanswered. Number one? Has the dead man's head been found? Number two? If the head has not been discovered, how can the corpus delecte be established? Corpus delecte means concrete evidence of a crime. In this case, how do they concretely establish the identity of the murdered body without a head?

20:26 Question Number three? If the corpus delecte cannot be established, how can there be a conviction for murder? Number four? If Unger slew Bulls, how did he get the trunk over to Brooklyn? Who helped him carry it downstairs from twenty two Ridge Street to the sidewalk? Who assisted Unger in taking the trunk to Henry Bens's saloon in Brooklyn and then disappeared? Number five? Who witnessed the murder? Number six? Apart from Unger, were there not others who would benefit by Bull's disappearance? If these questions could not be answered, Unger's attorneys, the very able firm of how In Hummel would have a field day.

21:04 And then, to everyone's surprise, all of these questions were finally answered by the prisoner himself thanks to the genius of Inspector Burns and the power of silent passive interrogation. What do I mean by silent passive interrogation? Or perhaps we could even call it psychological torture. Well, as you'll recall, Inspector Burns left the murder trunk and other telltale evidence in front of Unger's cell, and for all those days and weeks, Unger sat there, constantly confronted by the grotesque reminders of his alleged crime.

21:39 The continued presence of the gory trunk and the other evidence in front of his cell finally weakened Unger and led him to seek an interview with Inspector Burns. I can't stand this any longer, he said, shakily, pointing to the bloody trunk. I defended myself. I killed Bulls, but I had a right to do it. He lived with me and my voice since December and paid half the rent of our rooms, that's seven dollars and fifty cents a month, and one third of other expenses. On the night of January twentieth, I went to poke the fire in the stove.

22:09 Bulls cursed me and put his hand to his hip pocket. I thought he was going to kill me. I struck him on the head with the poker, and the blow from the poker killed him. Then, fearing arrest in disgrace, I decided to hide the body. I put it under the sofa on which bulls used to sleep, and I left it there all night. Unger stared at the floor a while and brooding silence, but pretty soon he resumed his story. The following morning, I made up my mind to cut the body into pieces. I tried to get a bag to put it in, but I couldn't find one strong enough, so I bought a couple of yards of rubber cloth at eighty cents a yard to wrap it in.

22:46 I spread the rubber cloth on the floor of the sitting room, and then first I cut off the head. Next both legs and the arms close to the shoulders. But the legs were too long to put in the trunk, so I cut off both feet, and then I was able to get all the parts in the trunk except for the head. I packed the head in the newspaper, put a string around the package, placed it under my arm, and threw it into the East River from a grand street ferryboat. Here, Unger paused, as if remorse had overcome him.

23:12 He moistened his dry lips. When Unger had regained his composure, he was asked, well, what did you do next? When everything had been packed into the trunk and the lid was locked. I gave an Italian twenty five cents to help me take it downstairs and into the beer saloon on Grand Street. I left it there while I went hunting around for an express or a peddler's wagon to take it across the river to Williamsburg in Brooklyn. Finally, I hailed a passing driver and gave him fifty cents to take it to Henry Benz's saloon in Williamsburg, where I often spent evenings drinking beer and playing pinuckle.

23:45 Then I thought, of Baltimore is the best place to ship the trunk too. I'd often heard that the police there were a sleepy lot, and I thought they wouldn't bother themselves about something that was not done in their burg. Who helped you take the trunk to Ben's? His saloon queried Burns, the Italian that keeps a bootblack stand around the corner. I gave him a dime and a schooner a beer. When Ungar was brought to trial before Judge George C. Barrett in the court of Oyer and Terminer on February thirteenth, the feet of justice had made a record quick pace.

24:16 Crowd struggled for admission to the courtroom to see one of the most cold blooded murderers of the age. Women were in the majority for five days. The prisoner listened to the evidence showing that he had cut up bowls as a butcher would a calf. The defendant was silent as the grave. He seemed to take little or no interest in the stories told by the witnesses. For the prosecution, his lawyer, how subjected the witnesses to a grueling cross examination, but could not shake their stories in any way.

24:43 There was a great stir in the courtroom on February seventeenth when mister Howe said Captain Ungar, please take the stand. Then, calmly, as if he were discussing the weather, Ungar told a thrilling story, the story of a horrible battle of the tenements. Stated briefly. Unger's testimony was to the effect that he never intended to murder Bolls, but struck him with the poker in self defense. When he saw that the blow had caused the death of his partner and lodger, he dismembered the body and disposed of it in the way indicated.

25:14 Did you take any money from the man's pockets before cutting up the body, asked the district attorney. Yes, all he had, and that was only five dollars, replied the witness in a hoarse, discordant voice. And what did you do with the money? I bought whiskey and beer with it and paid the Italians and others who helped me move the trunk. On February seventeenth, the case was given to the jury, who, after a few minutes deliberation, found the prisoner guilty of manslaughter in the first degree. Judge Barrett was very much dissatisfied with the verdict and told the jury that the evidence justified a verdict of murder in the first degree.

25:48 The defendant's deliberate attempt to conceal the crime, the ruthless an awful manner in which he disposed of the body, and the carefully prepared story he told on the witness stand point to the consciousness of his guilt, and that guilt involves willful and premeditated murder, said the judge. He imposed the maximum sentence upon the convicted slayer, twenty years with hard labor in the state prison at Sing Sing. There are those who may think that the speedy solution of this mystery was an accident, but Joseph Gavin, the New York Times reporter who covered this case, has a very different opinion.

26:22 Says Gavin, there has never been a more successful manhunt which was more the direct result of real detective instinct, power of penetration, imperturbable coolness, shrewdness, and hard work on the part of the police then were demonstrated in the case of Unger and Bulls. For these faculties are as rare as they are remarkable. Detective William W. McLoughlin, who had charge of the case under Chief Burns, was highly commended for his handling of it. His two assistants were Titus and Mike Crowley, and McLoughlin himself later became Chief of Detectives.

27:01 And that was the story of the parrot who wanted to know what happened to Gus. Everybody, please do think of a kind of murdery story from your own life doesn't have to have anything to do with murder. Just something bizarre, frightening, entertaining, funny, something that happened to you. Call eighty eight murdery. That's eighty eight sixty eight seventy three, three seven nine. Tell me the story and you could inspire an episode of the show. Also, do please come on back this Sunday, Ants and Maddox returns and we'll be telling the story of a wild murder from nineteen ninety two that I'm calling a buck Horney by any other name.

27:40 The manage atois murder of Debrah Spicer. That's this Sunday with antson Maddox. I hope you enjoyed today's show. I'm Zevan Odelberg and this has been kind of murdery. The long setllble is below. Settle below Settles