10

THE MYSTERIOUS PACKAGE

In which Italian sculptor Giuseppe F. Sala makes a startling claim that he was involved with men who stole Stewart’s body. Sala had previously been mixed up in the infamous Cardiff Giant hoax, in which a giant was reportedly discovered on a farm in upstate New York. The “giant” turns out to be a body carved out of gypsum by Sala. His claim regarding the body of A. T. Stewart turns out to be merely another hoax. In August 1881, new leads come to light when New York City private detective J. M. Fuller reports he has received a mysterious package that includes a painting showing where Stewart’s body is buried in Cypress Hills Cemetery.

No sooner had the Jones involvement in the case of A. T. Stewart’s remains ended than another controversy arose, this time involving Giuseppe Sala, an Italian sculptor. Sala took his story to the authorities and directly to Judge Hilton. Sala claimed that he met several people in 1876 who were planning to steal Stewart’s body from St. Mark’s. He claimed that one of the conspirators was a beautiful young woman who bankrolled the robbery and served as the leader of the gang of thieves. The gang had three other members, all men.

Sala was known to the gang because of his role in several hoaxes, including arguably the most famous hoax in American history, that of the Cardiff Giant. Sala alleged that his participation in the Cardiff scam began when New York tobacconist George Hull hired him to sculpt a ten-foot-tall giant out of gypsum. Hull had the giant buried and then dug up on October 16, 1869, by workers preparing a well behind the barn of William Newell in Cardiff, New York. The “giant” was hailed as a petrified man, and a tent was erected over it. People came from all over to pay fifty cents each to see the famous Cardiff Giant. Hull later sold the giant for thirty-seven thousand dollars to a group of investors, who moved it to Syracuse, New York, to put on display. P. T. Barnum even had an imitation made.

According to Sala, the gang of thieves who stole Stewart’s body knew all about the illicit Cardiff Giant affair, as well as other shady ventures he had participated in. He further claimed that the gang wanted Sala to petrify the bones of A. T. Stewart. Sala told the police that besides his uncanny ability to carve humanlike statues, he was adept at the process of preserving the remains of the dead. Sala said he agreed to join the gang, demanding that his share be paid in advance and that all his expenses be paid for. He said that they had struck a deal and that the gang reportedly first planned to steal the body of Benedict Arnold (1741–1801), the infamous Revolutionary War traitor, who was buried in a cemetery in London.

Sala and his colleagues abandoned their scheme when they discovered that the English police were far more vigilant in protecting the dead than the police were in America. They then discussed several other options, including an attempt at replicating the infamous Cardiff Giant with a sculpted figure they would bury near the Giant’s Causeway in Ireland. It would be unearthed and hailed as the petrified remains of Finn McCool, the giant of the causeway.

The Giant’s Causeway, on the northeast coast of Northern Ireland, is a mesmerizing mass of tightly packed stone columns. According to the Northern Ireland Tourist Board, “The tops of the columns form stepping stones that lead from the cliff foot and disappear under the sea. Altogether there are 40,000 of these stone columns.” Irish legend has it that Finn McCool was a giant who built the stone causeway as a path to take to Scotland to battle his Scottish counterpart and archenemy, the giant Benandonner.

The gang decided to proceed with the Irish endeavor, and Sala reportedly sculpted their giant Finn McCool. This time, however, when the giant stone hoax was unearthed and rumors swirled that it was the petrified remains of Finn McCool, the Irish press and scientists immediately uncovered the attempted deception, and the gang fled back to America to hatch another plot.

Still under the leadership of the unknown beautiful woman, the gang discussed stealing Stewart’s body and holding it for ransom. According to Sala, he had a falling out with the woman and parted ways with the schemers. Shortly after that, Sala told authorities, he read the newspaper accounts of the theft of Stewart’s remains. He knew immediately it was the work of his former colleagues.

Sala agreed to take the police to Troy, New York, where he claimed he would be able to identify the woman and her accomplices. He told the police that one of the gang members was named Ford and that the beautiful unnamed woman was Ford’s wife or mistress. Sala and several New York City detectives went to Troy, but upon arrival, Sala had a change of heart, claiming that he feared for his life and wanting assurances from Hilton that he would pay for his personal protection. Hearing this, Judge Hilton was reported to have said, “Let the matter rest.” And rest it did. Sala was not heard from afterward.

