; THE WEATHER RAIN TO-NIGHT AND TO-MORROW Detailed Re pert. Page • VOL. 77—NO. 61. BODY OF GIRL BURNED BEFORE BONES WERE BURIED IN CELLAR Strong Suspicion Causes Distric Stroup to Order gation by Coroner SolveSouthFourteenthStreet Mystery— Wisp Shred of Clothing Mag Help to Identify Vi ities Seek Names of All Who Have Occupied in Recent Years A wisp of chestnut brown hair and ft bit of calico with a stripe running through it are clues on which may Jiinge the identification of the body of the girl whose bones were dug up in the cellar of 133 South Fourteenth street, yesterday morning by plumbers ■who were digging to lay a sewer. There is strong evidence to support the theory that the girl was murdered. While the authorities have not publicly com mitted themselves to the murder theory, they are known to be investigating on the belief that murder was done. District Attorney Straup said Malay lie has ordered Coroner .BcVinger ,(*> make the fullest possible investigation to include the names of all the persons •who have occupied the house in recent vears. He will later take up the case liimself. The police looked through the records find said at noon to-day that no report of a missing girl sent to police depart ment could be connected with the find ing of the bones in the cellar. Body Burned Before BuriaJ There is no doubt in the minds of the men who uncovered the bones that the girl was murdered. Dr. R. L. Perkins, Coroner's physician, who was asked to make a report on the bones, eaid that he could not positively state that murder had been done but he has found from investigation this morning that the body had first been burned in a fire before it was interred in the basement. C. R. Cashman, a plumber, 206 South I Thirteenth street, whose men uncovered the bones, is of the opinion that the girl was murdered. He had the bones removed to his shop and called in Dr. George H. Widder. who said they were those of a girl between the ages of 16 and IS years. The doctor aavised Cashman to notify Coroner Bokinger. The latter started his investigation at 1 o'clock yesterday afternoon and last night turned the bones over to Dr. Perkins. Dr. Perkins, after having worked on the case all morning, gave out the fol lowing: "I believe the body was burned by j fire before it was buried, for I have burned other bones and the same marks of discoloration have resulted. "What was first believed to be a particle of flesh turned out to be a bit of cloth, a kind of calico with a faint ; btripe running through it. "Some of the bones are missing, among which are the back and the left side of the skull and the smaller bones of the ringers arid toes. The flesh will disappear from buried'bones and I believe that bodj had been buried from ten to fifteen years, judging from the condition it is in." Discovered by Plumbers The plumbers yesterday morning, in seeking a place to dig. found a spot un der the cellar steps leading down from the outside yard at the rear of the building that seemed at first an "old ditch," and there they dug. At toe depth of two feet they found the skull of the interred body. Charles Thomas 126 South Thir teenth street, who made the gruesome discovery, immediately told Cashman, who ordered the hole to be opened up. The "old ditch" was opened. The body was found to have been crowded into a space two feet by tthree feet It ffbe Star- Stikflcwkni | was two feet below the surface. Cashman is certain that he has dis covered the original dimensions of the grave, for the earth surrounding it is firm and does not have the appearance of ever having been disturbed. An old opening can be detected readily teu or fifteen years after it is made, according to Cashman. "Just as the plumbers had to remove the cellar steps to dig, so the murderer, if murder it was, had to remove the steps to dispose of the evidence of his crime," said Cashman. Cashman has been ordered by Cor oner Kekinger to keep the nope open for fHither investigation and has stopped work there. '"lt looks to me like foul pity," Cashman said. "The hole is so small that the body was either doubled up and crowded into it, or it was cut to pieces before burial. The bones looked t > me as though they ware burned by acid. It looks as though the murderer threw acid over the body to hasten decomposition to cover up the crime, for toe men