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Show H &$ Sme CeIebrated Crimes n Which Women Were the Victims and Which, Refuting the Adage That "Murder H M( j T - Will Out' Would Give PoeMaterfal'for Other Marie Rouget Studies. The Baffling Ryan and Annie Martin Cases. : BBJI ' (Ooorritht 3012, bj'tbs NovrTork Herald Co. All rlc-ts rtscrred.) - A CITY of unsolved mysteries Is Now York a great seething Whirlpool of humanity where men and women go down out of BB sight, vanish as completely as BH though their physical bodies had BBJi been dissipated. Murders are committed f BBI within a stone's throw of the lighted BBJj highways and the stories behind the BB! 'crimes are never unrav)Bd, the person BBH who committed tho ttiiw- never so much BBB ' H as, suspected. A. boit from the sky might BBJI have caused the death of the victim, so HHHHH vrmTvlntoK lnct nrr nil frifM nt fhv BBJH murderer. H BH Since the baffling murder of Mary H Cecilia Rogers, on which was based Edgar B Allan Foe's famous story "The Mystery BBJI of Marie Rogct," New York has been BBfl the scene of an unbroken string of mya- BBfl terious murders and disappearances, in BBS most of which a womin has figured. BBJI It was on a Sunday afternoon, July B 25, 1841, that Mary Rogers, known in1 Bl New York as "the pretty cigar girl," met BBM her fate. The mystery of her dc.ith in BBfl ' the woods west of Elysian Fields, Ho- BBJ boken, has Der been solved and year BBJI , by year since then the list of tragedies BBfl ' : which have successfully challenged police BBJl investigation has grown. Those expert i BBfl , in the tracing 'of crime say that where a BBJI ) woman is concerned St is more difficult BBfl to solve the mystery because of niorei BBJ complex motives and often because of the BBfl difficulty in establishing a true motive. I H One of the most famous cases which, BJ I has occurred within the memory of the,' BBj present day newspaper readers was that H of Mary and Nicholas Ryan, who were H' killed on December 22, 1S73, in thcicj B home, at No. 201 Broome street. j H I , An Air of Gentility. ' B r When Nicholas aud Mary, brother and cistor, applied to Mrs. Patrick Burke for Hl a slnglo room in her apartment in the BBJ building in Broome street she noticed i BBJ Immediately that they seemed not to fit i HHHHI BBJ with their surroundings. There was anj BJBJ unmistakable air of gonlility about tlipm B which suggested that they had not always I B been obliged to livotin a single room on H w the fourth floor of a tenement house. BB Their language was not that of the men BB and women about them, and their appear- BB ii I ancei of refinement, tlietr delicate hand3 BB and features were signs that they had H ' been used to luxury. The two lodgers be- BB came the tsourcc of much mysterious gos- BB lip between Mrs. Burke and her friends. Bj ' ', Nicholas gave if out that by trade ho BB 'was a shoemaker, and Mary said that she BBV 'was a "gaiter fitter," employed by Burt B , & Co. in their store in Thomas street BJBJ Each month the rent for the single room HH was paid promptly, and the mysterious HJBj roomers evaded all Mrs, Burke's cuuninp BJBJ inquiries. In the room which they occu- BJBI - pled were a single walnut bedstead and a' M r , 1CV. , inr , ' " A", HH &ew horsehair 6ofa, which w.ero separated HH at nigbt by a large screen, serving ad a B v 1Par"bon. The room was the sitting room, B "leplng room and kitchen, but the brother B and 'eisler eeo to be very comfortable I V'iv'' 'It.'' --- BH tnere, they never quarrelled and each was B always doing something for the comfort B of tho other. B T ' -tf airy "Ryan seemed" particularly out of H I 'place among th'e Italians, Russians and Hl ! ''oher foreigners-' of a low class among BJB whom 6Ue lived' in "the tonemnnf. sii ua H -the bearing' of one accustomed to coui H nrtid. 