SALA’S REMARKABLE STORY

AN ITALIAN STONE-CUTTER’S QUEER EXPERIENCES—

One Series Of Clues Given To The Police

Shortly after the robbery in St. Mark’s Church-yard, Judge Hilton was visited by Giuseppe F. Sala, an Italian sculptor, who now has a studio at No. 141 West Thirty-fourth-street, on the site of the old Gospel tent. Sala speaks English poorly, and when he visited Judge Hilton he tried his patience by his inability to talk as quickly and distinctly as the Judge, who is at times impatient, desired. Sala, however, told part of his story to Judge Hilton, and the rest to a person in his confidence. It was an extraordinary one, and its entire verification involved the expenditure of a large sum. It was, however, considered of sufficient importance to warrant an outlay of about $75, to enable Sala to go to Troy and point out some persons, who, according to him, were implicated in the grave robbery. Sala went to Troy, but failed to do what he promised.

—New York TimesAugust 14, 1879

“There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bear children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.”

—Genesis 6:4, King James Bible

MORE FACTS ABOUT SALA

The Man Who Thought He Knew Who

Stole Stewart’s Body—His Friends In Troy

Troy, Aug. 14—Sala, who was mentioned in THE TIMES to-day as the exposer of a band of resurrectionists, lived in Troy about 10 years ago. He was born in Italy, and is a man of ability, but was a slave to liquor during his residence here. He went to Ireland a few years ago with E.J. Ford and a stone-cutter named Dye. They took with them a stone image, which they subsequently endeavored to pass upon the Irish people as the petrified body of Finn McCool. They returned about three years ago and Ford, whose father had meantime been elected Superintendent of the Poor of this county, made him his clerk. Last year a committee of the Supervisors reported that grave frauds marked the administration of the Poor Department, in consequence of which the senior Ford resigned, and he and his son and others were charged. They are now out on bail awaiting trial. While Ford is tricky and unprincipled, it is not believed by his acquaintances that he would dare to embark in so great an undertaking as the stealing of Stewart’s body. It is thought here that Sala has told the truth on non-essential and falsehoods on essential points.

—New York Times
August 15, 1879

As the case of Stewart’s missing corpse dragged on and on, it was becoming increasingly obvious that the New York City Police Department was simply not competent. The entire matter became the subject of ridicule and parody. Puck, an irreverent New York City–based humor magazine, ran a series of unflattering cartoons depicting Henry Hilton as a self-indulgent puppet master with the missing remains of A. T. Stewart as the puppet, pulling the strings in the ongoing investigation fiasco. The cartoons leveled the harshest criticism upon Hilton’s arrogant behavior in his dealings with the city’s Jewish community and his handling of the Jones affair. Many felt privately what the cartoons expressed publicly—that Hilton was manipulating the case to feather his own financial nest, while at the same time, running A. T. Stewart’s once prosperous retail empire into the ground.

As if Puck’s indictment of him wasn’t enough, none other than America’s premiere humorist, Mark Twain, decided to get in on the act. His parody of the Stewart affair, written in 1879 and called “The Stolen White Elephant,” was published in 1882. The story features an Indian elephant that disappears in New Jersey just before it is to be shipped to Britain as a gift from the King of Siam to the Queen of England. In Twain’s story, the local police and the case of the missing elephant are headed by Chief Inspector Blunt. Twain reportedly modeled Blunt after Allan Pinkerton, the director of the famous Chicago-based Pinkerton National Detective Agency, and gave Blunt an assistant named Burns, reportedly modeled after New York City’s top cop, Captain Thomas Byrnes.

The story is replete with satirical headlines from various New York City newspapers, similar to the real headlines that appeared during the coverage of the Stewart case, and absurd letters similar to the ones sent by Romaine and others claiming to know where the body was hidden. In the tale, the police undertake a massive investigation, but the mystery ends badly for everyone involved. The story was originally to appear in Twain’s book A Tramp Abroad, published in 1880, but was left out of that work. In a preface to the short story, Twain wrote that he left it out of A Tramp Abroad because it was feared that some of the particulars had been exaggerated and that others were not true. Before these suspicions had proven groundless, the book had gone to press.

In the story, the overconfident Inspector Blunt orders his men to search for the missing white elephant throughout New York and in other neighboring states. The bungling police are unable to locate the elephant despite paying out a sizable ransom to the elephant thieves. Ultimately the missing elephant is found right beneath the very noses of the police, in a hidden vault—a vault in which police officers played cards and slept—but the poor animal is dead. Still, the incompetent Blunt is hailed as a hero. The story was a scathing indictment of the entire Stewart disaster, the police, the Pinkertons, and Henry Hilton.

“Now, what does the elephant eat, and how much?”

“Well, as to what he eats,—he will eat anything. He will eat a man, he will eat a Bible,—he will eat anything between a man and a Bible.”

“Good,—very good indeed, but too general. Details are necessary.—details are the only valuable things in our trade. … How many Bibles would he eat at a meal?”

“He would eat an entire edition.”

“It is hardly succinct enough. Do you mean the ordinary octavo, or the family illustrated?”