complained that the water burned their hands while they were washing the bones. Skull Appears to Have Been Cleft "The bones are discolored, being mostly black with red and white spots. The skull looks to nie as if a blow from a sharp instrument, like a hatchet, had cleft it on the left side near the 1 nose. That part of the skull is miss i ii»g. The back of it is missing also, ! but small flat pieces of bones were j found. These may be a part of toe : skull. "The tuft of hair was matted but j when washed was a beautiful shade of j chestnut brown. What I at first thought i was a piece of flesh, th£ size of tthe palm Jof a man's hand, was found. To this : was attached a piece of cloth. I am not sure now that it was flesh. The cloth is double thickness—a part of a hem something like toe end of an apron string. It seemed to me as though it was white muslin." The house is now occupied by Elmer E. Stoner, who moved in on February 14, 1914, according to W. E. Jones, real estate agent, who has charge of the property for Miiss Minnie Burtner, 212 •South Fifteenth street, the owner. Jones took charge of the property in 1913 and first icnted it to Jefferson B. Regar, who occupied it for three months but left in February, 1914. It was va cant for a few days until Stoner moved in. At the home of Miss Burtner it was ' said that the house was occupied pre i vious to February, 1914, by a family '■ bv the name of Hoopes, who resided there six or seven years. The property ; was purchased by Miss Burtner from a ; man by the name of M. H. Wagner, j who now resides in Lebanon. Miss Burt ! ner has never ha*! much to do with the I house, she said, for she has always had a real estate dealer care for it, except for a time while the Hoopes occupied it when she collected the rent herself. Noticed Odor in the Cellar The R-egars still reside in Harrisburg Continued OB Twelfth Pace. j CALLS IN FIRE MARSHAL ' Chief Kindler Investigates Blaze in Tailor Shop Fire was discovered in the tailor shop ! of Lewis Bergfeld, 621 North Second I street, this morning at 6 o'clock by neighbors. The Hope Coinipany was called and chemical streams extinguish ed the blaze. Fire Chief Kindler in vestigated the fire and has turned it over to the State Fire '.Marshal for fur ther investigation. A slight fire in one of the guest rooms at the Pennsylvania hotel, 313 Verbeke street, this morning, destroyed the basket ajnd burned a small portion of woodwork before extinguished by i 'hotel attaches. No firVmen were called. HARRISBURG, PA., SATURDAY EVENING, FEBRUARY 13, 1915 12 PAGES HITS in 101«CGI Heagy Makes Confes sion Implicating Gibb and 2 Other Men in SBOO Holdup TELLS STOR Y OF ATTACK Former Sheriff of Potter County Was Left Unconscious on Trolley Tracks —Police Hope to Recovery Jewelry In Pittsburgh Albert Heagy and John E. Gibbs, . Jr., Steelton men, who last Wednesday , were arrested in Ohio, to 5 which city, it is charged, they fled after ,; attarking and robbing J. F. Higgins. of 11 Austin, Fa., were brought to Harris r burs by Constable James Haines at 6 , j o'clock last evening and lodged in the ! l>auphin county jail. Higgins, a friend ,I of former State Senator Baldwin, of i Potter county, was beaten and robbed , near Highspire on January 19, last, s ' after he had come to this city to attend the inauguration of Governor Brum ' baugh. ! This morning Gibb was admitted to j bail after Judge McCarrell had fixed ' the amount of the bond at |1,500. Tom proprietor of the Half Way > house, Steelton, became his boudsman. j Heagy, who is a machinist and has a wife and son, was una.de to get bail. ' Following Gibb's release Heagv made ' a statement to District Attorney 1 Stroup. The prosecutor said that Heagv, . ! besides confessing to the highway rob r ' bery charge and implicating Gibb'ns an | accomplice, implicated also two strang -1 j ers, whose names he does not know, but , I who. he said, planned the robberv plot -1 against Higgins. , | Victim a Former Sheriff Higgins formerly was Sheriff of Pot | ter county. He is a middle-aged man | and, according to Heagy's story, was : in a Market street hotel just before the . trip, during which he was attacked and . j robbed. Heagy and Gibb will be given a preliminary hearing before Alderman ' C. E. Murray on Tuesdav afternoon at > : 2 o 'clock. -I The District Attorney