'Her figure was slight and conBid- M 'ered beautiful ana she carried herself H with dignity. Black lair and blue eyes, 1 'a combination peculiar td peoples of Cei- H , 't,c origin, atd a clear, pinkish complexion Hl added to Her beauty and attractiveness. H They seemed -very uch alone, and in H fttcl was noticed that they Teceivcd H bat one vlgitor. This, was a young man j -onlfewhat xesemb'llng 'Nichobs Ryan in h -appearance and tecnied to Mrs. Burko Hl to be from the kanie class of society to H j i-IchTdre' believed her longors to belong. H i This'ybfing'nian wns always well dressed H I -'awi'g&vo-the-impTeexIon'-fhat he was in j good crrcumstauces. He sometimes jeft H .thebuflding-With Mary RyaDf but aore H r vlt"'n awAylthfe company of Nieh- H ' "rol'as, "and on Sunday, afternoon it -was H L customary for the three to walk out together. Much curiosity was aroused by the visits of this young gentleman and his actions were closely followed by Mrs. Burke, who seems to have been inordinately in-ordinately interested in the Ryaus, as is the custom of most landladies. Tho visitor seemed quite, as familiar and affectionate with Nicholas as he did with Mary, and in no way could their actions have shown that they were more than three good friends and boon companions. com-panions. It was generally believed in "The Policeman Climbed Onto the Chair and Confirmed the" Hairdresser's Hair-dresser's Story." the neighborhood that the strange visitor wub gomo member of the Ryaiib' family whp alone was true to them. in adversity which had been brought about by soiuo family quarrel. Nothing, ever occurred to substantiate this theory, and the identity iden-tity of the mysterious stranger and the'' purpose of his visits to tho house iu Broome street remain as great a puzzle as does the reason for tho crime which followed. On the morning of December 22, 1S73 a policeman passing the house at half-past half-past two o'clock in the morning heard shouts of "Police! Murder I Help!" In a second every window in the fr0nt of the sii,jJlory brick tenement in which the Ryuas lived was thrown ouen' vio-lently vio-lently ami heads began to app'eaf. ''Suv-eral ''Suv-eral wonic'n screunied and the policeman dashed. into the btrildlbg., .f. . . t ' z The cries of murder came from An upper story, but there were stains en tbc bannisters ban-nisters and the lower steps of the stairway stair-way which g.ivc unmistakable signs of the crime. On the lauding of the second story the policeman found tho body of a man, clad ouly in on undershirt, lying lip.tfl ilnwnwnril on the stairs. Rut tho outcry upstairs continued. By this time three more policemen had arrived, and all four hurried to the fourth floor, whoi Tatrick Burke led them to the room the Ryans Ind occupied. On the bed which Mary Ryan ujed lay her body. II cr throat had been cut, aud there were marks on the throat showing that she had been strangled. Thore was no sign of a struggle in the room. The clothes of the two occupants wore laid neatly over the backs of chairs. No furniture was displaced. Tho bed in which Nicholas Nich-olas had slept looked as though he had leaped out of it, throwing the sheets and blanke.ts over the footboard. Trinkets, such as a. lady's watch and chain, a gob! mouuted pencil aud pearl studs', strengthened' strength-ened' the belief that the brother and sister had not been the poverty stricken persons they had teemed. The idea arose that they had been hiding from something. some-thing. What could it have been? That wns the question which occupied the minds of police and private investigators. The affair began to look like a deep laid plot, It was shown that robbery could not have been the motive. The story of the mysterious visitor offered of-fered a clew, and when the police IciniPd that Nicholas and Mary had a brother Patrick Ryan, living In 'Brooklyn they had little doubt that ho would prove to be the man who had so often called at the house in Broomo street. Patrick Ryan, the brother, was sought out. He held an executive, position in a firm of shoe manufacturers and said that Nicholas, Nich-olas, who was a sober and constant young man, had at one time worked under him. He denied that there hnd been any famjly troubles which had forced Mary and Nicholas to live as they did, and said that since the death of their mother they hnd been very poor. But what most seriously upset the the ory of the police was that Patrick Ryan was not tin? visitor wh6 hu.d so frequently been seen with the Ry.inu. The oqe occasion occa-sion onnwhich he had been Nicholas and Mary bjuci; they had taken the rotmi from Mrs.'Bnrke was on tho very night" of the 3 murders. He with his two children had taken tea with the brother and sister in their little roomPXhey had all left the building logcfliorl but parted at the corner cor-ner of the street. Patrick had called after Nicholas, soyiug: "What arc yoiijgoing to do with Mary while you are 'visiting with your girl? Tell us who slices, anyway." Nicholas had .p'njy laughed at this re-mark, re-mark, and Mnrhnd waved her hand at Patrick and. tlicchildron. Patrick had uo idea who thc'frcquent visitor could be. lie was sure that neither of the dead persons