Unknown

“ They strolled into a saloon on the Guttenberg road and had some beer. After leaving it he told her he wanted to go back to New York, and she objected. As they were talking, two men, he asserted, came along the road. One of them said to the woman: “Hello, Mina! what are you doing over here?” When he heard this familiar language he turned to his companion, and said: “If you are that kind of a woman, I’ll have nothing to do with you,” and then he parted from her, leaving her with the two men. ”

“ That was the day on which the murder was committed. Kenkowsky admitted that he had taken the money. He said that after he had left Mina with the two men at Union Hill, he returned to New York city and went home. There he found the $5 piece, which his wife had saved, and put it in his pocket. When he was told of the arrest of Emden he seemed to be very much surprised. He said he knew Emden, and had become acquainted with him only a short time ago.
“But,” he exclaimed, “he is as innocent as I am.” ”

“ Seide came over to New York early Thursday morning, May 19th, and proceeded at once to look for the man who was supposed to have taken Kettler’s baggage from Scherrer’s Hotel to the pier. Scherrer had seen the man in the neighborhood quite frequently, but did not know his name or where he kept. He, however, described him to Seide as a tall, well-built man, with dark moustache and dark complexion. The reporter started out, and visited the truck stands between Christopher and Twentieth streets, but could not find his man. ”

“ Finerty says that Kenkowsky is one of the most powerful men he has seen; that when he tried to shake the cell gate he could see the muscles moving beneath his sleeves.
The news that the Guttenberg murderer had been captured spread rapidly in the neighborhood, and by eight o’clock in the morning some 400 persons were in Thirty-seventh street, pressing toward the police station and standing on either side of the station nearly all the way to Ninth and Tenth avenues. ”

“ Muller sold his store out on April 1, and removed to his present place in Thirtieth street. Mr. Schmidt said that Kettler, after marrying his sister, undoubtedly led her to the lonely place of the murder for the sole purpose of28 killing and robbing her of the $116 which she had, and the gold watch and chain.
As Mrs. Muller left her brother’s house on Sunday she said to the saloon-keeper on the ground floor, “I’ve got another man—a nice man now—and I’m all right again.” ”

“ Strang inquired for Kettler, but was told that no man of that name lived there; but that a man corresponding to the description lived one flight up with a wife and two children. Strang took the trunk up stairs, and found a woman, a young boy, and a little girl in the room designated. The woman said the trunk belonged to Martin Kenkouwsky, her husband, and offered to pay fifty cents for its delivery. Strang then signalled to Seide and Stanton that the man was not in, and the reporter and detective went to an adjoining house, and received permission to watch from the windows. ”

“ Martin Kenkouwsky, alias Louis Kettler, the murderer of Mrs. Mina Muller, was captured on the night of May 19th, 1881, by Policemen Morris Fitzgerald and Richard Tregonning of the Thirty-seventh street police station, as he was walking in Thirty-sixth street, near Tenth Avenue, New York City. The clue which led to his detection was discovered and followed out almost to the end by Gustavus A. Seide, a reporter for a Jersey City newspaper, and compares, as a piece of amateur detective work, with the detection of Chastine Cox, the murderer of Mrs. Hull. ”

“ When Chief Donovan heard this story he telegraphed to Jersey City for the girl, and she was taken to Hoboken by Detective Bowe. Kenkowsky and a number of other persons were admitted to the large drill room of the station, and the girl was then led in and requested to point out the man. No sooner had she entered the apartment than she walked opposite to Kenkowsky, looked at him steadily for an instant, and then, as she waved her umbrella toward him, exclaimed:
“Das ist der man.”
“Ask him,” said Chief Donovan to Aid Ringe, “whether he has ever seen this woman before.” ”

“ Scherrer of Scherrer’s Hotel at 178 Christopher street, to which place Norke had carried the trunks and bundles belonging to the woman who gave her name as Mina Miller, informed the detectives that on Monday evening, May 2, a German went there with an express wagon containing four trunks, a bundle of bedding, and a valise.
“The man,” Scherrer said, “afterwards introduced a woman who he said was his wife. She was very talkative and had all the money and paid all the bills. ”

“ At 1511 Second avenue, whither the detectives next proceeded, they found a German woman named Mrs. Schwan, who keeps a dyeing establishment. She did not know any man named Kettler, but she said that a man who answered in every respect the description of Kettler had lived in the house, but had moved about the first of May. He had lived, she said, with a young widow, to whom she had heard he was married. Mrs Schwan described the woman, and again the description tallied with that of the murdered woman. Mrs. Schwan had been told that the woman had another husband living in Thirty-ninth street. ”

“ Policeman Fitzgerald arrested him. He offered no resistance, and his only exclamation was in German: “Was ist? was ist? was ist?” He was at once taken to the station, where he was locked up. Sergeant Brown was sent down for Scherrer, and a policeman was despatched for Strang. Scherrer arrived about twenty minutes after the arrest, and identified the prisoner as the man who had been at his house under the name of Kettler. Strang also soon appeared, and he too identified Kettler. ”

“ Philomena Muller, the wife of Simon Muller, a tobacconist, at 502 West20 Thirtieth street, N. Y. Mr. Muller called at the Morgue at 3 o’clock on the afternoon of May 18th, in company with a lady whom he introduced as Miss Maria Schmidt, his wife’s sister. He said they desired to look at the body. They were led into the damp vault, and at sight of the body Miss Schmidt was overcome, and she retired to the adjoining basement. Mr. Muller gazed upon the body calmly. The jewelry and clothing of the dead woman were shown to him, and he positively identified them as the property of his wife. ”

“ I think Kenkowsky’s wife found out that Emden had given me information, and she45 tried, out of revenge, to throw suspicions on him. Emden has lived three years in the district, and is a quiet, well-behaved man. Chief Donovan was perfectly willing that Emden should be set at liberty. Emden will accompany me to testify at the inquest. He certainly has not behaved like a man who has committed a murder. ”

“ As the couple had not provided a witness, the clergyman called in John Schuman, a barber in Union street, Union Hill.22 The man and woman made satisfactory replies to the usual questions, and they were married in legal form. After the ceremony they subscribed the following record of the marriage, which is now in Mr. Mabon’s possession:
On Tuesday, May 3, 1881, Louis Kettler, single, aged 33, bricklayer by occupation, and residence 1511 Second avenue, New York, married to Mina Schmidt, single, aged 34, residence, 1247 Third avenue, New York. ”

“ I told him that it could not be so, for that she had gone to Germany with a man from Alsace. I went to the French steamship wharf on the day I heard they were to sail, and watched for her until the ship sailed, but she did not come. I was married to her five years ago. ”