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Newspaper
Boston Post
Location
Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America
Date
Nov 06, 1905
Page
4
Medical examiner directs careful preservation of a young girl's head found in a Briggs bag as Undertaker Tinkham begins autopsy work. The scene draws a morbid crowd while police prepare for legal action against those responsible. Superintendent Pierce notes the case as a public service by The Post.
Divers recount the moment they uncovered a concertina case in the mud with blood and a severed head inside. They describe the hunt through darkness and water to recover the case and note the crucial moment when the head was eventually discarded into the river from a moving ferry as they tried to mislead witnesses.
Mrs Geary learns of Susie’s discovery and refuses a funeral. Crawford and Howard drag a heavy trunk and a final head fragment to a Chelsea ferry, tossing it into the harbor. Chief Watts and Captain Dugan announce 125 sworn confession sheets as crucial evidence. Mrs Gilfeather, the nurse at the crime scene, appears to have outpaced police.
Captain W D Duncan recounts searching for the head of Susan Geary under contract with the Boston Post. He cites his submarine and wrecking experience, notes grappling gear failed, and says a skilled diver would have succeeded, praising the Post and public interest. He hopes his work earns approval.
The Crawford Howard case ends with the confession that Susan Geary was killed and dismembered. He and Louis W. Crawford, held in New York, describe moving the body from Winthrop Street to the harbor and later disposing of it after buying suit cases from pawnbrokers Berkman and Rubin. They planned to drop the load from a ferry but avoided it due to onlookers, then continued toward Orient Heights with the burden. Dr. P. D. McLeod is named in the aftercasts under bonds in the suit case mystery.
A Post diver found the head in a Gladstone bag described as 18 inches long, 10 inches deep, and nine inches high. The leather bag features pebbled exterior, stitched sides, nickel catches, and a stitched leather handle, commonly sold for $3 to $4.
Grief stricken Mrs Catherine Geary mother of the suit case mystery victim showed no emotion as final words of New England tragedy reached her Cambridge home on Main Street near Lafayette Square. A reporter was sent to break the news after the earlier interview with the mother when Susan's rings were shown by the Post.
In a Post excerpt from Suspect Howard's confession, the head was allegedly in a small satchel weighed with shot. The two suitcases and brown leather bag were ready as the pair traveled by ferry and trolley between Boston and Orient Heights.
Chief Inspector Watts and Superintendent Pierce of the Boston police arrived at the South terminal at 7 yesterday morning after their New York success in the suitcase mystery. Howard and Crawford, accused by New York authorities, were not with the returning officers as papers for regulation were awaited.
Reported riots spill into the Hebrew quarter with 600 homes and many shops destroyed. Police and soldiers accused of leading mobs while looters pillaged. Red Cross blocked from aid. University complicity and 100 corpses seized. city quiet by night, 140+ dead in Saturday clashes and about 5600 over three days.
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