per-sons would linve committed suicide. There was no reason why tlicy should. They were not destitute, for they had several hundred dollars in two savings banks. Another Puzzling Question. This led to another puzzling question. The bank books showed that they had made recent deposits very regularly and had been living far within their earnings, which wore decently large. Why thpn had they lived in such miserable quarters? All who were interested in the case wore asking these questions. None doubted that there was sonic subtle plot behind it all. Then it was learned that Nicholas Ryan had always worn a very heavy, fine gold watch. This was missing, .ind it appeared ap-peared that after all robbery might have been the motive for the crime. Suspicion was cast upon the inmates of the building, build-ing, but presently Jenny Burke, daughter of the woman who let the room to the Ryans, found the man s vest on the roof, the gold watch in one of its pockets Stains aud marks showed that tho murderer mur-derer himself must have lied by way of the roof, yet as fur as the street door another trail of marks Indicated that he had gone that way. The puzzle seemed absolutely baffling. It was Impossible to determine whether the crime was a double murder or whether one of the victims had taken his or her own life. Another question which was hard to answer was how the body of the man came to be on the stairs two flights below be-low the room where he had slept, and why there had been no souud of a struggle. strug-gle. Patrick Burke had discovered the body of the girl when he had investigated a noise made by the banging of the Ryans' door in the wiud. The 'only possible supposition was that the inysterioui stranger had committed the double crime, rle was never seen i after the nlghl of the murders. The bartender bar-tender of a .saloon in Broome street testi fied that ou tho night of the tragedy u man auhwerlng the description of the frequent fre-quent visitor lo the Ryaua had stopped in his place for a drint: of whiskey at about huif-p.ist throe o'clock. His cuffs wero .stained red and he said that he had been in a fight aud hit his man on the nose. Ho was greatly agitated jnd his hand shook so that 1.5 .spilled whiskey on his overcoat. But there the tro.il ended. It Is supposed that tho -nysterious stranger' was1 Mnry Ryun'if lover and thut he hnd refused to marry her, It is probable prob-able thatjhe was threatened with exposure expo-sure und w.ih a law -lilt, and, fearing tho result, had entered the Hyan room with the express intent to murder the girL Nicholas must have wakened aud attacked at-tacked the ma., and been killed while pursuing pur-suing him ou the dark stairs. It is even probable that the murderer Intended to i i despatch Nicholas ns well as his sister, ou the principle that dead mou tell no tales. Fdr months tho man who had stopped iu the Broome street saloon to take a drink of whiskey wag Fought throughout the country, but who he was, whether he killed Mary and Nicholas Rynn and whether he was important, she said, and .she wished I Mrp. Smieth would be sure to call her as soon as the man arrived. She would go down stairs .to the pitting room to talk' with him. This was unusual, nnd Mrs. Smieth did not liko the Idea of a woman logger re- iSifiVw I II If III ' If !'i(fll11 mmm limw I PHP" I j j llTjfifflffil "On the Landing of the Second Story the Policeman Found the'' Body of a Man." was the well dressed visitor who so often called on them will remain among the unanswered un-answered questions In the annals of the history of crime in New York. Quite as strnnge was the case of Annie Martin, killed January 17, 1SS0. Annie Martin was thrown on her own resources at an early age and supported herself and her invalid mother by selling bouquets along the Bowery. She was a pretty girl and when young wore her hair short. This gained for her the name of "Curly Tom." by which she was known to her friends until the time of her death. As the girl grew older friends who had bcfn attracted to her when she was a flower girl made it possible for her to find more lucrative employment, em-ployment, and she took a room in a bouse at No. Ill Prince stieer, where she 11a cd alone when her mother died. Annie Martin was a slender girl with raven black hnir, an intelligent, attractive attrac-tive face and frank, girlish manners, which made her n favorite with all who made her acquaintance. It was common gossip among her girl friends that she had many offers of marriage, but