The Sun

WAS THE GIRL MURDERED?

THE DOCTORS THINK SHE WAS, BUT THE CORONER DOESN'T.

Joseph Easer, a Lover with Whom Lizzie Buehner Had Quarrelled, Mysteriously Missing—His Successful Rival.

Two jealous lovers of pretty nineteen-year-old Lizzie Buchner, whose body was found Saturday morning on the tracks of the Bushwick branch of the Long Island Railroad in East Williamsburgh, near Maspeth, have been brought to light through the girl's tragic death. The girl, who worked for a family named Snyder at 1,152 Lafayette avenue, Brooklyn, visited her parents in Milton street, East Williamsburgh, on Friday night. Between 10 and 11 o'clock that night she left to go back to her place in Brooklyn. As far as known this was the last time she was seen alive. Her path to the Flushing avenue horse car line crossed the railroad. The next morning her dead body was found, cut in two, on the outer rail of a curve the track makes at this point. The upper portion of the body lay outside the track, while the other part was inside, between the rails.

A secret that the girl concealed until her death was discovered by Drs. A. C. Coombs and Vincent Judson at the autopsy. This disclosed a motive for suicide or murder, and rumors began to circulate. The girl's friends did not hesitate to say it was a murder. They averred that the girl had been waylaid by the person responsible for her condition, who struck her down and then placed her body across the track to make it appear that she had been killed by a train.

Although the Garrison street crossing was not fifty feet away from where the body was found, Friday night was dark and at 10 o'clock, about the time the girl is supposed to have left her home, the village is deserted. It would be an easy matter, some people contend, for a man to knock down a helpless girl in this spot and escape unobserved. Dr. Coombs says the girl's skull was fractured as if with a blunt instrument. He does not believe the fracture was made by the train which ran over her. He believes she was murdered and placed on the track.

The Doctor's testimony went to show that Lizzie's heart had ceased to beat before she was run over. The physicians came to this conclusion because the heart was full of congealed blood, and they asserted that had the heart been working when the girl was struck by the cars it would have continued to beat long enough to force a good deal of blood out of the body and partly to empty itself. It is argued also that death could not have been caused by accident, as when the body was run over it must have been lying on the track. Had the girl been standing up when struck she would have been pushed or thrown off the track. Her body would not have been cut in two without the mangling of her limbs.

Then there are some who think the girl committed suicide to hide her impending shame. The railroad men say it is a case of accidental death. In order to reach Flushing avenue she was compelled to cross the track, when a late train from Fresh Pond to Bushwick rounded the sharp curve and struck her. The fact that her body was cold and rigid and that her clothing was damp proves that she was killed several hours before the body was found next morning at 4½ o'clock.

The blood around the spot had also dried.

On learning of the girl's condition Coroner Brandon began an inquiry to find out who was the girl's lover. Her parents, the family for whom she worked, and many of her friends declared she had none. Nevertheless, Coroner Brandon, with the aid of his officials, found that the girl had quite a number of admirers, and among them were two who, it is said, actually came to blows over the girl.

A suspicious incident connected with the discovery of the rivals is that Coroner Brandon has been unable so far to find one of them. Whether his disappearance is due to timidity or a more serious cause is yet to be determined.

The morning the body was found Constable David Holdsworth went to Brooklyn to ascertain from the Snyder family what they knew of the dead girl's companions. They knew nothing, but there was another servant in the house who informed the constable that her companion had frequently talked to her about her lover. She never mentioned his name, but always referred to him as "Dear Joe." About three weeks ago the servant said the dead girl told her that she had fallen out with "Dear Joe."

The quarrel occurred at a picnic in Feldman's Park, in East Williamsburgh, and not more than 100 feet from where the body was found. She parted in an unfriendly way with him that night and another young man took her home.

When Constable Holdsworth got back to East Williamsburgh he and Coroner Brandon soon learned that "Dear Joe" was Joseph Easer, a milk vender. Easer is about 21 years old. Following this, it was learned that until two months ago John Lauby was the girl's lover. He is 18 years old and he also runs a milk route. Both Lauby and Easer are said to have been intensely jealous of each other, and to have had a number of encounters. As the girl seemed to prefer Easer, Lauby finally ceased his attentions until after she quarrelled with Easer in Feldman's Park. Then she began to accept his attentions again. John Sahr was the man who took her home the night of her quarrel with Easer. This is the only appearance of Sahr in the case as far as is known.

