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Show Iff AMOUS TRACiEDiES tL BALKED SOLUTiq EJIBj The Sensational Killing of Miss Nellie E. Sturtevant, Daughter of a Prominent Banker, on the Steps of Her Home at Medjj W&tigX jfiMford, Mass. Shock of Tragedy Caused Death of Her Mother and Now Her Father Has Become Insane State Police Stil I SkJ on Nine Year M'stery ASSACIIUSETTS ins never I had ;i murder case thai excited ! I more Interest than the killing I I of Miss iCellie A. Sturtevant, daughter of Mr. James S. Stur-tevant, Stur-tevant, a bauker. on the stops m H r home, in Chester nvenue. Mcdford. or. :he night of May 5. 190& She was shot is she. her father and mother were about to enter the door of their home, and from then until now. Although the State police have doggedly pursued hundreds ol nv, and ran down countless theories, they arc as far from a solution of the mystery .is they were an hour after they H were called into the cine. H One man was arrested, TomOBBO Loni- bardi. an Italian, a few days after the murder, but he was easily able to prove that he was in the north end of Boston when it was committed, and he was re-leased re-leased Suspicions were directed towaro a btirglar who had been operating cxten-B cxten-B lively in Medford mid Sotuerville. but the police were never able to show that lie i l l a: any time been iu the vicinitj B (he Sturtevant home. The death of Miss Siurtevani was fol-lowed fol-lowed by the death of her mother from grief, and n short time ago her father be-cainc be-cainc insane and in guarded day and night by attendants in his Mcdford home. Hour after hour he raves about th" shooiing of his daughter. Grief ihat-tcred ihat-tcred his reason, but insanity did not mercifully take from him the memories of the uig&t he saw his daughter's life blotted out, and the horror of that night, physicians say, will remain with him until death relieves him of his sufferings. I Death of Mrs Sturtevant. B His wife died with the image of the murderer engraved on her brain. B "1 can see him every moment," shi B told those who gathered about her bed side when she pasaed away, "but 1 fear B that he never will be arrested, never will B be punished for killing my Nellie " Were u arrest to be made now. with 4 Mrs. Sturtevant dead and Mr. Sturte- rant a mental wreck, there would not be t a conviction. They were tbe only Wit- B uesses of the crime. ' In the minds of some of the police olli- uals who have been tr iu 4 to track duw 11 i the murderer there has always been the j thought that the night Miss Sturtevaut B was killed her father was not as kceu B mentally as his business associates and I friends believed him to be. Inquiries made at the Medford Co-ji Co-ji operative Bank, of which he was tress- I urcr. after the murder showed that th re j. had been iw.nods during months that pre- I, ceded the tragedy when he was forgetful ! and easily irritated. ! For day following the murder the j police were unable to get a counecicd j story from him. His wife had taken lu her bed an hour after the shooting and for days it was (cared that she would Mr. Sturtevant, ucver a DliysicaUy Strong man, almost gave way under the strain caused by tbe Uluxdcr and his wife's iOneas, and until after Miss Stune- aut bad been laid away in the church-yard church-yard only police oillc'uls were permitted But finally Mr. Sturtevant gave signs of returning strength mid bealth; and one day vrben the police least expei tad the summon he sent fur them And told them J his btory of ; murder. Willi i.ais Bowing down his cheeks he B told them all that he cvuld txiueuabcr tl at happened iu limn uf bit home. The in tervieu hrteo utntoit an eOtite, day ami J sfucu it wus I'-cr Mi. Sturterani was 00 H .:t be I to go to bed. H The next day !. w...- more cheerful an t fl nas able u talk uito reporters, and tu H litem b told practh'aUy Ihe same s.ory B 1. a, to the police, fl "With 1 lighter 1 leTl til - bull I, j H tMt-n.v i ikljs pjst ten o'clock," be lull) H il l in vs rods In a cawriage to te 'home of Mr. (Jrny, in Marshall troet. where Mr. Sturtevant was wailing for j us. Mnrsliall street is, as you all know, I but a short distance from our home. M"e all remained talking with Mr. Gray dnd his family :i few i.iinntes. and at t n minutes or a quarter past eleven o'clock my daughter, my wife anil I started to walk home We saw no one and heard nothing until we had turned from Win ihrop street into Chester avenue. 