—Mark Twain, “The Stolen White Elephant,” 1879

For two long years, the A. T. Stewart case languished. If indeed there was any investigation, neither Hilton nor the police spoke of it, and the city’s newspapers had little to publish. Cornelia Stewart appeared to be at peace, although no one knew why. Speculation was that Hilton had convinced her of a miraculous recovery of her husband’s stolen body, which he told her lay at rest in the crypt at the cathedral being built for him in Garden City. Meanwhile, Hilton brushed away any questions regarding the case as arrogantly as he brushed aside the ongoing dispute with the Jewish community. By then, the police were on to more pressing matters, including the apprehension of the thieves who broke into the Manhattan Savings Institution in October 1878 and stole close to three million dollars in cash and securities.

For all its sensationalism, the case slipped into obscurity following the Romaine incident, and the last news of any merit for two years appeared in late August 1879.

Yet, the public and the newspapers’ fascination remained in the background, and despite the two-year hiatus in media attention, the Stewart case again came to the forefront of the city’s attention in August 1881. Reports surfaced that private detectives were working on a large excavation project at Cypress Hills Cemetery on Long Island in search of what they hoped were the remains of A. T. Stewart.

A.T. STEWART’S REMAINS

THE NEWLY AROUSED INTEREST

IN CYPRESS HILLS CEMETERY.

A Large Number Of People Visit The

Place Yesterday—The Search To Be

Resumed To-Day

The story of the recent moves made by the Fuller Detective Bureau … was on every lip, and argumentative visitors discuss the case in every aspect, few agreeing upon any essential point. There were those present who energetically scoffed at the idea of any importance attaching to the newly declared clues, many maintaining that the dead millionaire’s remains were safely sealed in the crypt at Garden City. Others as earnestly contended that Detective Fuller’s clues were worthy of the most thorough investigation. … He [J.M. Fuller] summarized the story … beginning with the receipt on the evening of the 13th of the oil sketch of the landscape in Cypress Hills from the mysterious woman who disappeared and could not be found. … Upon the picture was plainly written within a grave shaped diagram: Cypress Hills: Stewart is buried here. … Fuller spoke of his having entered into a correspondence with Judge Hilton, who seemed to have exhibited much interest in the matter, and had dispatched from Saratoga a representative specially to act in his stead.

—New York Times
August 22, 1881

“Judge Hilton does not bear a single penny of the expenses. Mr. E.D. Harris accompanied me to the cemetery on Saturday and our investigations were begun under his supervision and with his endorsement, but every move of importance that has been made in the case has been my own. Do I believe that Mr. Stewart’s body is really buried here? Of course, there is a strong doubt in my mind as to that, but to me it seems that everything favors the idea that the grave is located here, and that our clues will turn out to be no hoax.”

—J. M. Fuller, Fuller’s New York Detective Bureau, August 1881

Despite the revived widespread attention to the search for A. T. Stewart, it played second fiddle to an even more dastardly crime and one with more far-reaching effect—the assassination of President James A. Garfield, who was shot and seriously wounded on Saturday, July 2, 1881. Garfield was fired upon as he walked through the waiting room of the Baltimore & Potomac Railroad in Washington, D.C. He was on his way to deliver a speech at his alma mater, Williams College.

Garfield, the twentieth president of the United States, died on September 19, 1881, eleven weeks after the shooting. While bedridden at the White House, he suffered from fever, hallucinations, and extreme pain. On September 6, 1881, he was transported to Long Branch, New Jersey, to escape the sweltering heat of Washington. By then, blood poisoning had set in. Although doctors had probed the wound and extracted the bullet near his spine, he became increasingly weak and sick. He died of a massive heart attack on the morning of September 19.

His assassin, Charles J. Guiteau, was an emotionally disturbed man who had failed to gain an appointment in Garfield’s administration. Guiteau fired two bullets at Garfield. One bullet grazed his arm, but the other lodged in his back. Garfield had no bodyguards with him at the time.

During his trial, Guiteau claimed that Garfield’s murder was “an act of God” and that he was only serving as an instrument of God’s will. His trial became a media sensation, largely because of Guiteau’s increasingly bizarre behavior: He recited poems he had written to the jury, sang a rendition of “John Brown’s Body,” and sent notes to spectators imploring them to help him with his defense.

His trial was one of the first high-profile cases in the American judicial system during which the defense entered an insanity plea on behalf of its client. Guiteau vehemently disputed his lawyers’ claims. The jury found him guilty on January 25, 1882, and he was hanged on June 30, 1882, in the District of Columbia. Standing on the scaffold, Guiteau asked to recite a poem he had written called “I Am Going to the Lordy.”

A GREAT NATION IN GRIEF

PRESIDENT GARFIELD SHOT BY

AN ASSASSIN.

Though Seriously Wounded He Still Survives

The Would Be Murderer Lodged In Prison.

