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Show XPYRGfVr OY THS )vfiLFR ff:WWP? JYHDICAr THE BURDELL MURDER X7nENEYEIi a mysterious murder vvcase finds space upon the first pages of New York newspapers and begins to command nation-wide attention atten-tion It Is fairly certain that, sooner or later, the commentators will commence com-mence to draw comparisons between Its details and those of the Burdell affair, one of the most mysterious crimes In the annals of the metropolitan metro-politan police force, a murder which Included every element of the sensational sensa-tional and bizarre. Dr. Harvey Burdell, the chief figure In the mystery, was a dentist who, solely through his own efforts had built up a wide and extensive practice In the city and had been connected with at least three approaches to matrimony which bad resulted In pre-miptial pre-miptial quarrels and consequent severance sever-ance of agreements. At the time of his death, Dr. Burdell had been living In a house rented by a Mrs. Cunningham, Cunning-ham, the dentist using one of the front rooms for his office and sleeping at the rear. He kept only one servant, serv-ant, a combination office-boy nnd valet who slept outside the house. The only residents of the building were a manufacturer manu-facturer named Eckel and George V. Snodgrass, the son of a clergyman. One rainy afternoon Dr. Burdell left the house about five o'clock and, as walked In the direction of Broadly up Chambersi street. Mrs. Cunningham Cunning-ham and her two other lodgers were In the house all evening, but heard nothing which seemed In the least out of the ordinary, retiring at the usual hour. Early the next morning, the office boy attempted to enter Dr. Burdell's office In order to attend to his usual round of cleaning and found that the door appeared to be jammed by some heavy object pressing i.gainst it from the inside. Pushing harder, the door finally gave way and the servant staggered stag-gered Into the room, only to be halted by the sight of his employer lying upon the floor, fully dressed and with the light still burning brightly. The corpse, however, was covered with clotted blood and there were large splashes of blood over practically every piece of furniture in the room, as well as on the floor, the walls and a portion of the ceiling. The dentist had evidently put up a hard fight for his life but had finally succumbed to the more than a dozen wounds found upon his body wounds which had very evidently been made by a long, slender dagger, something on the order of a stiletto. Further to complicate matters, the Investigations of the police developed that at least .two persons had been connected with the crime one of them having partially throttled the dentist by means of a thin cord, while the other had repeatedly stabbed him. The position of the wounds also Indicated Indi-cated that one of the assailants, was left-handed, for no right-handed person per-son could have delivered blows at the angles of those In Dr. Burdell's body. Upon the slight evidence presented by the fact that Mrs. Cunningham, the landlady, was left-handed, she was Immediately Im-mediately arrested as were Eckel and Snodgrass. But, at the trial, which ensued, the defense was able to riddle the statements of the prosecution, with ridiculous ease, presenting a number num-ber of counter questions which were still unsolved by the theory of the police that Mrs. Cunningham, with the aid of her lodgers, had killed Dr. Burdell. Among these were: Where had the dentist been during the time which elapsed between five o'clock when he left the house and midnight, mid-night, the hour at which the murder had been committed? A number of persons had seen him go out, but no one had seen him return. Why had the noise of the struggle not aroused a woman in the next house, separated only by a very thin wall? What were the papers which had been burned in the fireplace of the murder-chamber? If Mrs. Cunningham, Cunning-ham, Eckel or Snodgrass had been Implicated Im-plicated In the crime, why did none of their clothes bear the slightest stain of blood, while the room where Dr. Burdell had been killed was literally smeared with it? And, finally, what was the motive for murder since the dentist's jewelry and several hundred dollars in cash had not been touched? After the trial, which lasted only three days and resulted In the Immediate Im-mediate acqultal of Mrs. Cunningham, the landlady sprung another sensation when she declared that she had been married to Dr. Burdell and that she was entitled to his estate. Her contention, con-tention, however, was never fully established es-tablished and she lost her suit for the property of the dead man, finally dying dy-ing in poverty in a tiny flat in Harlem, while Dr. Burdell's brother went Insane In-sane as a result of the strain of the trial and Eckell died in the Albany penitentiary, while serving a sentence I In connection with the whisky frauds. Years have elapsed since the Burdell murder, but today the case is just as much of a mystery as it was upon that morning early in January when the body of the dentist was discovered by his valet. stone bearing the srngle word "Pamela," "Pam-ela," particularly since those which surround It are llterully covered with facts and figures concerning the history his-tory of the persons who lie burletf there. j "Who was Pamela" ask the tourists, turning inquiringly to the guide. And that personage merely shrugs his shoulders, smiles and replies: "That, monsieur, is what the world would like to know for here Is the grave of a remarkable woman, the Idol of royalty, royal-ty, the toast of France. But who she was or where she came from are questions that have never beeD answered. "Pamela," continues the guide, with that quick grasp of historical data which is common to those who direct visitors in various sections of Europe, "was the name given to the beautiful child brought from England to be the playmate of the little ones in the palace of the Due de Chartres, later the Duke of Orleans. Golden haired, blue-eyed, a veritable sprite, the little girl won all hearts, in spite of the fact that there was very evidently a dark mystery about hr origin. There were some at court who shook their heads nnd shrugged their shoulders meaningly mean-ingly when, as she grew up, the girl called 'Pamela' began to make conquests con-quests which were more and mora widespread. But the secrecy which veiled her birth did not affect her popularity in the slightest. She was the Inspiration of countless poets, the cause of scores of duels and when her heart was finally won by the Irish Lord Edward Fitz Gerald, son of the Duke of Leinsler, there were many who left Paris because they could not bear to see her married to another. "The announcment of her approaching approach-ing marriage to Lord Edward brought from London the same question which Paris had been asking for many years : 'Who Is Pamela?' and In the marriage contract, still to be seen at Tournay, the bride is described as 'Stephanie Caroline Antie Simms,' known as 'Pamela,' native of Loudon, daughter of William Berkele aud Mary Simms.' "But this does not, by any means dispel the mystery surrounding this most charming of creatures, for the governess of the household of the Due de Chartres maintained that she was the daughter of British nobility, while the Masonic Magazine, in the issue which appeared within a month after her marriage, declared that she was the daughter of the duke of Orleans himself.- Moore, In his 'Life of Lord Edward Fitz Gerald, leans to this theory, the-ory, stating that the mother of 'Pamela' 'Pam-ela' was none other than the governess govern-ess in the duke's family who took such a marked interest in the gin. "But no matter. These are only rumors reports, founded only on gossip. gos-sip. History which is vague in the extreme ex-treme about the origin of the beautiful 'Pamela,' is only too explicit as to her adventures after her marriage. Lord Edward Fitz Gerald became prominent in Irish politics and, like Sir Roger Casement more than a century later, decided to cast his lot with the French against England. Accordingly, he crossed the channel and arranged for a French invasion of Ireland, only to be betrayed and hunted, with a price of a thousand pounds upon his Lead. Those who were searching for him kept a close watch upon his wife and Lord Edward was finally captured In the apartments of the lovely 'Pamela,' who sold her jewels and everything she possessed In a vain attempt to bribe his jailers. The Irish lord lived only a short time afterward, dying s a result re-sult of wounds which he received when he was captured, and 'Pamela' returned re-turned to Paris where she lived until her death at the age of fifty-seven. Even then, this woman of mystery la described as admired and sought after; brilliant in society, remarkable for her loveliness of fancy and play of wit a creature born to win all hearts. Here lies what Is left of her, interred under the single word that cloaked her true identity. "Who was 'Pamela?' That, monsieur, mon-sieur, Is a question that will probably not be truly answered until the Day of Judgment." |