refused all her suitors. Without Kith or Kin. So far ab was known, the death of her mother left her without relatives. She lived quietly in the house in Prince street and was seldom visited there by any but girl friends. Men sometimes called for he and took her out, but it wns not until within a few days previous to her tragic death that she received any men callers in her apartment. There was one man who frequently called for her and took her out, nnd so Inlimato did they become I that there was much talk of scandal and many of Annie Mnrtin's friends forsook her because of it. She always had plenty of money and dressed very stylishly and in costly garments. Ou the night of tho tragedy Bessie Schneider, a woman employed by Mrs. Smieth, the owner of the house, admitted a roun, whom she did not lecognize, to Annie's rooms at nhout half-paat eight o'clock. At ten o'clock she returned with n pitcher of ice water and the visitor had departed. The servant was sure of this, for she remained In the room some minutes while Annie Martin gave orders for her breakfast, nnd she went into the other room on an errana lor rnc young woman. At ten o'clock Mr, Smieth locked the front door and put the key in his trousers pocket, as was his custom, but ho did not bolt tbc rear door of the house, which could be opened only from the inside.' While he and his wife were preparing t6 retire Annie called over tho bannister to Mrs. Smieth saying that she expected a gentleman to call for her before midnight. The visit ceiving male callers so late at night, and she worried n great deal about it. Besides, she was troubled with rheumatism, and between be-tween the pain and expecting a ring at the front door bell at any minute she was nnalilo to go to sleep nt all thnt night. ITer room was directly under that of the Murtiu girl, and after the lodger had called to her about the midnight visitor sjhe heard no one so much as walk across the floor of the room. No one in the houe opened the door to admit any person that! night, and the frout door remained locked, tho key in Mr. Snueth's pocket. She Is Murdered. Bessy Schneider was the first inmate of the house astir In the morning. She had to borrow Mr Smieth's key to open tho frout door when she went out to wash' the front steps. Whilo she was engaged in this task Bertha Levy, a hairdresser,! asked her if Miss Martin was in. Bcs? knew the girl ns a hairdresser, who was often called Intp service by Miss Martin, and told her tc go upstairs, the front door being open. A few minutes later Bertha Levy, whito as a sheet and too frightened even to serenm, rushed from the house, and, clutching Bessy by the arm, pointed toward Annie Martin's window. In a few seconds she managed to gasp: "She is murdered." A policeman was called. In the hall way in front of the door to Annie Martin's Mar-tin's rdom a chair bad been placod. Bertha Ber-tha Levy explained that sho had put it there and stood upon It to look through the transom into the room after repeated knockings had not elicited any response. I The policeman climbed onto the chair and confirmed the hairdresser's story. The body of tho murdered girl was on the bod, which had been pushed close against a door which led to a rear room. The hall door was locked, as was a door leading to n rnnm nt tlin lnft. Tho ilnnr ntiiln;t which the bed had been pushed was not locked. Except the bed, everything in the room was In perfect order. A thin pillow slip from the bed was tied tightly about the girl's neck and had evidently cansed her death by strangulation. Contusions such ns might be caused by blows Jfrom a fist were visible about her face, but It hardly floemed that there could have hcn a strug. gle without so muchuis the pound of a footfall to bo heard by Mrs. Smieth in the room below. It wns probable that the girl herself had placed the bed against tho door because she feared Boracthiog. The key to tbis door was missing. All the valunblo jewelry which Annis Mnrtln owned was in the room, with thef exception of n gold watch. In he back off the enso of this watch had been a picture.! Many of the dead girl's friendsrfiad caught' - x, 'glimpses of the picture, but none nna examined ex-amined It closely cnoiigu to know whether It wns of a man or a woman. Most were of the opinion that it was a photograph of a man. How the murderer had entered the house nnd perpetrated the crime without discovery discov-ery was n mystery. 