Friday, October 12, 1928 – 97 Years Ago
Is Edward Patterson of Sea Girt the recipient of a ghastly joke or the target of the local Ku Klux Klan?
Human hand left with warning in realtor’s car
SEA GIRT – The finding of a human hand, severed at the wrist and encased in a cardboard box bearing the inscription, “K.K.K. You are the next to go,” was disclosed today by the New Jersey State Police.
Troopers based in Farmingdale reported that they had been asked to investigate the source of the grim evidence laid on the steering wheel of a motor car owned by Edward V. Patterson, real estate and insurance agent of Sea Girt, on the night of Oct. 5.
Patterson, who turned over the hand to Sea Girt Police, who then called in the State Police, declared today that he thought someone was attempting to play a “joke” on him. He denied that he had any enemies and expressed no fear of the threat.
State Police Corporal Russel Hurdon, in charge of the Farmingdale station, said that the investigation being made by his men was progressing satisfactorily. No further comment was made.
While it is not known whether or not the hand is that of a woman or man, police have declared that the fingerprints were in good condition and one expressed the opinion that the hideous appearing member had been taken from a body of a person who has not been dead for more than two months.
According to the police, Patterson was at the Sea Girt firehouse on the evening of Oct. 5 and stayed there from 9 o’clock until 11. When he came out and entered his car, he found the cardboard box on the steering wheel. Opening the box, he found the hand wrapped in an unspecified edition of The Washington Post.
“I think someone is playing a joke on me,” he said today when asked if he knew of any enemies who might seek to fulfill such a threat.
While it is not thought that the person to whom the hand belonged was murdered, the investigation is proceeding on the theory that seriousness is behind the act rather than the alleged humor Patterson believes.
Recent deaths that are shrouded in the slightest degree of suspicion are being probed. Troopers at the Farmingdale station have been instructed to make every effort possible to learn the origin of the cardboard box, newspaper and hand.
Press to be placed aboard dirigible
LAKEHURST – When the Graf Zeppelin arrives at Naval Air Station Lakehurst on Monday, a copy of the latest edition of the Asbury Park Press will be placed aboard the German airship.
The Press will be taken onto the dirigible by Thomas F. Burley Jr., secretary of the Chamber of Commerce, who has completed arrangements to deliver the issue to the commanding officer aboard.
This edition, containing the latest news of the flight, will be taken back to Germany.
Secretary Burley has arranged for the distribution of unlimited copies of the Press about the field at Lakehurst. The papers are to be distributed as a local souvenir.
Freehold church supper linked to typhoid outbreak
FREEHOLD – A total of 31 cases of typhoid fever have now been traced to the Methodist church supper here on Aug. 22.
Cases of the illness traced back to the event have been reported from Spring Lake to Brooklyn.
The New Jersey Department of Health is investigating.
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