1 was walking next to the fence on the side of the street our borne is on Mrs Sturtc-vint Sturtc-vint wa in the middle and niy dgugbtei nas or.tsidc. We were uikmg liiin-anti.. of Mr. Gray and bis family 1 carried an imitation alligator bag 12 my ri;ht baud and an enamel portfolio under my lift arm. When we reached a tree about tno( huiiilred feet from my home I noticed 1 bleyelc leaning against a tree guard. I rememiier saving to my wife, 'It's funny to see n bicycle there. There must bt.i some one around ' We looked but eouid not see anybody, and the ouly sound ou the street was the slight swaying of the elm trees I gness we bad all Forgotten about the bicycle before we reached the! Kteps up which 1 went first. As uj reached the door I banded the portfolio i- my daughter. She was standing in thci middle of the steps and my wife was oeut a post on the piaiaa. Just as 1 got 11:.. I bandi on my kcjs 1 heard a voice say Throw up your haodsl' I looked arounaj quickly and heard my daughter ta)., 'What (or? You get away from here. She raised U?r umbrella and struck at I In man. 1 think she struck him 011 lie I In-ad. I was trying to think what it an meant I thought n'rst it was some friend of ours playing n joke to frighten US, but when I heard the order 'Throw up your I bauds!' repeated 1 looked down the steps and saw a mail crouching at the bottom of them In his right hand he held a revolver, re-volver, which seemed to be pointiug directly di-rectly at me Before i could say a word he fired, and the moment 1 heard the report re-port 1 started down the steps. Wi;ii Ihc first report my daughter fell. Although I was unarmed, I ran at the man and tried to grapple with liini. I bad" llw leather bag in my hand, but in the excitement excite-ment forgot about it. When the man saw me coming at him he fired a shot at nit. I perhaps two or three, grabbed my bjl and ran down Chester avenue. I was for a minute like a man in a trance. 1 r member chasiug tbe man down the mc el and watching f"r the bicycle. If h jumped od ihc wheel, I said to myself, 1 will trip him up and break bis neck. 'l used to be a fine bicycle rider mykclf and I remember that I figured out in raj muni just boa a man would try to moiiut unc when he w.13 running. 1 had perhaps per-haps run fifty yards when I heard my wife yelling "Murder!' and as I turned she callcdl 1 For God's sake col H back here quick' I did not know at that ' time that my daughter had been wouudco, and when 1 gut bad; to the steps 1 nlniusi (ell over her body. My ifc aud 1 began shouting; neighbors soon came, and we earricd the body of my daughter into tilt Louse. Hours afterward it came back 10 me that the man who bad yelled 'Throw up your bander sj-.-ke verj good English, that he was about five feel seven iaebc tall, weighed gboui llJ pound J, dark clothes and had a soft hat. Disagree As to Time. "JoaiJ I recognise bim again? Maybe, I am uot surr. I taw his faie, but iu the excitement following the firing ol ib-.-.lieta and my cha,; ifu-r him :ay lecolle.-tioa lecolle.-tioa of his (eatunra seems to have paascd uway. ' 1 do uci believe that the mau intended td fbuot my daughter. I am confident that hi- ihui gbl I was carrying home money from ibe bank und that bis id--a wa- le s'joot nie aDd ele I he m ,11. "Uid . ju oc( ev- a pufn w ho reminded jrm it ihe murderer in :hc iKinkV" oue ol tbe nuUcelnln a-'ed "No. 1 am quite sure thai 1 uever did. Mr SlurtCTant replied. "Had he ever been to the bank I believe I would have recognized him." As to the time of the murder Mr. Sturtc. ant and a policeman named Pierce dis-agree dis-agree Mr. Sturtevant says be is almost Ci tin that he, Mrs. Sturtevant and Mis Sturtevant left Mr- (Iraj's home between ten and fifteen minutes after eleven o'clock The policeman says, and records at the police station corroborate bim, that ! thai 1 hey would uot even search his house Partial substantiation of the story o , the mysterious bicyclist was furnished b; Mrs. Lilla I'aul and Fred Dearborn, win iie, a giibrt distance from the Sturtcvan home. Mrs. I'aul said about the time o the murder S-hc heard