'If wns evident thnt he "had escaped by way of a rear door, which could be opened from the inside, but not from tho outside. This led to an . alley at the end of which was a gate opening open-ing onto a. side street.' A padlock and j staple which had held the gate fnst had been wrenched from the woodwork and lay twisted on the ground. To find the watch nnd the man whose picture they believed to be inside the caa became the problem which confronted the police. That, they believed, would solve the mystery. In tracing Annie Martin's j j history they found that heforcshe rented j the rooms iu Prince street sho nad moved from otic address to another nt intervals of a very few weeks, as though she. was trying to elude some onr who persisted in j following her. If this was the man whose j picturo she carried in her watch, why J should she wish to I:idu from him? One nnswer seemed to be thnt she really cared j for him, and that despite the stories link- j ing her name with that of the man who jj was so often seen with her he wished to Jj niarry her. She possibly refused to con- jl sent to this because it would spoil his ijK career and ostracize him from society. In mF a fit of passion brought on by her refus-il ! to marry him when he had sough: her J" lout he might have killed her, but this J CAAmrT frt-Airn ii tlio Yinfnro nf n TMnn ' I who was so faithful, even though he might have been mistaken in his faith. 1 K Another theory was that Annie Martin j had become despondent because she could not marry tho man she loved and whose picture she carried in her watch, and had killed herself. j No Theories Proved. Neither of thoso theories entertained by the police was ever proved or disproved. A still more plausible explanation seemed to be that tho murderer was a man whom E Annlo Martin, had promised to marry In ? her younger days and who was crazed by the thought that sho bad betrayed and . k forsaken him. An alibi proved by tho . B constant visitor showed that he could not K have committed the crime. S The house in which the murder had ; B occurred was in full view of the Eighth K street police station, which added to tho B lujsitij oi ii an. auoui iwo jrears pre ms vious to the murder a band of mall rob- B hers had been captured in the snrac room. . B "Shang" Qulnn was the leader of the B band, nnd it was rumored that he had B been a lover of Annie Martin in the yeara H when he was a respectable citizen. I B Photographs of "Shang" Qulnn were ' B shown to many of Annie Martin's friends H in the hope that he might be identified as H I the man whose picture she had carried H in her watch. Qulnn, who was in prison, jB jwas questioned closely in an attempt to lM fasten guilt on one of his band, it being BJ supposed thut the girl had been killed be- H cause it was thought she had given in- ' j M formation leading to the arrest and break- Bj ing up of the band. H Quinn admitted that he knew her, but H said that he bore no enmity toward her, B and that she had ifever known enough WB about the workings of the mail robbers to H have given any vuluable information. As : H a matter of fact, Annie Martin did not " H play any part in tho breaking up of the B "Shang" Quinn band, and this theory was ' H isliort lived. IB It was generally believed that Annie v B , Martin feared some person from whom (; H ihe tried to hide by moving continually , H from one address to another. Why she ';H feared this person remained a matter of JH mystery, .but It te probable that the man H who bought her out and who so brutally H murdered her was the man whose picturo 1 she carried in her watch. With this pict- ; H ure the police belioved they could have ' H solved the tragic puzzle, but the photo- : H graph had vanished. B) There was no key to the door bqtwecn f H i.iu ivtiiiiiu uiiu .nnie .inriins renr j h room. There hud been a key to the door Bf, between her two rooms, but this wa B missing. The bed had been pushed ', H ngainst the door as though to protect &W& it against opening. The only oxplana- f tion to bo deduced from these bits of Bji evidence seemed to be that tho early J- Eft evening visitor had tahen the key to tho t B third door while in tho room. He must t B have known that tho hall door of tho BQ rear room could not be locked. He must I Bf, either have been concealed in one of the f Bf rooms when Bessie Schneider went there ' KK or must have secretly entered the housa ' BS during the night. How be got in was n ilEtl question, bit it was plain how the m.r- j; Bn derer had left the premises. P HP? But who was he? Why did he kill J Dp1 Annie Martin? t1' K- |