Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, December 16, 1915.

It was about 9 o'clock yesterday morning that Lewis Damon, employed by George Ziggunfuss to make excavations,

to deepen the cellar of a building at the northwest corner of Kensington and Adams Avenues,

dug his pick and what seemed to be a heavy block of wood. He called his employer, and together

they began to dig about the obstruction,

finally uncovering a large packing case, into which a trunk had fitted so snugly as to indicate

that it had probably been built for the purpose.

The top of the case was removed disclosing the trunk. With visions of buried treasure, the two men

forced off the lid of the trunk, which was no difficult task because the metal

bindings and the lock had rotted away almost entirely. The sight that met their

eyes caused them to gasp in horror and involuntarily recoil from their find.

The legs and feet, the shoes still good, were uppermost in the trunk.

The head was not visible, nor were of the arms, and the position of the dead man made it seem that his back must have been broken in order to twist the body into the shape in which it lay.

Decomposition had long ago made the corpse unrecognizable. Some of the clothing was in tatters.

The shoes were an excellent condition, however, and the garters still looked

practically new. Damon immediately notified the Frankfurt Police, but before a patrol wagon had

removed the trunk to that station house, hundreds of persons had gazed at the remains of a brutal and

mysterious tragedy.

Many rumors were circulated and there were some sensational tales of missing men,

but all proved to be without foundation after a little investigation.

The local police said that their records for more than a year back

failed to show a report of a missing man who might fit the description

...