Show true detective story satorv by y vance wynn 7 0 public ledger clue of the brass check r WAS in september 1015 enat I 1 ac an enterprising contractor abraham determined to build a row of 0 two story houses at ll hegermann Heger egemann nann avenue and powell street in new york the work ot of excavation proceeded expeditiously but the workmen had not gone very far when they discovered a skeleton A few minutes later a second skeleton was waa brought to the surface the authorities were noti notified fled and the remains were taken to the bureau of unidentified dead of the new york police department lire life Is supposed to be held ch cheap cap in the metropolis and it w would have been quite easy to hav have bedig dismissed this gruesome find as an unsolved mystery hut but the police did not take that view of the matter they felt that a crime had been committed and they went about the solution with all of the ardor of detectives of fiction but with a great deal more common sense by means of a brass check that was found on the first skeleton the remains were identified as those of of rossario llos Ros sarlo a laborer who had been well known in the lililan italian colony in east bast new york the second skeleton was waa n not ot so readily placed but it was discovered that pa had a friend named dominic la rosa and that they were inseparable companions also it came to light that and la rosa had strangely disappeared at the same time incidentally it was suggested that the two men had bad been in bad odor with some of the wretched secret societies which had imported their bad habits from italy in a word it was felt that the two dead men had been the victims of the dreaded black hand but before going after the murderers it was waa necessary to make sure that the second skeleton was that of la 14 rosa in order to demonstrate that the detectives performed a most remarkable piece of work they reconstructed the remains of the dead man around the skeleton was built a race face some hair and by the use of cosmetics these were made to appear natural two gold teeth that had been round found in the lot and undoubtedly belonged to the deceased were placed in such a way as to attract immediate attention ills his old felt hat was perched on his hend head A coffee can covered with newspapers served as a neck and around tills this false form was draped tile the ragged coat of tile the man it was a ghastly reproduction of what had once been a human being photographs of this exhibit were ta taken li en and ad shown to those who had known la ia I a rosa in life the detective presently located a blacksmith who lived near th the e lot where the skeletons had been found he said that it bore a striking likeness to a man whom he had seen very often in that locality while all this was going on the police department had been busily engaged in rounding up suspects on a fixed day it was resolved to make a test by having the friends of la rosa and those suspected of the murder file past the reconstructed ted body it was rag a gruesome scene these sons and daughters of sunny italy marc marching bIng to in that process procession lon one two three five and ten they tiled by without any sign of emotion beyond a natural repugnance over looking at such an abnormal corpse presently a woman in the line wavered she was young with an olive complexion with ireat great long black earrings a large gilt breastpin and dressed in bright red and yellow her face paled and she uttered a scream santa maria it Is the ghost of dominic la rosa almost at the same moment she turned on one of the suspects in the line and cried out in a walling voice you devil I 1 why did you kill him ue was taken into custody was I 1 this giovanni GIov annl filomana li omana and before nightfall another italian victor lotto living near the scene of tile the murder was also arrested both charged with homicide were held to await the action of 0 the grand jury lest it be forgotten attention should be called to the fact that the idea and the work of reconstructing ting the body was due to grant williams of the new york police and dr of the city testing laboratory service |