asserts Heig.v , said that the party induced Higgins to j aicompany them to the hite House , la,ie .' below Highspire, on the represen tation that he would be taken to an hlks club house, this being a part of the I plan, he said, that was a Ivanced by toe ' strangers who were sup|>osed to carrv . <«t the robbery an I give Heagv and i ( Gibb halt of the spoils. The strangers were on hand when tne trio left the trollev car at the lane and, Heagy said, he and Gibb'walked 1 out the I""?, on the east side of the Continued un Twelfth Pntte. POST 58. C. fl. R HGNORS THE MEMORY OF LINCOLN i Captain John H. Campbell and Chap lain Staley, of the House of Repre sentatives, the Principal Speakers at Patriotic Gathering Last Night I Post 58, Grand Army of the Repub lic. with members of visiting posts, Sons ( of Veterans and members of the For j eign War Service and ladies of the G. A. R., last night held a Lincoln me morial service in the post room at . Third and Strawberry streets and . heard Captain Jonn H. Campbell, of , the Internal Affairs Department, make a most eloquent address on the life of the martyred President. C aptain Campbell made particular ■ reference to three of Lincoln's most famous speeches—that at Cooper Un ion, New \ork; the famous "lost ' speech'' at Springfield, Illinois, and the • Gettysburg speech, quoting from ail of them, and read toe letter Lincoln sent the mother who had lost five sons in battle. He also recited a number of stories and tokl of Lincoln's love of humor. Iu closing the speaker j>aid a beautiful tribute to Lincoln, the man. Chaplain Staley, of the House of Representatives, a former Middletown clergyman and member of Post 58, now residing in Philadelphia, told of Lin coln's visit to the Union hospital after the Seven Days fight iu frout of Rich mond, where Mr. Staley, then a mere boy, lay ill from fever, and of Lin coln's clasping his hand and wishing him well. He said tihat visit of Lin coln had an influence on his after life that was potent for good. Thomas M. Jones spoke briefly on boy life in Harrisburg during the Civil war. The speakers were given a ris ing vote of thanks by the old and young veterans. TURKISH CAVALRY ON WA Y TO THE FIRING LINE 'Hi? cavalry division of the Turkish army Is an important unit of the Sultan's forres The photograph übo< is it recent one and shows a body of these splendid fighters answering a call to the front ASSISIAHI CHIEF s MS HUE Halbert Falls Fifteen Feet From Roof and Is Rushed to Hos pital in Auto HAY MARES A DENSE SMOKE Firemen Have Hard Battle With Flames Which Wreck the Plant of the Har risfcurg Stone Works—Valuable Ma chinery Is Damaged Wr fiiiiuiib Bg| EDWARD HALBERT Assistant Fire Chief Who Was Injured While Fighting Blaze To-day Fire starting sihortly before noon to day near the electric motor in the cut ting shop at the Harrisburg Stone Works, Seventeenth and Mulberry streets, owned by John Black, gutted that large one-and-a-half story frame building, which also contained the draughting room and a loft which was well filled with hay. The loss will amount to $7,000 and is partly covered by insurance. No men were working in the build ing at the time the fire was discovered. A caretaker, wlio was on the outside, noticed flames in the cutting shop. He caused the alarm to be turned in from box No. 17, Seventeenth and Market streets. In responding to this box most of the fire companies went several blocks out of their way to the blaze and consequently were late in getting streams on the building. Later an alarm was turned in from a box nearer the scene of the fire. Assistant Fire Chief Edward Hal bert, who was among the first to arrive, was assisting in laying a line of hose from a small shed at the side of the Continued on Twelfth Pace. EMM Hi EXPECTED British Government's Answer to American NoteWillProbablyße Forthcoming Soon USING NEUTRAL FLAG CONTENTION London Newspapers Unite in Express ing Opinion That U. 3. Colors Will Be Displayed Only on British War ships Under Certain Conditions By Associated Press. London. Feb. 13. 12.15 P. M.