HOUSE OF GLOOM.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 165, 14 July 1928, Page 3 (Supplement)

HOUSE OF GLOOM.

WEALTHY MERCHANT'S FATE.

A NEW YORK PROBLEM

Julius Rosenheimer, a wealthy merchant of !New York City, built a handsome mansion for himself and his three married children on a high point of ground near Pelham, New York. It was the show place of that section and attracted general attention. One evening in. June, 1907, Mr. Rosenheimer and Ids wife went out for a stroll through the beautiful gardens of the estate. On their way back to the house they noticed two shadowy figures climbing over the wall. Ihe husband told his wife to wait for him while he went to speak to the intruders. It was rather dark bv this time, and a few minutes after he had left her Mrs. Kosenheimer heard a cry of anguish from her husband. She shrieked and fell in a faint. These cries aroused the household, and in a short time her son and son-m-law came rushing into the garden. They found Julius Rosenheimer dead, under a tree, with his head crushed m three places. The watch of the victim was missing f?.? A supposed that he had been Killed for his money. But a closer search brought out the fact that his wallet, containing £12, had not been touched. Uther bank notes in his other pocket made the police begin to doubt the theory of robbery. Edward Rosenheimer offered a reward of £1000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of his father s murderers. A similar reward was offered by the authorities of Pelham. eVCT . £oun<i and «ome of the detectives on the case came to the conclusion that it had been a carefully conceived crime for the ink? of revenge. Bloodhounds. Footprints were discovered near the scene of the crime, *and bloodhounds were brought to Pelham in the-hope of fallowing them to a definite conclusion, •i fc t^e^" cen ' wa " lost within a halfmile ofthe railroad station. A train had left this station twenty minutes after the crime, but, seemingly, no one had boarded it* The police arrested every suspicious character _ found in the neighbourhood, but they had to be released, one by one, for want of evidence. I SSim,o _ i m , innocent persons were being tbe rewards, on the ad?ice of the authorities, were finally withdrawn. On the night of the murder* man who was wandering in that part of the country, telephoned to the police that he had been held-np by a couple of ban- & j BO contradictory •tones that his evidence was useless. In the hope of finding the weapon with JS. ™ was committed, detectives dragged the creek on the estate, but it brought forth nothing to help the bewildered investigators. extended to New Xork City. One man in the Bronx said that he had overheard a professional crook a few days before the murder boast of having received an offer of money "to do up an old man who was in the habit of walking in his garden every evening." But that clue failed to throw any light upon the mystery Why anybody should have taken the life of such an inoffensive man, except for gain, is hard to understand. The broken-hearted widow, prostrated by her loss, would not remain in the great mansion. She took an extended trip abroad in order to forget the tragedy, and when she, returned, leased an apartment in New York City. Fate seems to have dogged the inmates of that beautiful home. The eldest son was killed by a train on the New York Central. a Another son met with an automobile accident on a country road which resulted in the accidental killing of a young girl. In 1911, the house itself, while in charge of a caretaker, caught fire and burned to the ground. What caused it was never discovered,.