sounds such a would be made by a bicycle being riddei rapidly over hard earth and heard mci running along Chester avenue. Mr IiearlKirn said he saw a man wheeling 1 bicycle through a vacant lot near th Sturtevant home about half-past tei MISS NELLIE 3TURTEVANT j J - !,',. james s. b rr j STRTE j Tomes S. Stttrtcvant Showing How Daughter Was Killed 1 Mr. Sturtevant Posing as Murderer rTTj" - Pojition of Miss Sturtevant When She Was KiUed r" w z Position of Mr. Sturtevant at the Door Wgga 4 Mrs. Sturtcvan, 'j Position When Girl Was Murdered he "rang in" a box at the corner of Chester avenue a: twenty-nine minutes after eleven o'clock and that when be was rin; iug it in be saw the Sturtcvants pass into Chester aenuc. "li may be that Pierce is ri:bt." Mr. Sturtevant said when the policeman's statement v.. is told to htm, "out my im-presidon im-presidon Is that we left Mr Oray's when I said." Painttrs at work on the Sturtevant 'house several daj-s after the murder made !n discovery that has greatly puued the police. Mr. Sturtevant and his wife agreed that ih. murdcier rind mos of bis -huts win 11 standing at the eastern end 1 'of the Steps. The painters found a bullet embedded in the clapboard that had been luvd fium the opposite direction Never Doubted Story Mr. Siuricvjui was questioned, hut be c-ouid uot remember the hriu of a shot ihul could have lodged in the board iu the j wuy it was found by the painters. The day after bis lalk with tbe police, armed with a revolver, be demonstrated 10 r purlers jut how the murder had been doUl and during ihat demonstration be did. not account for ibe bullet that must have come from llm direction from which lli; was certain 110 shots bad been fired. 1 lie only explanation offered concerning ;his bullet is that it was tired after Mr. Sturtevant had jumped at the murderer aud when Mr. Sturtevant was so excited that be really did uot know what was happening police have pcvcr for a moment ia mted ;be tory io!d by Mr. Sturtevaul, nd sy urii wn iheu eunlideuce iu bun o'clock the night of the murder and wondered won-dered why he was doing it, but d'd nut question him or watch where he went. ilUaui Pro lerii k described a muu hu says i lmi ei in-.- ab'iut the Sturtevant home about the tune Dearborn saw tbe one wheeling the bicycle through the va-eani va-eani lot. but his description rather fitted I ibardl, the Italian, who was arrested, than the man described by Mr and Mrs. Sturtevant. For two weeks the police were besieged be-sieged by uieii ami women who had aeeuj mysterious bicyclists riding furiously 1 from Mcdford, but none of them fur-j uisbed a shred of information that wan of the least value to Ihe police. When Louiburdi was arrested flic police of' .Mcdford and Jophanus U. W hiiuev, wboj was then a Stale detective and. is uow chief of the Sr.ite police. Were eoulideiit' thai the murleier had heeu Captured. 1 1,om bardi bad a bicycle, he had been Seen I riding throusli Mcdford, he was iu need 'of money uud Uie polite asserted that he hgucw of Mr. bturicvauts connection jwith the Mcdford Co-operative bank. Lombardi's Ah'oi. i Lombardi insisted liiat be bad never i ;:i.ard of the Sturtevauts and had not I., hi In Medford. but the police, troubl-d 'us police oflcu are, with uvcrCoUfidCuve in theuiselvos. rushed him off to jail au.j prepared to arraign him in court ou a charge of uiurdir, Lombardi Wmi believed be-lieved to be a friendless Italian and no effort wen? made by Ihe puilce u aid him In establishitg ju a.ibi Ltut be, had BoWvrfcl friends anioug the wealthier llaJlU ui the noiU mi, uud luej, w1Ui 1 . . ibe assistance "f iiewspancr reporters, f ivcre not long in proving beyond a doubt lint Lombardi could not have had any .Connection with the murder. t! When it had been -lunvn that he wilS f ii Boston when Miss Stuflcvaui w l s killed. Mr. and Mr-. Sturtevant were 1 taken to the jail in which he was confined 1 ntid Lombard! w-ng stood in a row with a I dozen prijfiners. "Thank (Jod, he is not among those e men," Mrs. Sturtevniit said, when she 1 had closely cxamiuod all of the men iu -jthe line." I "Are you confident that you could pick bim oui if he were';" Mr,-. Sturltirant was asked. fa, 't-ZZi p'-pj TlW ! 