—That the British government will have no difficulty in giving an early reply to the American uote on the use ot' the American flag by British merchantmen is the contention of the afternoon pa pers of London. which virtually unite in expressing the opiuion that a neutral flag will he used by British vessels only as an intimation to German warships that there are neutral passengers and goods aboard. Tho "Pall Mall Gazette" attaches "ijjimense significance" to the phrase in the American note to Germany— "or cause the death of American citi zens" —ais meaning t/hat Americans aboard British ships will be equally protected by the home government as those on board American ships. The "Evening Standard," basing its judgment on the tenor of the American notes, says: "It is plain in which di rection America looks for the possibil ity of trouble. If Germany does not now understand the meaning of the note and realize the false position iDto which she has been led by the arro gance of the official minds in Berlin she must abide by the issue." Lusitania Flies British Flag By Associated Press. Liverpool, via London, Feb. 13, 4.14 P. M. —The Cunard line steamer Lusi tani t, the vessel which flew tile Ameri can flag across the Irish sea on her last trip in, as a measure of protection against German submarines, sailed from Liverpool for New York at her usual hour to-day under the British flag. ZAPATA IMPERILS CAPITAL His Forces Destroy the Water Works In Mexico City and Situation Becomes Critical By Asrociated Press. Washington, D. C., Feb. 13.—Zapata forces have destroyed the water works in Mexico City, the food famine has become more critical and indications are that Carranza forces may soon evacuate, official advices to .the Ameri can government say to-day. BUILDING CAVES IN fISELACKWELL STARTS A SPEECH Back Wall Crashes as Negro Orator Begins Thundering Praises of Abraham Lincoln AUDIENCE GO OUT OP' WINDOWS One Hundred Colored Voters in Wild Panic in Second Floor of Hall in Steelton—Some Leap to Ground, Otherß Come Down Telegraph Poles Peter S. Blackwell, the spectacular leader of the colored Republican forces in Steelton, noted as the political orator who gave Republican County Ohairman William H. Horner the title of '' Coron ious Leader,'' was about to start an oration on "Lincoln, the Great Emanci pator," in a Steelton hall last night, when part of the building fell down and there was a wild panic among his audience of 100 negro voters. About 9.30 o'clock, when the audi ence wag assembled in Blackwell's hall, Adams street, to attend a memorial meeting in memory of Abrahajn Lincoln, the bulky form of Blackwell was dis cerned ascending the steps leading to the second story, where the auditorium is located. His entrance was greeted with loud and prolonged applause from his admirers, and this made the building shake. Blackwell, who was on the program to deliver the principal "oration," was introduced by John W. Bailor in a short speech, wthieh made out Black well to be hardly less of a statesman than President Lincoln himself. Wihen Blackwell stepped to the frout of the platform to begin his remarks the ap plause was vehemently repeated and again the building swayed. At this juncture Blackwell, with fire in his eyes and with a sweep of his arm half way across the platform, opened his mouth and was about to Continued on Twelfth Pace. Hurled to Death in Stone Crusher (Special to the Slar-lndependent.) Rheems, Pa., Feb. 13. —When his clothing was caught by a rapidly mov ing belt, George Shields, Jr., 21 years old, was thrown bodily into one of the big stone crushers at the Landis Broth ers' stone quarry here yesterday after noon and so badly injured that he died shortly afterward. His parents survive him. Gardner Out for County Commissioner Another candidate for the nomina tion for County Conunissuoner on the Democratic ticket has come to the front in the person of Alfred Is. Gardner, of the Ninth ward. Mr. Gardner served in Solect Council from his ward and is widely knoiwn among the Democratic voters. POSTSCRIPT It' I PRICE, ONE OENT. BIG BATTLE IS AGAIN ON IN ARGONNE The Western Front Scene of Struggle Be tween Germans and the Allies ACTIVITY SHOWN IN EAST PRUSSIA Reported Victory of the Kaiser's Forces in the Czar's Domain Causes Sub jects of Emperor William to Renew Faith in Ultimato Success Paris, Feb. 13.—Heavy fighting is in progress once more in the Argonno ami the Vosges which have now become the most bitterly contented sections of the western battlefront. Otherwise the op posing armies in that war theatre are at a standstill. The activity o