The President Of The United States

Attacked And Terribly Wounded By

A Fanatical Office-Seeker On The Eve Of Independence Day—The Nation Horrified And The Whole Civilized World Shocked—The President Still Alive And His Recovery

Possible.

The appalling intelligence came from Washington yesterday morning that President Garfield had been assassinated and was dead. Later dispatches, however, modified this startling news by the announcement that the President, while dangerously wounded, was still living, and that there was a slight hope of his recovery.

—New York Times
July 3, 1881

THE TRAGEDY IN THE DEPOT

Guiteau Fires His Cruel Shots From

Behind The President—The Wounded

Man’s Removal To The White House—Amazement And Horror Of The Populace

—New York TimesJuly 3, 1881

While the country was absorbed in news concerning Garfield’s hoped-for recovery and subsequent death, New York City kept an eye on the A. T. Stewart mystery. J. M. Fuller’s investigation into Stewart’s missing remains began when a mysterious package was delivered to his offices at 841 Broadway on Saturday, August 13, 1881.

A small, unidentified boy delivered the package, expertly wrapped in white paper, directly to Fuller. According to the boy, he was acting on instructions given to him by a shadowy woman. In his small hand, the boy was holding a silver coin the woman had given to him as payment for making the delivery. Although detectives grilled him about the identity of his employer, he was unable to describe her. Detectives took the boy with them as they scoured Broadway and several other blocks looking for the woman and trying to have the boy pick her out of the crowd. It was useless. The young messenger knew nothing about the woman. It was another dead-end, except for the package.

The package included an enigmatic note, not unlike the host of other messages that had surfaced during the early days of the Stewart investigation. The message read: “The violet bed was removed the middle of April, 1881. Do not make in­quiries of the man about the grounds or allow the painting to be seen. You will be followed if you are seen making special observations.” It was signed with the letters: COR.

The package also contained a twelve-inch-by-twelve-inch, ornately framed oil painting on stretched canvas. The painting, which was by all accounts done by a skilled practitioner of the arts, was of a cemetery with various roads and trees. In its center was a large oak tree and below it two flat stones resembling grave markers. Next to the stones was what looked like a mound of freshly dug soil. On the mound were painted the words: “Cypress Hills. Stewart is buried here.”

A cautious and conservative man by nature and profession, Fuller still came to the conclusion that the painting indicated the burial site of A. T. Stewart. It was not a conclusion Fuller came to readily or without great pains. Why Fuller was chosen to receive the mysterious package remained a mystery, although it was assumed that whoever sent the package knew that Fuller’s detective agency had worked for Judge Hilton during the earliest investigation into the disappearance of Stewart’s body. The sender must have assumed that Fuller had access to Hilton and hence would be able to negotiate if need be for the return of the body. Perhaps the most substantial reason for choosing Fuller was that he was not the type of man or detective to be easily fooled or to engage in a snap judgment merely to arouse sensational speculation and headlines. By all accounts he was an excellent choice. With J. M. Fuller in the lead, the A. T. Stewart case again made headlines.

STEWART’S BODY SOUGHT

AN IMPORATNT EXCAVATION

BEGUN AT CYPRESS HILLS.

The Clue On Which Mr. Fuller And His

Detectives Are Working—Ex-Judge

Hilton’s Interest—A Singular Chapter

In A Story Of Crime

Detectives from this City have during the past week been slowly and patiently working on a clue which they believe may lead to the recovery of the remains of the late Alexander Turney Stewart, the stealing of which from St. Mark’s Church graveyard excited such intense public interest and horror nearly three years ago. Under the direction of these detectives, workmen yesterday began to dig up a part of the ground in Cypress Hills Cemetery in a plot belonging to Mr. John T. Runice, and the work will be continued until the success or failure of the effort is made apparent.

—New York Times
August 21, 1881

Fuller’s Detective Bureau

New-York. Aug 16, 1881

The Hon. Henry Hilton, Woodlawn, Saratoga, NY.:

DEAR SIR: On last Saturday evening a small boy brought to this office a package which contained a note and an oil sketch. In one portion of the sketch is a white ground in the form of a grave and written in pencil are the words, Stewart is buried here, and immediately above the location is given. The note reads: Don’t make inquiries of the men about the grounds or allow the painting to be seen; you will be followed if you are seen making special observations, Signed Cor. The moment we discovered the contents of the package the boy was questioned and he stated that a lady had given it to him with instructions to hand it to me personally. He readily accompanied our young men and they began a search in the immediate vicinity for the lady but she had disappeared. To be frank with you, I don’t take much stock in the thing and thought I would like your views on the matter before taking any steps. Hoping to hear from you soon, I remain yours respectfully, J.M. FULLER

—letter sent to Judge Hilton, August 1881