'in! i !; i;!1'" '!!! The Sturtevant Home at Medford Med-ford !ontideni yei I am poi .1 It .' -' replied; re-plied; 1 eau'i explain to ou liw Ihe ; mprderer looked, but 1 should recognize bim if 1 met bim I can sec him every ! second 1 live. Von may be sure that I will recognize him if you ever get bun.' I Mrs Sturtevant Mood up bravely under 'the ordeal at the Jail, but oucc back in I her home she collapsed, and from then until she died she mounted night anil day 'for ihc daughter who bad bceu snatched ifrom her I KfTorti were made In the early stages .if the police Investigation to connect a suitor f'r Mi--. Sturtevant's hand with ihe crltnc, but it was quickly demon-tr.ited demon-tr.ited I lint there was no basis for such nosptcions, Miss Sturtevant. although ;elds to forty years old when she wa killed, had never been engaged to marry 'she was a very quiet woman, who loved (her parents and her home, and most of Jthc (iuic when she was not at the bank 'with her father, where she held a position ns a. clerk, she was nt home with her j mother. 1 1 Mr Sturtevant Shows Posit ion of Mur-' Mur-' i'V' derer When Daughter Fell After Being Shot 'i- 2 Miss Sturteviint's Poiition on Stepa WQsSft'-X1' i-K Altcr Shc Was Shot , fffl 3 Mr. Sturtevant Rushes After Murderer r ji?" . 4 Mrs Sturtevant I do not believe thai I will over marry." she told a friend a short time before be-fore her death. 'Father aud mother arc sening old aid I will always stay vrith them." She was interested iu church work aud did uiucb for the poor of Mcdford When she w as buried hundreds of weeping children chil-dren gathered about iier eoflin aud many Of them followed it to the grave. Months after her burial an anonymous letter, received by the police, said that Ibe uame of .be murderer would bo sent to them w::hin a week but ihe promise bos never been kept and the murder of Misa Sturtevant will go down into his-tory' his-tory' as one of the mot sensatioual of Massachusetts' unsolved mysteries E.pects a Confession Rewards for information that wil lead ! 10 the ar.-esi of the murderer were offered by the cltj of Medford '.no the Stale and f neTer have lieen withdrawn, M the State police still hare iiM lance per-ons who have besa 11 oni ?i : ion w ith the crime, bf -h' l (bar 1 hoy will never I make an arrci-t. "It was the nios' puzzling e vrkcij i.n," Chief Whitney.-ofj jpolke sal' to a reporter for 1 l"L.Teept for a few hours aft re:rd I aimr.li tlirr- wj 0ffv lew tint looked really promUbi '.ilwnjs suvpected the burglar sjl nsivcly In Some r ille, lfl ity, but bae nc.er btea-sj i 'I tic: to corrolx-ra te my (Qt talked with 1 he man, and be .1 story which inveslig-atlSBji jiilisinntlate. but efforis of gjd mm of th-: Srare i.-.r.;e to pitta j vn iniiy of the Sturti-vaut hotia of the murder failed Tt hag b 1 1 ' i conn; 11 relative of Hi i.int killed h r, but 1 am tat he bad nothing to do with it. inatcd :hat jierjon a day or hn murder With Mrs. Sturtevaul Mr. Sturtevant insane we won haid job to e.Mivict the murdert to arrest bim now I bars hi for several rrs that sxime ii get a confession, and it is for t that we have kept 111 .j h with iD'Dts of on.- or two porsooa'm vr. re mentioned soon after nir. ii- kiibd I am couvtal inot'ue of tin- murderer was! cause it was generally beliaH jtbat Mr. Stur:eaut t-ok bej every uight a large sum off I tbe bank. As n m itier of fal , did. The bag be carried (aj ter was shot contained ol lized accmiut 0.' raj-in':nts tol of the bank, amounting to all aud some checks which wfl onlj -.ne olcial of 'Jn banal could uot be cashed Had them the murderer, I believe, woufl :o cash them aud an arrest! followed. Banks all over 1 erc requested to notify us fl checks appeared, but the into ably learned fr ' Ji tbe news they were valueless, as the d Btroyed tium. Police circulars which el over the world give ibis dl the murderer: 1 ! 1 1 .lit. o feet S im hes: j p inds -1 uidi r has looped ! pale, has black inouatache. M !d. has dark ?yes anl clothing." I The description was ofl Mil Sturtevant after shc lnj dci l.i-e,i thai she could oeC tl hour of the day. but could him. "It does uot picture t lie mj ! ways lu my mind," she to! "but I cannot do auy bettj DH)0 day 1 will be able to face 1 hs t haunts me.' But she acver did. T&H face engraved on ber brsmi grave with her. f 1 hi 1 1111111111 iiniiii ' |