Mrs. Charles Breden, who keeps a candy store in Garrison street, near the railroad, was the first to identify the body after it was discovered on Friday morning. About 8:30 o'clock of the night before she says she was sitting in her store in company with Mary Haegler, who lives next to the railroad track, and her husband, when Richard Feldman, a boy 14 years old, entered with a bouquet. In reply to Mrs. Breden's questions, he said he got the bouquet from Lizzie Buchner.

"Where is she?" inquired Mrs. Breden.

"Oh, she's down on the corner, scrapping with John Lauby," the boy jokingly replied.

This was before the girl arrived at her parents' house. After the discovery of the body, the boy turned the bouquet over to the coroner. It was composed of carnations, heliotropes and geraniums. The girl had asked permission to cut it before she left Mr. Snyder's house in Brooklyn. She said she wanted it for her mother. It is supposed she really intended the bouquet for Lauby, but, in consequence of her quarrel with him, gave it away in his presence to Feldman.

Young Feldman says he met the girl and Lauby in Flushing avenue and North Second street. They were quarrelling. Lauby had been horseback riding, and was standing with the rein over his arm talking to the girl when she gave Feldman the bouquet.

Both Feldman and Lauby were taken before the Coroner yesterday and put through a rigid course of questioning. Lauby admitted meeting Lizzie on Friday evening, and that he talked with her. But he said that Feldman was with her when he rode up on his horse, and that they stood about two hundred yards away from where Feldman said he met them. Lauby also insisted that his conversation with Lizzie was very short. That Lizzie merely said, "How do you do, John?" and he replied, "How do you do, Lizzie?" "Lizzie then said that she was not going to the milkmen's picnic on Monday. Lauby said that he then left Lizzie and rode to Bender's, on the corner of Garrison street and Flushing avenue, where he left an order for some feed for his cows.

He said he had been painting a fence on Friday afternoon and that he worked at it until 8:30 in the evening, after which he went to Bender's on his horse to order the feed. Lauby's mother and little sister corroborated this statement and said that Lauby was not gone over ten minutes. If this is true Lauby was at his home at 8:40. He said he went to bed at 9 o'clock. He slept alone in a room on the ground floor of the house.

Easer is the lover who is missing. A Pinkerton detective is at work trying to discover his whereabouts. The dead girl's belongings were searched yesterday, but not a scrap of paper was found which would give any clue to the dead girl's love entanglements. It was learned, however, that she had made various excuses to Mrs. Snyder to get a night off. Some time ago she asked permission to visit her parents, and she did not get back until the next day. She told Mrs. Snyder she had spent the night with her parents. It has been learned since that she did not go to her home at all that night. When Mrs. Snyder gave her permission to go home last Friday night it was on the plea that her parents wanted to take her to church picnic in Schoemaker's Park. There were no picnics at all in the parks in East Williamsburgh that night.

Coroner Brandon is strongly inclined to believe in the suicide theory. A few weeks more, he said, and it would no longer be possible for the girl to conceal her condition. The Snyder family were going to leave for the Catskills the Monday following and she was to accompany them. They were to be gone three months. She did not dare to go with them, and felt, so the Coroner reasons, that she had to make a decision at once, and so concluded to take her own life. If this thought was in her mind the night she bade her parents good night she did nothing to betray it. She appeared lively and happy. On leaving the house she refused to allow her father to see her across the track to the horse cars. She gave as an excuse that she wanted to bid good night to Mary Haegler, who lived in the house across the track.

The Coroner learned yesterday that a saloon-keeper named Franz Apt in Flushing avenue was circulating a story to the effect that at about 11 o'clock on Friday night he saw a young man, holding a horse with a white forehead, quarrelling with a girl a short distance from his place. When interrogated by the Coroner he said he was not quite certain whether it was a man and girl. Anyhow he didn't think he could identify them if he should see them again. Lauby's horse has a white forehead. Apt did a brisk business on the strength of his story.

The girl was buried in Linden Hills Cemetery late yesterday afternoon. Almost the whole village attended the funeral from the house. A stream of people poured in and out the house all day. The coffin was almost buried beneath the flowers which were heaped on it. The services were conducted by the Rev. Mr. Eiler of the German Church in the village. Coroner Brandon has not set the date for holding the inquest.